still more perfect pitch

[JIMRPT]

et al;
 This one is free gratis, I just thought it was interesting. I also found
interesting the fact that these three seperate Scientific Journals did not
dispute the fact of existence of perfect pitch rather they were adressing the
where and why of it.
Jim Bryant (FL)
------------------------------
A Musician's Standpoint: Are we Born with Perfect Pitch or is it 
Learned?


There are a large amount of different opinions on whether or not perfect 
pitch is something a person born with or something a person can only 
learn. As Dr. Atovsky, Aural Training Professor at DePaul U. states, "No 
one really knows how or why a person has perfect pitch. People believe 
different things about whether we're born with perfect pitch or whether 
it's a trained thing." However, Dr. Atovsky acknowledges that practicing 
certain exercises will invariably aid development. He gives the example 
of a baby learning to walk. Babies will start testing certain muscles as 
they try to imitate other people walking. Once their strength is 
developed and learned, they need to learn coordination. The same goes 
for any skill, such as recognizing pitches (Atovsky). Many scientific 
researches have found this to be very true. As one such report put it, 
"It was discovered that there was a strong relationship between musical 
achievment and the amount of formal practice undertaken" (Sloboda, 287). 


Like Dr. Atovsky, Ms. Sauer has had numerous encounters with students 
and co-workers that have perfect pitch. She also has this innate 
ability. But is it really innate? "I don't believe that people are born 
with perfect pitch. However, I think that people can be born with the 
capacity to have perfect pitch, through whatever the connections may be 
in the brain" (Sauer). 

Here are a few of the many speculations made: 

It seems that it [perfect pitch] is hereditary, cannot be acquired in 
later life, and occurs more frequently among the blind. Remembering the 
travelling-wave theory identifying pitch determination with distance 
along the cochlea canal, [Some scientists think that being able to hear 
different pitches has to do with the distance along the partition in the 
cochlea canal.], it would seem that the possessor of perfect pitch can 
as easily 'place' a musical sensation in position along the canal as 
other people can tell which finger is being touched, or indeed locate a 
point of physical contact anywhere on the body (Fry, 598). 

"Some persons are born with it [perfect pitch] but far more often it is 
learned in the course of musical training" (Harper Collins Dictionary of 
Music, 2). 

Although these speculations show just how much the common musician, 
music historian or music critic doesn't know for sure where perfect 
pitch comes from, perhaps more concrete evidence can be given from the 
more recent, scientific standpoint. Please go to The Scientific Side: 
Born with it or learned?