3 ms·
May you please explain ELI5 what "perfect pitch" means? (I was told I was a musical savant, and once I was told that, I was scared away from music... my Violi
by samstave 4y ago
May you please explain ELI5 what "perfect pitch" means?
(I was told I was a musical savant, and once I was told that, I was scared away from music... my Violin teacher was known to be owb of the best, SO i dont know what "perfect pitch" is, as I attribute it to 'bad actors'
- hluska 4y agoPerfect (or absolute) pitch refers to the ability to distinguish a note (correctly) when you hear it played. Singers with perfect pitch can sing a particular note on command. If you had perfect pitch, I would be able to play notes on a piano and you would be able to distinguish each. There is a continuum of perfect pitch - some may have perfect pitch after they have warmed up, others may retain their perfect pitch for a short time after they stop playing and others (apparently) always have it. In that aspect, it’s a little like memory. Mozart and Ella Fitzgerald are two famous people you’ve likely heard who had absolute pitch though I have never read or heard anything that suggests either found it terribly useful. Of the musicians I know who have worked to develop it, it’s mostly kind of a party trick. If you’re interested in perfect pitch, you should likely learn about relative pitch as well. Whereas perfect pitch refers to the ability to correctly distinguish a note cold, relative pitch refers to the ability to distinguish notes in relation to each other.
- samstave 4y agothank you for the 'perfect pitch' response <3
- Gunax 4y agoBut how accurate does it have to be to be considered perfect? As in within one hz? What about very high frequencies, where a single hz is much smaller, relative to the frequency?
- AlecSchueler 4y agoWithin less than half a semitone seems more likely. The frequencies of the notes don't matter as the relationship between the pitch classes are unchanged.
- h0h0h0h0111 4y ago>I have never read or heard anything that suggests either found it terribly useful Allegedly, Mozart transcribed Allegri's Miserere after hearing it performed once in the Vatican: https://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/guides/mozart-allegri-miserere/ https://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/guides/mozart-all.... Perhaps apocryphal, but sounds pretty useful to me.
- coliveira 4y agoPerfect pitch means that you can identify (give the name of) different pitches without the help of instruments. This is a rare ability even for trained musicians.