3 ms·

I feel like this article is more of a "Here's all the things I think about perfect pitch and my journey with music" Maybe I took the title too literally. As s

I feel like this article is more of a "Here's all the things I think about perfect pitch and my journey with music" Maybe I took the title too literally. As someone who wants to gain perfect pitch (and still feels mildly distant from this ability) one thing I can say has been the most helpful: * Get a string instrument * Strum the strings * Try to tune the first string by ear * Once you think you have it, check it against a chromatic tuner. This way will you see how progressively your feeling of "in tune" can be measured in hertz. I can get pretty pretty close (within about 5hz). I used to have competitions with my children on who could get the note closest without a tuner. One of my kids got pretty good where they could almost nail it within 1 hz. It made things fun and a little less "maintenance". The best way I can describe the process is you have a sensitivity to a threshold of being in tune. I hear the note but there is something inside myself, it almost feels like anxiousness that kinda peaks right before I hit the note and then stops when I "feel" I've hit that note I'm aiming for. As I've said, I can get within about 5hz which to a musician they can probably notice it is off but for the average ear, it feels muddy but close. Long story short, practice with a tuner and within a year you'll surprise yourself.

golly_ned 2y ago
I appreciated the detail of the article and its structure as a narrative rather than as a simple step-by-step presentation of a how-to. The article also presents different senses of perfect pitch, and categorizes your sense as being at the lowest threshold (or lower).
- mcnichol 2y ago
  I'm not saying I didn't appreciate it. It just read like a story of their journey and reflection. I think "My journey of learning perfect pitch over 15 years" is more apt Learn perfect pitch in 15 years sounds more like a step by step article. I would have clicked both, just expect something closer to the latter.
junar 2y ago
Why would you measure in Hz and not cents [1]? 5 Hz is going to be larger practical pitch difference at G3 (196 Hz) compared to E5 (659 Hz). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music)
- mcnichol 2y ago
  Tell me you don't understand how the ear perceives music without telling me you don't understand. Don't be pretentious man, we are tuning guitars and violins not prepping the kids for Juliard. The same as how you use hz to talk about a specific note, your ear understands hz when listening. Cents are just ratios of intervals subject to a given scale. Do you think we are so bad we are messing up A3 as being close to B5? How about we use Just Intonation or 12-TET? But then should we base it on 5 limit[0] or Pythagorean[1] tuning. See where being a pedant gets you. [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-limit_tuning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-limit_tuning [1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_tuning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_tuning Most tuners work in hz. Your ear works in hz. That's all the thought that went into it. If any of us are consistently getting to within a hertz I'll consider switching to cents.
  - evertedsphere 2y ago
    …the ear perceives pitch logarithmically (not linearly: this is why you double the pitch when you go up an octave, instead of adding some constant, and this is why we use semitones and not hertz to talk about what we hear), hertz is linear so the "meaning" of 1 Hz is inconsistent at different points in the range of pitches, cents are logarithmic (just like semitones or tones) and don't suffer from this problem, that's all gp was saying
    - mcnichol 2y ago
      Now that you are caught up with the rest of us, read my response. Am I saying I don't understand or am I saying I understand but the response is too nitpicky for me and what I feel is reasonably acceptable by the average person.

golly_ned 2y ago

I appreciated the detail of the article and its structure as a narrative rather than as a simple step-by-step presentation of a how-to. The article also presents different senses of perfect pitch, and categorizes your sense as being at the lowest threshold (or lower).

mcnichol 2y ago
I'm not saying I didn't appreciate it. It just read like a story of their journey and reflection. I think "My journey of learning perfect pitch over 15 years" is more apt Learn perfect pitch in 15 years sounds more like a step by step article. I would have clicked both, just expect something closer to the latter.

junar 2y ago

Why would you measure in Hz and not cents [1]? 5 Hz is going to be larger practical pitch difference at G3 (196 Hz) compared to E5 (659 Hz). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music)

mcnichol 2y ago
Tell me you don't understand how the ear perceives music without telling me you don't understand. Don't be pretentious man, we are tuning guitars and violins not prepping the kids for Juliard. The same as how you use hz to talk about a specific note, your ear understands hz when listening. Cents are just ratios of intervals subject to a given scale. Do you think we are so bad we are messing up A3 as being close to B5? How about we use Just Intonation or 12-TET? But then should we base it on 5 limit[0] or Pythagorean[1] tuning. See where being a pedant gets you. [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-limit_tuning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-limit_tuning [1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_tuning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_tuning Most tuners work in hz. Your ear works in hz. That's all the thought that went into it. If any of us are consistently getting to within a hertz I'll consider switching to cents.
- evertedsphere 2y ago
  …the ear perceives pitch logarithmically (not linearly: this is why you double the pitch when you go up an octave, instead of adding some constant, and this is why we use semitones and not hertz to talk about what we hear), hertz is linear so the "meaning" of 1 Hz is inconsistent at different points in the range of pitches, cents are logarithmic (just like semitones or tones) and don't suffer from this problem, that's all gp was saying
  - mcnichol 2y ago
    Now that you are caught up with the rest of us, read my response. Am I saying I don't understand or am I saying I understand but the response is too nitpicky for me and what I feel is reasonably acceptable by the average person.