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I have good relative pitch, but not perfect pitch. I've come across various conflicting views on whether or not it's possible to develop it as an adult. What do you think?

I've also come across many CD and software courses which claim to develop it. Does anyone have any experience with these, or recommendations?

Thanks

First things first: Why would you want to develop "perfect pitch"?

Regards,

oh Bruce...I'm so glad you asked that. I typed it...decided I sounded like a snot and didn't post it!!!

I wasn't feeling particularly "snotty" when I asked the question, nor was I being facetious. I really wonder why one would want to develop this faculty - if even it can be developed, and at considerable expense of time and energy - particularly in light of the fact that the person posting the question already has good relative pitch.

are you kidding perfect pitch would be the greatest thing in the world...if I had it I'd just bug everybody by telling them what note various noises are. Think about it bird calls, oven beepers, car horns, children screaming you'd know all the notes...id be great.

double post

My sister has perfect pitch (can name the pitch of humming tires, bird calls, etc.), and she can play by ear but has difficulty with sight reading. Her perfect pitch is directly related to her ability to play by ear (and transpose at will). Her way of learning a piece has always been to listen to it a few times, then reproduce it, even fairly complex compositions. She has always had perfect pitch -- it was an inborn trait with her. She doesn't recall ever not having it. So I've always assumed perfect pitch was inborn, not learned. I'd be overjoyed to find out I'm wrong!

You cannot develp perfect pitch, you are either born with it or without it - you may be able to tune up your ear good enough to recognize single piano tones - but someone with true perfect pitch could look at a page from a Mahler symphony and hear everything in correct context in their head.

But the whole perfect pitch thing is really umimportant, Okay, true - having it is a distinct advangate, but it is no correlation to talent ,and those who have it are primarily those who's parents are musicians or who started at a very young age with mothers who would make them sing and reproduce pitches, etc.

Heck, the best part is Schumann, Wagner,Stravinsky,Ravel, Tchaikowsky and Alfred Brendel are lackers of it.
( here I would insert a smiely if I knew how)
=D

Interesting post!

So...which famous musicians/composers had perfect pitch?

- Sarah

............The rest lol

Hey, whats wrong with having Perfect Pitch, it's so damn helpful. You can listen to a Bach Piece or some piece of music and be able to write it out in very easily.

It also helps when you have to go to University, and you have to take Aural Lessons and you already know the stuff.

It's great. It's very helpful, and it helps you pass TEE Exams in High School. HEE HEE.

On the other hand, when someones singing just slightly out of pitch, and you can hear it... It sounds like someones scratching on a chalkboard... It's very painful.

It is a great blessing unless you have a piano which is out of tune.

duh... eh... I don't use it for those thing actually.... :rolleyes:

Well, I can't remember NOT having *it* After learning the names of the keys on the piano, say after 5-6 lessons, I knew them to hear them. It was and still is an advantage. Reaper is right; it did make ear training classes toooo easy But on the other hand, it was difficult back then to navigate pieces that didn't *sound* like they *looked*. Let's say you're signing in a choir, you're sightreading a piece and the director chooses to raise or lower it a half or whole step....it was tricky... And btw, I know many impeccable musicians that don't have *it*. Just my $.02

That's a good question (and not snotty! )

First of all, I realise that it's perfectly possible to be a brilliant musician without it, and that having it doesn't guarantee good general musicianship (particularly if it leads to neglect of other areas). I also realise it could be a liability in some situations, like playing/singing in an off-key ensemble, or listening to a badly tuned instrument.

But there are still various reason why I'd like it. Partly because, like the mountain, it's just there - it's a fun challenge. Partly too because I want to be a well rounded musician (not just a pianist), and I think it'd be a valuable asset, and a good complement to relative pitch. I am attempting to improve my playing by ear skills & it would improve my tonal memory. It would be useful when composing away from an instrument - I can write down melodies quite accurately, using relative pitch, but not always in the right key. I also have trouble with identifying the harmonies I hear in my head. I'd like to be able to sing accurately at sight, and just for my own personal satisfaction, I'd like to be able to listen to music & identify the key it's in.
And yes, I also like the idea of being able to tell someone that their dog's barking a B flat or whatever (not that that's a great reason to have it, I know!).

Anyway, it might turn out that I can't do it, but being the optimistic type, I'm going to ignore the sceptics (because while I appreciate the input, I just have to try stuff for myself) & give it a go, using the David Lucas Burge course [more info here http://www.perfectpitch.com/research.htm ]and I've also found some free software to download that can be used for random note testing http://www.brenthugh.com/eartest/ and http://www.pitchtrain.com/

Bruce,

I wasn't suggesting that you were being snotty, just that I felt snotty asking...because I think the idea that perfect pitch is anything more than a mildly interesting curiosity is silly. It's an absolute curse for singers as it's frequently the case that one is forced to sing with instruments that are not in tune. Orchestras sometimes intentionally tune high. Pianos are often low. When I was in conservatory, there was a grad student with PP who had a nice enough voice, but always sang sharp on noon recitals because the piano in the convocation hall was low. It was agonizing to listen to her!

It seems most useful as a parlor trick.
Neutrino, let us know if you accomplish your goal...and if it's all you dreamed it would be!

Neutrino--

Please report back on your progress using these programs for ear training. Even if you don't achieve "perfect" pitch, let us all know what the result was. I'd settle for being able to play by ear, perfect pitch or no perfect pitch!

can you do that only if you have perfect pitch?

What do you call someone who can hear a note and know what it is and know if it's out of tune but can't figure out what note a dog is barking?

I actually knew a musician who was born without and has "developed" it to a point where he can instantly recognize notes almost 100% on any instrument.
I never believed it and I'm still skeptical, but it was pretty neat to see developing it actually work...

The best thing about having perfect pitch, (when you have solid and very fast Perfect Pitch skills) is that you can listen to a piece on a CD or something, and you can learn it faster, because in your mind - you've already figured out some of the notes.

I can learn pieces a lot faster this way. I just listen to the CD a couple of times, and walk up to the piano and play.

And cheekily enough, It has helped my Sight-reading skills a lot. I may not have played the piece I'm about to sight-read, but if I've heard it, it makes it so much easier.