3 ms·

I've been fascinated by perfect pitch. I studied theatre before a bizarre turn of events eventually settling into software engineering, so I got to meet a lot

I've been fascinated by perfect pitch. I studied theatre before a bizarre turn of events eventually settling into software engineering, so I got to meet a lot of extremely musically talented individuals, and out of those I've met only one with perfect pitch. I peppered them with questions- I asked how long they've had it and they explained that they learned music (piano) at a very young age. They can recognize a single note, even chords. They can also be given a note to sing. I asked if they needed to hear other notes in order to distinguish it and they said no, they can hear a single note and know exactly what it is. I have always been fascinated by this. Not related to perfect pitch, but I've trained myself to somewhat replicate this through relative pitch. I quitely hum to myself the lowest note I can (which just happens to be a C natural), and from there I can mentally step up and down the scale chromatically to find whatever note I need. I'm accurate to about a half step but no more than that, sad to say.

figurehe4d 9y ago
You can train yourself to have perfect pitch too, it's a lot like relative pitch but you use music you know well as the starting tone. "This note sounds like the opening chord in x song, so it must be A major".
- brooklyn_ashey 9y ago
  I can attest to this being true. That is how it started for me. But it isn't like relative pitch (all practicing musicians have well developed relative pitch) -- it is more like seeing colors or feeling textures. I have noticed that most of my colleagues with perfect pitch are pianists. I think it helps to have that same pitch always be reluably the same. Few string or horn players have perfect pitch on all instruments, but many do have it for their own instrument only.