Perfect pitch

[Gordon Wilson]

On Wed, 27 Dec 1995 EHILBERT@middlebury.edu wrote:

> Holiday Greetings to all,
>     Perfect pitch may or may not be something which some people are
> "born with".  In talking with people who have it, some say they have acquired
>     I have also know of a couple of people who were not musically
> inclined and played not instruments, and yet could identify pitches.  So,
> I am not so surprised by the ability to recognize pitches as I am by those who
> have extremely close pitch discrimination and who cannot be confused even by

GW> This statement seems a little wierd when you think about it, since a
person would have to have some musical experience, if not training, in
order to know what to _call_ the pitches they recognized...kind of
reminds me of a slightly different, but related subject: "My uncle can
play anything he hears, and **he's never had a lesson in his life!**." This
statement ignores the necessary fact that the uncle loved music so much
that he probably spend untold hours "practicing on a spinster ;-} in the
attic" when his parents told him they could not afford piano lessons.
It's amazing what can be done with love and long hours of trial and error...
(Excuse the awful pun above...I heard it said about Mozart or Haydn or
somdbody.)


>     And lastly, for now, Emily just brought me the advertisement for
> learning to have perfect pitch and the purveyor of the course is indeed
> David L. Burge, as suggested by earlier by Gordon Wilson.  So, Gordon, have
> you taken the course, and does it work?
> Ed Hilbert, RPT
>
GW>No I have not taken the course since I discovered I had the ability
when I was about six or so.  I did send for Burge's initial pamphlet
(since it was free) and since I had had similar experiences to those
described in his ads.  I guess I ripped him off a little,  but it
bothered me a little that he seemed to be saying "I'm the only guy who
can show you how to do this, and it's gonna cost you!"  I think he
probably deserves the credit for the term and concept of "color hearing".
My main reason for interest in his method was to reinforce my own desire
to teach, ar at least encourage, hearing and improvisational skills in
my  students.  When I think about it, I'll try to Lycos him up in case
he's on the net.  Maybe we can get him involved in the discussion!

Happy New Year, All!!
Gordon Wilson
gwilson@prairienet.org   (free with occasional requests for donations)
gwilson@cencom.net (very reasonable flat rate internet provider)
Urbana, Illinois
Who needs AOL?