<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>absolute pitch</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <STYLE type=text/css></STYLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2912" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none"> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left>-----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of Alan R. Barnard Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 11:56 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: RE: absolute pitch </DIV> Two more things I've witnessed: A young man, who's father was a well-known MB Baptist gospel singer, has a remarkable ear. You can play any chord, in any inversion, with any color (7ths, 9ths, 11ths ...) and he will identify the chord by name and spell for you the exact notes you played.  Well, even I can do that.  I think lots of musicians can.   I had a conservatory trained pianist (earning his living as a math teacher) as a client before he moved. Once we were discussing the finer points of tuning and historical temperaments--he was well-versed in both--while I was tuning. In tuning a string somewhere in the middle of the piano, we could hear a high ringing harmonic that was quite prominent. He said: "You've got a stray F# there. Sure enough it was like the seventh partial, or something, of the note I was tuning and was, indeed, an F#7. I just stared at him till he said: "It's a curse for a pianist."  That's not so special.  I can do that also.  I don't think it's that rare.  But to tell if it's x number of cents flat or sharp would be rare.   --David Nereson, RPT  Alan Barnard Salem, MO Joshua 24:15 </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>