Klarinet Archive - Posting 000093.txt from 1999/02

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Perfect Pitch
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 08:19:38 -0500

On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, Steven J Goldman, MD wrote:

> There is no question that, while you can improve your ability to some
> extent, "perfect pitch" is something that some people are born with, and
> others just never get. While those who have it are very proud of it, I see
> it as a party trick at best and a problem at worst.

It has not been my experience that those with perfect pitch are "proud"
of it. As you point out, it is something with which they are born. It
is a natural ability without which they have never lived. They don't
know what it's like NOT to be able to identify any tone they hear ob-
jectively by name and/or frequency. It is not a party trick to them,
but simply something they can do which most others can not. Keep in
mind that there are a lot of people with perfect pitch who know nothing
about music. They walk around in their daily lives hearing pitches,
sensing them as discrete and concretely identifiable frequencies of
vibration, not realizing that it's an uncommon aural characteristic.
Outside of music, it does them little good, and I've met a few who
do indeed consider it a nuisance. They hear an elevator motor vi-
brating 4Hz below A=440, or a flourescent light buzzing away on flat
C#, not knowing why these phenomena make their teeth itch. As some-
body else pointed out in an earlier post, perfect pitch can in fact
be a hindrance to musicality because it prevents such a person from
developing a functional understanding of musical intervals. A per-
son with perfect pitch must exert an effort to stifle their natural
ability in order to acquire interval recognition rather than absolute
pitch recognition. Once they can do solfege by intervals, however,
they are "fully functional", able to discern intervals and harmonic
function, as well as nail any pitch they hear by name, in any context.
For a mucisian who has learned the basics beyond their natural gift,
perfect pitch is a "plus" with which many of us would love to be
"cursed."

Neil

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org