even more perfect pitch

[JIMRPT]

Bill;
 The following is from the Journal Science.  Can I stop now or need I keep
 going?
Jim Bryant (FL)


PERFECT PITCH AND SUNDRY SYNDROMES 


Writing in response to a report in Science by G. Schlaug concerning the 
brain asymmetry observed in musicians with perfect or absolute pitch* 
(SF#99), O. Sacks expands the domain of the phenomenon to include other 
human talents. Sacks says that perfect pitch, though common in 
musicians, occurs only in about 1 of every 10,000 people. Among the 
autistic, however, the incidence rises to perhaps 1 in 20. He next moves 
on to "savants;" that is, individuals with exceptional mathematic, 
mechanical, musical, and artistic talents, but with serious deficiencies 
in other human attributes. Calculating prodigies and other "idiot 
savants" immediately come to mind here. Sachs claims that perfect pitch 
is is even more common among the savants. In fact, all muscial savants 
seem to have it. Perfect pitch is also common among those with Williams 
syndrome, which he defines as: 
"a -- syndrome which predisposes to hyperacusis and exceptional 
development of auditory, musical, and verbal skills, combined with 
striking visual and conceptual deficits." 

(Sacks, Oliver; "Musical Ability," Science, 268:621, 1995.) 

******** A person with perfect pitch can identify a tone without needing a 
second tone for comparison. SF#99 = Science Frontiers #99.**********

>From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995. © 1997 William R. Corliss