just my 2 cents of absolute/perfect/whatever

[Phil Bondi]

As I get older, I am recognizing that I do not identify A=440 as easily as I
once did(maybe it's all those flat pianos I've been facing lately!)..but for
what it's worth, I have followed this thread and have, for once, stayed out
of it as long as possible..as I get older, my perception of A=440 is
actually closer to 438..am I losing it? - no - I am not as 'perfect' as I
once was, which means 'perfect pitch' or 'absolute pitch' may not work for
me.."pitch recognition", I feel, is a better term than the ones mentioned
above.

When I begin to tune a customer's piano, I always begin by showing them how
far from A=440 A4 is; visually(SATll) and aurally(A Fork)..I have been
humbled on more than one occasion to find a customer's piano that I have
said "sounds pretty close" to be as much as 20 cents flat..that to me is not
'pretty close'..but if someone were to sit down on the same piano before I
knew how flat it was and was to play chords, notes, or a song, I could
identify the chords, the notes, or the key the song was in..I would get them
all right..so that's perfect?

I don't like the term 'perfect pitch'..nor do I like the term 'absolute
pitch'..and yes I believe there are varying degrees of perfectness with this
'gift' that some of us have..I, for one, am not perfect with my pitch..which
is why I will always carry a VTD AND a A=440 fork.

I'm good, but I am not perfect.

Rook