5 ms·

In the common usage "perfect pitch" is a property of a person, not of a sound.

by recursive 2y ago

brudgers 2y ago
I don't disagree. However, its cultural claims about the nature of music gives me the blues.
- recursive 2y ago
  Perfect pitch doesn't say anything about the cultural understanding of music. Except possibly that pitch is important within the context of music? Perfect pitch means that someone can identify pitches accurately. Nothing more. If you were a proponent of a style of music that didn't consider pitches to be significant, I can see why PP would be irrelevant. Beyond that, I don't understand what you're getting at.
  - klodolph 2y ago
    The commenter you’re replying to is using the term “perfect pitch” incorrectly, that’s all. They’re talking about the word “perfect” when it’s used to describe intervals, like perfect fifth or perfect fourth. I think.
  - brudgers 2y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#History_of_pitch_standards_in_Western_music https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#History_of_pit... Perfect pitch means that someone can identify pitches accurately “Accurately” is doing some psuedo-scientific hand waving. That hand waving what I find interesting. Pitch is continuous and not discreet. There’s nothing wrong with tonal harmony as a system of making music. Its elevation to an ideology is anthropologically interesting…e.g. the “perfect” in “perfect pitch.”
    - recursive 2y ago
      What? Perfect pitch exists outside of any tuning system. I know of concert pitch, but it's unrelated to perfect pitch. The "perfect" in perfect pitch refers to a person's ability to recognize pitches, and makes no value judgements on any systems of harmony. Perfect pitch is not even related to harmony at all, as it pertains to a single tone. Perfect pitch equally applies to all music that's based on pitches. It makes no value judgment about any particular practices, styles, traditions, genres, or tuning systems. > “Accurately” is doing some psuedo-scientific hand waving. That hand waving what I find interesting. What? A pitch can be measured as a frequency, which is a number. If someone can correctly identify the frequency accurately, they have perfect pitch. We can define "accurate" to be "within 1%", or whatever error tolerance you prefer. To which pseudo-science do you refer? Note names are used only as shorthand for referring to pitches, but "perfect pitch" doesn't require them. You can demonstrate perfect pitch without any note names or tuning system at all.

In the common usage "perfect pitch" is a property of a person, not of a sound.

brudgers 2y ago

I don't disagree. However, its cultural claims about the nature of music gives me the blues.

recursive 2y ago
Perfect pitch doesn't say anything about the cultural understanding of music. Except possibly that pitch is important within the context of music? Perfect pitch means that someone can identify pitches accurately. Nothing more. If you were a proponent of a style of music that didn't consider pitches to be significant, I can see why PP would be irrelevant. Beyond that, I don't understand what you're getting at.
- klodolph 2y ago
  The commenter you’re replying to is using the term “perfect pitch” incorrectly, that’s all. They’re talking about the word “perfect” when it’s used to describe intervals, like perfect fifth or perfect fourth. I think.
- brudgers 2y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#History_of_pitch_standards_in_Western_music https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#History_of_pit... Perfect pitch means that someone can identify pitches accurately “Accurately” is doing some psuedo-scientific hand waving. That hand waving what I find interesting. Pitch is continuous and not discreet. There’s nothing wrong with tonal harmony as a system of making music. Its elevation to an ideology is anthropologically interesting…e.g. the “perfect” in “perfect pitch.”
  - recursive 2y ago
    What? Perfect pitch exists outside of any tuning system. I know of concert pitch, but it's unrelated to perfect pitch. The "perfect" in perfect pitch refers to a person's ability to recognize pitches, and makes no value judgements on any systems of harmony. Perfect pitch is not even related to harmony at all, as it pertains to a single tone. Perfect pitch equally applies to all music that's based on pitches. It makes no value judgment about any particular practices, styles, traditions, genres, or tuning systems. > “Accurately” is doing some psuedo-scientific hand waving. That hand waving what I find interesting. What? A pitch can be measured as a frequency, which is a number. If someone can correctly identify the frequency accurately, they have perfect pitch. We can define "accurate" to be "within 1%", or whatever error tolerance you prefer. To which pseudo-science do you refer? Note names are used only as shorthand for referring to pitches, but "perfect pitch" doesn't require them. You can demonstrate perfect pitch without any note names or tuning system at all.