Absolute pitch again

[JStan40@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 09/01/2000 2:06:19 PM Central Daylight Time, Richard 
Brekne@ptg.org writes:

(snip)<< He says he
 has heard and played on a few pianos tuned in various HT configurations,
 and still says that the colour of keys remain the same... they just get a
 bit differerent "tint".. thats what he said... "tint"
 
 Anyways... I thought I'd throw this one out there as I thought it was it
 was interesting .
 
 - --
 Richard Brekne
 RPT, N.P.T.F.
 Bergen, Norway >>

Richard,

While this MAY elicit a flurry of varying responses, I don't think you'll get 
anything definitive, because there seems to BE nothing definitive about this 
phenomenon.  It exists in a certain percentage of the population, musical or 
not, much the same way that color blindness exists (and NO, I don't mean to 
equate the two, they are just quirks of memory, basically).  What I have also 
observed is that there are widely varying degrees of sensitivity as well, 
with the most sensitive people being constantly bombarded by "wrong" pitches, 
and trying hard to turn themselves off.  Most of us are content to be pretty 
close, and some can adjust to other levels pretty well.

This guy hears in colors...many do.  I hear in quality of sound, but that's 
hard to explain, too, since I don't have any difficulty with hearing pitches 
on instruments other than piano, so the quality I'm hearing has nothing to do 
with the individual timbres of the instruments.  It's not a simple thing to 
explain, but then, since none of us can really DO anything about it, other 
than try to develop and work with what we have, well...............you see my 
point?  And his reaction to HTs simply means that he is listening to aspects 
of the music beyond just pitch--relationships are apparently important, which 
is central to a musician's understanding.

Sorry not to have answers, but perhaps that IS an answer, just not a very 
satisfactory one.

Stan Ryberg
Barrington IL