Perfect eh?

[Tom@Sprint]

How do you know a Canadian is about to toss in another few cents worth?

I have witnessed my wife hear a train horn and on the first try, play
exactly all the notes of that chord in their proper octave and voicing on
which ever keyboard she was sitting at. Also, I regularly see her sit at the
kitchen table and transcribe music from tape without the benefit of a piano
or any sort of reference that would enable her to figure out which note is
being played. She writes out the chords and all.

In the absence of any other definition, and given that not every musician
can do this, I can accept that there is such a talent, although giving it a
name might be a challenge. Pitch memory might well be a better term than
perfect pitch.

I feel that another factor comes into the issue that isn't often noted. As
one who has tuned on the concert stage for ten years, one can't help but
make some observations. People involved in the arts as musicians, actors and
the like need to invoke fairly high levels of self confidence everytime they
perform. They engage in many ego building exercises, (visit your average
green room apres-concert wine and cheese) and often times, deciding how much
a given person is musicianship and how much is ego can be a challenge. Since
superior musicianship skills can be hard to define and quantify, superior
talent, such as perfect pitch, or the perception of such, is complementary
to the whole performance exercise. In the end, self respecting musicians
either have it, or want it.

Everytime the mention of perfect pitch occurs on or near a concert stage,
heads are nodding all over the pit, headliners on the stage included.
Granted, this so called talent does occur, but in the absence of definitions
and measurement standards, one can easily find themselves seeing it as a bit
of a charade, especially when one considers that the least vocal musician in
the room might well have the best sense of pitch, but is simply not the type
of personality to spout off about it.

Frankly, I cringe when a customer mentions their 'perfect pitch' talents.
Not because of any challenge that might occur to my work, but because
usually, that person doesn't understand the generally accepted definition
for this. More often than not, the person who so implies that they have this
talent is, by their estimate, the best musician in that household and by my
estimate, the most obnoxious.

Merry Christmas and Happy H2K eh?

Tom Thievin R.P.T. (Canadian Association of Piano Technicians)