Hello Lgmers!Can one develop perfect pitch by mastering the doh of C and then relating it to the doh of the song whose key one wud want to find out. Or are there other ways or helpful tips.
Absolute/perfect pitch?
Posted 15 July 2010
winner11john said:
Hello Lgmers!Can one develop perfect pitch by mastering the doh of C and then relating it to the doh of the song whose key one wud want to find out. Or are there other ways or helpful tips.
Scientific studies have shown that developing perfect pitch is not possible after a certain age, and possibly, not for all people anyway. Some cultures have what they call Tonal Languages and there's a higher percentage of people in those cultures who have perfect pitch than in other cultures, so scientists believe there's some correlation.
But basically, if you don't have perfect pitch now, it's unlikely you'll be able to develop it. I did have one student who "developed" perfect pitch when he was in college (18-19 years old) but it's unclear as to if he already had perfect pitch, and just realized it when he started to study music, or if he acquired it at that age (less likely).
Now, you can develop RELATIVE PITCH which is an important thing for musicians. With Perfect Pitch (also called Absolute Pitch) when someone plays a note on the piano, you know what it is.
With Relative Pitch, someone plays a note on the piano and you *don't* know what it is, but if they tell you the note is C, and then they play a second note, relative pitch allows you to figure out - in reference to the C - what the new note is.
Now, I will say, after playing guitar for many years, I can tell you what the chords to a song on the radio is when I hear it, and when I put on new strings, I can tune them to standard pitch with no reference and be within a few cents of being correct (if not exact).
I owe this to what I call "pitch memory" which is sort of like Absolute Pitch, but for only one instrument.
So I think you can "learn" relative pitch - and maybe have enough pitch memory - to really use to your advantage.
The way you do this is - practice practice practice :-) You have to sit and listen to notes, constantly try to figure out what notes are, try to use clues (such as the lowest note you can sing, which you would have already figured out the note for) or what an open string on the violin sounds like, etc.
Look up some Ear Training sites on the internet. Good Ear (goodear.com) was a good one if it's still around.
But it's also a good idea (and probably more important) for those of us without perfect pitch to be able to recognize chord and interval types, key centers, and so on.
Best,
Steve
Posted 13 April 2011
stevel, on 15 July 2010, said:
Scientific studies have shown that developing perfect pitch is not possible after a certain age, and possibly, not for all people anyway. Some cultures have what they call Tonal Languages and there's a higher percentage of people in those cultures who have perfect pitch than in other cultures, so scientists believe there's some correlation.
But basically, if you don't have perfect pitch now, it's unlikely you'll be able to develop it. I did have one student who "developed" perfect pitch when he was in college (18-19 years old) but it's unclear as to if he already had perfect pitch, and just realized it when he started to study music, or if he acquired it at that age (less likely).
Now, you can develop RELATIVE PITCH which is an important thing for musicians. With Perfect Pitch (also called Absolute Pitch) when someone plays a note on the piano, you know what it is.
With Relative Pitch, someone plays a note on the piano and you *don't* know what it is, but if they tell you the note is C, and then they play a second note, relative pitch allows you to figure out - in reference to the C - what the new note is.
Now, I will say, after playing guitar for many years, I can tell you what the chords to a song on the radio is when I hear it, and when I put on new strings, I can tune them to standard pitch with no reference and be within a few cents of being correct (if not exact).
I owe this to what I call "pitch memory" which is sort of like Absolute Pitch, but for only one instrument.
So I think you can "learn" relative pitch - and maybe have enough pitch memory - to really use to your advantage.
The way you do this is - practice practice practice :-) You have to sit and listen to notes, constantly try to figure out what notes are, try to use clues (such as the lowest note you can sing, which you would have already figured out the note for) or what an open string on the violin sounds like, etc.
Look up some Ear Training sites on the internet. Good Ear (goodear.com) was a good one if it's still around.
But it's also a good idea (and probably more important) for those of us without perfect pitch to be able to recognize chord and interval types, key centers, and so on.
Best,
Steve
But basically, if you don't have perfect pitch now, it's unlikely you'll be able to develop it. I did have one student who "developed" perfect pitch when he was in college (18-19 years old) but it's unclear as to if he already had perfect pitch, and just realized it when he started to study music, or if he acquired it at that age (less likely).
Now, you can develop RELATIVE PITCH which is an important thing for musicians. With Perfect Pitch (also called Absolute Pitch) when someone plays a note on the piano, you know what it is.
With Relative Pitch, someone plays a note on the piano and you *don't* know what it is, but if they tell you the note is C, and then they play a second note, relative pitch allows you to figure out - in reference to the C - what the new note is.
Now, I will say, after playing guitar for many years, I can tell you what the chords to a song on the radio is when I hear it, and when I put on new strings, I can tune them to standard pitch with no reference and be within a few cents of being correct (if not exact).
I owe this to what I call "pitch memory" which is sort of like Absolute Pitch, but for only one instrument.
So I think you can "learn" relative pitch - and maybe have enough pitch memory - to really use to your advantage.
The way you do this is - practice practice practice :-) You have to sit and listen to notes, constantly try to figure out what notes are, try to use clues (such as the lowest note you can sing, which you would have already figured out the note for) or what an open string on the violin sounds like, etc.
Look up some Ear Training sites on the internet. Good Ear (goodear.com) was a good one if it's still around.
But it's also a good idea (and probably more important) for those of us without perfect pitch to be able to recognize chord and interval types, key centers, and so on.
Best,
Steve
That's such a cool idea, that your sense of pitch can be related to the instrument! Do you think this has to do with the way an instrument vibrates, and the harmonic overtones? Is it like a signature or thumbprint?
Posted 03 December 2011
Quote
That's such a cool idea, that your sense of pitch can be related to the instrument! Do you think this has to do with the way an instrument vibrates, and the harmonic overtones? Is it like a signature or thumbprint?
I think it has to do with the timbre, i.e. the overtone structure...
Quote
Can one develop perfect pitch by mastering the doh of C and then relating it to the doh of the song whose key one wud want to find out.
I would consider this to be highly developed relative pitch, not absolute pitch. I don't know how you could develop absolute pitch.
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