selling the pitchraise:student's neurology and inappropriate aural reference

[Anthony S.Wright]

Hi Susan

Being that a child's neurology is so plastic, and forms networks so quickly
is where my concerns are. As adults, we've pretty much laid in the
groundwork, though it can, with some effort be significantly added to;
witness the difficulty of learning a language for a 4 year old, versus an
adult picking up an additional 'foreign' language.

Also, lets say you were in an isolated situation for a few years, playing a
piano that was at a different pitch, but in tune with itself; I'll bet
things would sound a little odd when you listened to other pitches, if you
chose to attend to it on a subtle level.

And as far as I am aware, it is only those folks who have so-called 'perfect
pitch' that have a neurologic arrangement that portends a baseline for
independent pitch recognition; and yet I wonder about this too; for there
must be counter examples in cultures that use multi-tonal non diatonic
scales, such as one finds in many Asian cultures.

A. Wright

> From: Susan Kline <sckline@attbi.com>
> Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 11:56:45 -0700
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: selling the pitchraise:student's neurology and inappropriate
> aural reference
> 
> At 08:31 AM 4/24/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>> Some folks get it and some don't.
> 
> Some folks have perfect (absolute) pitch and some don't.
> 
> You don't honestly believe that _everyone's_ neurology includes a sort of
> Bureau of Standards which has set their pitch sense to an eternal A=440?
> 
> As someone with relative pitch who can easily tune a piano anywhere "in the
> cracks" I don't feel like my nerves have been permanently fuddled by being
> exposed to slightly flat instruments, leaving me in a permanent confused
> stupor.
> 
> Now, pianos which are off-pitch WITH THEMSELVES do cause harm, because
> musical interval sizes are learned, in a way that pitch is not (except for
> those gifted with absolute pitch.) It's important to set up that pitch
> template right in the early years.
> 
> Susan Kline
>