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Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

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Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#41

Post by vajrabum »

Rick Beato's channel on Youtube was pretty much launched from the viral video where his son Dylan demonstrates his apparently unerring ability to identify individual pitches in note clusters with very high accuracy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Cb1qwCUvI

For some musical jobs having perfect pitch can really make a difference. For example singers, musicians playing bowed stringed instruments or a trombone benefit from perfect pitch. Also, conductors frequently have perfect pitch, probably because a strong musical memory and being able to sight sing on pitch from a score are valuable and depend to a certain extent on perfect pitch. See here for a lot more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music-related_memory

Perfect pitch is also apparently more common in people who speak tonal languages like Mandarin.

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#43

Post by mhh__ »

vajrabum wrote: post #41

Rick Beato's channel on Youtube was pretty much launched from the viral video where his son Dylan demonstrates his apparently unerring ability to identify individual pitches in note clusters with very high accuracy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Cb1qwCUvI For some musical jobs having perfect pitch can really make a difference. For example singers, musicians playing bowed stringed instruments or a trombone benefit…

Dylan is very impressive but I find there to be something disturbing in that dynamic

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#44

Post by pclmulqdq »

wrs wrote: post #22
raincole wrote: post #8

While I think it's pretty cool, is absolute pitch actually "useful" for music-making? I feel relative notations (I-V-vi-IV) capture the essense of a piece of music better than absolute notations (C-G-Amin-F). It's just my layman opinion though.

As an amateur musician and composer who doesn’t have it, seems like it would be handy for transcription and tuning, but I don’t know what else. You must still be able to “switch modes” to relative, right? Otherwise you couldn’t even hear musical structures the same way, because aside from timbre they’re all relative.

I used to moonlight as a harpsichord tuner, and I didn't know anyone in the field or any piano tuners with perfect pitch. As I understand it, it doesn't help at all because perfect pitch is not precise enough to tell 440 Hz from 440.1 Hz for example, while you can do that easily with a tuning fork (once you learn how to listen for the beats). On the flipside, unequal temperaments - which are frequently used if you are a harpsichord tuner - are hell for people with perfect pitch who listen to only equally-tempered music. When you "merely" have relative pitch, unequal temperaments can actually be nice.

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#45

Post by vnorilo »

vajrabum wrote: post #41

Rick Beato's channel on Youtube was pretty much launched from the viral video where his son Dylan demonstrates his apparently unerring ability to identify individual pitches in note clusters with very high accuracy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Cb1qwCUvI For some musical jobs having perfect pitch can really make a difference. For example singers, musicians playing bowed stringed instruments or a trombone benefit…

Perfect pitch is by no means a requirement for musicians, although it is more common than in the general population, even more so for conductors.

But intonation is equally easy/hard for absolute and relative ears. Some tasks, like transposition, can require more practice for people with perfect pitch.

Source: lived experience from my doctorate in music from Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#46

Post by pclmulqdq »

raincole wrote: post #15
canjobear wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My impression from talking to musicians with absolute pitch is that it’s more an annoyance than anything. They’re always hearing how things in the real world are slightly off pitch.

How much "resolution" do their ears have? Like can someone with absolute pitch tell whether an instrument is in 12-ET or just intonation without a reference?

I have very good relative pitch and used to moonlight as a harpsichord tuner. I can tell you if an instrument is in equal temperament - an equal-tempered fifth and an equal-tempered third have very distinctive sounds. With enough time, I can also identify most of the common baroque temperaments: Just Intonation and quarter-comma meantone stick out like a sore thumb, but tunings like Werckmeister and the others that attempt to be close to equally tempered are harder to pick out by ear since you really need to hear a lot of the circle of fifths to identify which one is used.

However, this skill isn't due to hearing a precise gap between the two notes, but listening to the beating of the overtones of the notes. It's a very different skill than what you learn in school to identify intervals.

Also, professional string players can often tune equal tempered fifths (~2 cents flat of a pure fifth) precisely on their instruments.

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#47

Post by analog31 »

AlbertCory wrote: post #42

To me, the ultimate test of perfect pitch is: "can you whistle (or hum) an F# below middle C?" (or some other random note)

Just tested myself. Pass.

However, I played a rehearsal and two concerts this week. I know that my pitch dissipates after a period of time. As a kid, I could tune my cello by ear, but I noticed after coming back from a long family vacation, I had lost that ability. It came back quickly, but still, it means that I don't really have perfect pitch.

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#48

Post by zuminator »

psychoslave wrote: post #28
troupe wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sincerely doubt that if you ask a professional musician with perfect pitch if they would "turn it off" they would say yes.

Is it necessarily something like "turned on h24 in every single sound"? I would be rather surprised that it would be the case in general.

A person with perfect pitch can no more turn off knowing the pitch of a sound than a person with relative pitch can turn off knowing if one sound is a higher pitch than another.

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#49

Post by windowshopping »

tinco wrote: post #13
BearOso wrote: post #4

Most kids achieve level, upright pitch at ages 2-3. It's the yaw and roll you have to worry about. Those are literally all over the place.

If your kid can achieve absolute pitch in geometric space, like.. epsg:4978? That would be epic. Your kid could always tell you what coordinates you're at if you're standing at a known angle.

What does "epsg:4978" mean?

Re: Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch (2012)

#50

Post by bjoli »

I am a professional musician (bassoon player in a symphony orchestra). I can, if I practice it a couple of times a week, achieve and sustain perfect pitch.

I had no semblance of perfect pitch until I decided to practice it at age 24. Before that the only chance I had to guess a note was to put in in relation to my own voice.

Even though I don't practice this anymore (it isn't very useful), I still often just instinctively know what note I hear.

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