[pianotech] OT: Perfect pitch and temperaments

wimblees at aol.com wimblees at aol.com
Tue Mar 17 11:18:21 PDT 2009


I believe that people with "perfect pitch" also have?"photographic memory". In other words, they have learned and retained what pitches sound like,?the same way people learn and retain other?other information by just reading it. 

I have encountered several people with "perfect pitch". One was a young lady who worked for me for a while. I had her tune the?temperament octave by ear, (without doing the intervals). I checked the tuning with my SAT, and she could have passed the exam.? 

There?is also a story of a young lady who said she had perfect pitch, but when tested, all the notes were off by a half step. She had learned he perfect pitch on a piano that was tuned a half step low. 


Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Mililani, Oahu, HI
808-349-2943
Author of: 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com


-----Original Message-----
From: KeyKat88 at aol.com
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 2:25 am
Subject: [pianotech] OT: Perfect pitch and temperaments



Greetings, 

?

????? How can anyone have perfect pitch?

?

????? Yesterday, ?I tuned for a retired piano tuner, who had tuned his piano about 3 months ago. (I dont know why he hired me) He?says he has perfect pitch.? ?Lo and behold, when I examined his work, although 3 months a "worn" tuning, it was pretty much "dead on".

?

?????Question: ?Now, if a person "au?moderne" (nowdays) says they have perfect pitch, were/are humans' ears built differently than say, in Beethoven's day, where those living at that time?who claimed that they had perfect pitch???

?

????? I dont get it.?Does the human ear get used to what temperaments are in vogue at the time?

?

Julia

Reading, PA?


Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less.

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