Klarinet Archive - Posting 000181.txt from 1994/10

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re the hearing of perfect pitch
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 18:35:56 -0400

Dick Williams asks if a person with perfect pitch hears A at 440 or
413 or what?

Perfect pitch is not the ability to hear a specific note in terms of
its vibrations per second. Perfect pitch is the ability to remember
a pitch and repeat it from pitch memory at any time.

Therefore, if a person with perfect pitch hears what he or she is
told is an A, then that person will remember what that pitch was
and, eventually, that pitch will become instantaneously recallable
on demand, no matter what its vibratory qualities were at the time
the person heard it.

But the joy of a person with perfect pitch is that it can be changed.
Consider pianists with perfect pitch who play both contemporary piano
and forte piano. They have the ability to memorize whatever pitch
is the official standard for that evening.

So the answer to Dick's question depends on which A you want the
person to recall, the one at A 440or the one at A 413 or the one at
A 127.3. It's a gift, but not one that many musicians would want
because it has as much of the curse about it as the gift.

====================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
(leeson@-----.edu)
(dnl2073@-----.edu)
Any of the above three addresses may be used. Take your pick.
====================================