Perfect Pitch

[Graeme Harvey]

Hello Brian and Mark,

I went to high school with a guy who was able to correctly identify notes as
you describe Mark, he later went on to become a piano tuner, very good one I
might add, can set an A *very* close and checks himself against a fork every
now and then, but he has real difficulty tuning pianos to other pitches. I
was always fascinated by this as I too tune pianos but don't as me to
identify a note, my pitch memory isn't good but neither does it need to be.
To me pitch memory is of no real advantage, but to a musician as you suggest
Mark, it is is a useful gift.
Brian, perhaps the people you speak of who claim to have perfect pitch are
simply able to hear a note out "in relation to another note" ie an octave.
Most musicians can here this to various degrees and piano tuners to an
exacting degree, hopefully.

Cheers
Graeme Harvey
New Plymouth NZ

----- Original Message -----
From: <bases-loaded@juno.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 1999 1:07 PM
Subject: Re: Perfect Pitch


>
>
> On Tue, 14 Dec 1999 07:17:58 +1300 "Brian Holden" <bholden@wave.co.nz>
> writes:
> > 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 -
>
> I think the problem comes mostly from the nomenclature.  The word
> "perfect" doesn't leave any wiggle room, eh?  I personally know several
> musicians with perfect pitch, and by that I mean they can easily tell you
> any note you are playing - a million times in a row with no mistakes.
> They can also sing any note for you on command.  It will never be
> "perfect", I presume, but so what?  The musicians I know who have this
> gift are either singers or violinists, with one exception - and he's a
> drummer.  He can hear a 4-5 note chord and tell you all of the pitches
> immediately.  This is an extremely useful gift, in my opinion!
>
> However, it would be of no use whatsoever in tuning a piano....
>
> Mark Potter
> bases-loaded@juno.com
>