perfect pitch in animals

[Z! Reinhardt]

A few years ago a customer of mine had taken in her piano teacher's cocker
spaniel for a couple of weeks.  When I came over to work on the piano, the
customer greeted me with "Listen to this!"

She played an assortment of excerpts from her repertoire.  Nothing happened.
She played something in A minor.  The dog ran and took her place at the
curve of the piano, faced her audience, and sang like a proper little
contra-alto.  She transposed that exceprt into a different key and the dog
abandoned her efforts at singing.  As soon as she started playing something
else in A minor, the dog came running back and performed again.

"She only does this when I'm playing in A minor."

It was pretty comical to watch, but it was kind of scarey to think that the
dog could discern key signatures better than many humans.

Z! Reinhardt  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net


----- Original Message -----
From: <Tvak@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 11:41 PM
Subject: perfect pitch in animals


>>>snip<<<

Anyone ever run across this phenomenon of an animal seemingly having the
ability to recognize pitch?  (Or do you think this was this just a
coincidence?)

Tom S.
Chicago PTG Associate