[CAUT] Pitch recognition

[Ed Sutton]

The home page for the study is http://perfectpitch.ucsf.edu/
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ed Sutton 
  To: College and University Technicians 
  Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 6:35 PM
  Subject: Re: [CAUT] Pitch recognition


  An extremely important study on absolute pitch has been done by the University of California, testing over 2000 subjects.
  See the report at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0703868104v3
  Piano technicians who deal with musical authorities (such as teachers and conductors) need to read this report.
  Accuracy of absolute pitch deteriorates with age.  No one over the age of 51 in this study was able to attain a perfect score in a test of 36 tones, and many people 50 and older reported that they were aware that their pitch perception was drifting sharp.  This is probably due to age changes in the inner ear which effect all of us.
  Many of the situations we deal with may involve hearing changes in middle aged people.  I once had an aging choir director claim I was cheating her by charging for a pitch raise because the piano sounded "right on pitch" to her. My ETD measured the piano as over 20 cents flat.

  Ed Sutton
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