<html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> John:   Please quote your sources more accurately.  I did not write that, somebody else did.    David Love davidlovepianos@comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com   -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of John Delacour Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 1:34 AM To: Pianotech List Subject: RE: A 435 or A 440 ?   At 4:51 pm -0700 26/7/06, David Love wrote:   >I really question the concept of perfect pitch. Most people that >claim that they or other family members have this trait are not >accurate. What percentage of these people would be able to >distinguish between two freshly tuned, similar pianos one at 440 and >the other at 443. Especially if they would hear each after a period >of time where they wouldn't have a fresh reference in their head.                   I know well a pianist who has bought several pianos from me over the years and worked with me for a few weeks to learn the basics of piano technology.  His sense of pitch is extraordinarily accurate, within a few cents, and I have tested him several times.  My tuner also knows him well and has discussed the question with him.  He is always very close but his sense of pitch is slightly impaired if he is tired or unwell.  It may well be that very few people have such an accurate sense of pitch (according to one researcher, 1 in 10,000 in the USA) but that doesn't mean nobody does.  The phenomenon is well known and researched. The Wikipedia article on this topic seems, for once, to be quite a good introduction <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_pitch>   To anyone who might dismiss Absolute Pitch through envy I would suggest that they reconsider, since the ability is often more of a bane than a blessing.  My friend is a case in point;  he is extraordinarily fussy and very quickly tires of any piano he plays. His latest acquisition is a 1970s Steinway D which to me is a very uninteresting and flawed example.  In a year or so he will be wanting something different.  I doubt very much whether he could ever be a tuner, since he would always be second-guessing the laws of nature and of equal temperament.   JD </div> </body> </html>