Perfect Pitch

[Paul S. Larudee]

Brian Holden wrote:
> 
> Many people over the years have claimed to me that they have perfect
> pitch. When I ask them to be more specific on this, they start to cool
> off.  One person when asked what note I was playing on the piano went
> cold on the idea altogether.  To me, having perfect pitch means being
> able to detect or aurally produce a note within a maybe a few beats,
> but no one has demonstrated to me that they can get that close.  I
> would imagine that singers would be pretty accurate, but not perfect.
> Any comments?
> 
> Brian Holden

Brian,

When customers tell me that they have perfect pitch, I say, "Oh."  When
they ask me if I have perfect pitch, I say that it depends what they
mean.  I tell them that no one has ever tuned any instrument effectively
one note at a time without reference to the other notes on that
instrument.  I call it "pitch memory," and everyone has some degree of
it.  Some individuals may be able to remember some notes to within 20
cents or so, but even then it is a moving target depending on the
instrument, the temperament, the pitch standard, etc.  Some singers and
musicians familiar with a given piece can usually come pretty close to
the starting note that they usually use.  It's hard to expect more than
that.  I'd take the whole thing with a grain of salt.

Paul S. Larudee, RPT
Richmond, CA