Pitch sensitivity was : OT - Sensory Overload

[Dean May]

My mother had a very good sense of pitch discernment. When she was a little
girl she played a game with her father where she crawled down onto the floor
board of the car and would then tell him how fast they were going by the
pitch of the car. When she was in first grade the teacher would play notes
on the piano identifying the notes to the class. The teacher would then play
two notes together and ask who could identify them. My mother didn't get the
point of the game because for her it was so easy to identify the notes she
thought it was normal. 

When she would study a piece of music for piano performance (Chopin was her
favorite) she would take the music to bed with her and read it, listening to
the notes in her head, working out phrasing and expression. Conversely, when
listening to a symphony she would simultaneously see the score in her mind. 

It often was a handicap, as missed notes, poor phrasing, poorly tuned
instruments, etc. were all great distractions to her. 

Her wholly miraculous, intermittently functional, non-warranteed, utterly
amazing machine ceased when she was called home 17 years ago. I wish she
could see the musical genius my children have inherited from her. My 10 year
old daughter just now walked by the piano and sat down to start playing as
she often does 6-10 times a day. It sure makes it easy to ante up and enjoy
the morning, if I could continue to borrow from Ron's wonderful metaphor.

Blessings for a great Sunday everyone.


Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

Terre Haute IN  47802

 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Richard Brekne
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 5:26 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Pitch sensitivity was : OT - Sensory Overload

Hi Michelle

I'd generalize my answer by saying that if whatever sensitivity you have 
in the end inhibits your abilities to enjoy what you sense, or inhibit 
your abilities to carry out various functions life requires of you... 
then I'd put it in the category of being a handicap. 

I've come to view extreme cases of pitch sensitivity as such... so 
called perfect pitch or absolute pitch as its sometimes called. Basic 
tone recognition may be an advantage in some musical instance or 
another... but those who find themselves irritated that a given tone is 
less then 1 cent away from where their pitch memory tells them it should 
be have got far more of a problem then anything else IMHO.

To what degree one can learn to overcome such over sensitiveness... 
indeed to learn to utilize it to ones advantage.... I do not know.

Cheers
RicB


    I started thinking about our group of piano technicians and
    wondering if our
    sensitive ears are a blessing as well as a curse.  Do any of you
    fall into
    the sensory overload category?  

     

    Michelle Smith