Absolute pitch again

[Richard Brekne]

Hey there Stan... I thought your reply was quite interesting really.  I am
continually fascinated by these individuals.. I just found it interesting that he
equated the colour of any particular key as something independant of the
temperament, refering to the temperament as only tinting the colour.

I suppose we will never quite understand exactly what this perfect or absolute
pitch is all about.. but it sure is interesting.

JStan40@AOL.COM wrote:

> 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

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway