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Perfect Pitch is like a Language Only Babies Can Be Taught

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Kevin Ashe

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Cool video. I have seen this before and I am also one who Believed/believe that you can develop,  let's say, a more perfect pitch than what you thought you could. Probably not to the point of this mans son.....but to a practical use.

The sounds are already there. Like this mans son, an association needs to be put in place. How many of you can hear the first note of a song and know what song is getting ready to play on your radio or mp3 player? I would say for everyone there is at least one song whose beginning note will immediately bring the song to mind. You only need to associate 12 notes. Pink Cadillac by Bruce Springsteen. E,  Bad Company "Can' Get Enough of your Love" C, Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Sweet Home Alabama"  D.......

On lynyrd Skynyrds live album "one more for the road" (original album) someone is tuning his guitar right before the Song "Gimme 3 steps",  When restringing my guitar I remember those sounds and match them. I may not end up being perfect but I am within a few cents of being on pitch when I check with tuner.

How many of you mechanics out there can have a pocket full of sockets and when someone asks for a 9/16 can pull that socket out of your pocket on first attempt? 

Producing the correct pitch with your voice from memory is another matter for that uses a different skill set. Absolute pitch may not be obtainable but but a relatively high degree can be "Learned", or reprogrammed is a better word.

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Thankyou so much for posting that. But he did not say we cant improve our pitch!

 

Hear are some interesting points I found in the video on how to improve pitch

1. quoted; have acquired perfect pitch as an adult. Its not imposible. The secret is "hypnosis"
2. quoted, you would be much better of working on relative pitch and sole-fesh
3. Velpro is an anti sesuall medicen

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On 2/25/2018 at 2:26 PM, MDEW said:

Probably not to the point of this mans son.....but to a practical use.  agreed. relative pitch is good enough, however, it is nice to have a perfect pitch person around when composing/jamming.  plus, how cool would it be to tune your guitar without a tuner? cool, i say!

The sounds are already there. Like this mans son, an association needs to be put in place. How many of you can hear the first note of a song and know what song is getting ready to play on your radio or mp3 player? I would say for everyone there is at least one song whose beginning note will immediately bring the song to mind. You only need to associate 12 notes. Pink Cadillac by Bruce Springsteen. E,  Bad Company "Can' Get Enough of your Love" C, Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Sweet Home Alabama"  D.......

On lynyrd Skynyrds live album "one more for the road" (original album) someone is tuning his guitar right before the Song "Gimme 3 steps",  When restringing my guitar I remember those sounds and match them. I may not end up being perfect but I am within a few cents of being on pitch when I check with tuner.

great idea Joe!

How many of you mechanics out there can have a pocket full of sockets and when someone asks for a 9/16 can pull that socket out of your pocket on first attempt? 

repetition. practice makes relative. :) 

 

the whole history behind how a pitch standard was established is interesting also:

https://www.piano-tuners.org/history/pitch.html

 

 

 

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On 2/25/2018 at 4:07 PM, Atkinson The Bop! said:

Thankyou so much for posting that. But he did not say we cant improve our pitch!

yeah! as you can see in my response to MDEW's points, there's plenty of room to improve! you just gotta train, and associate. 

 

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      There are certain characteristics about sound frequencies that you can learn to recognize. This could give someone a boost in gaining "perfect Pitch".  Of course I have to follow that with the statement that there is no such thing as "perfect Pitch", as you may have read in the article provided by Kevin that the standard for "A" above middle C can be anywhere from 421hz to 455hz. Just as you can have variations in colors (like cherry apple red compared to crimson red and so forth....they are generally red. Same with lime green and grass green: still they are green.)   you can have variations in frequencies that will still retain the characteristic until it passes into the adjacent "Note". Octaves share these characteristics also. 

        The most used comparison  to illustrate this is F# compared to Eb.  F# is shrill and sustains or resonates more than other notes. Eb is somber and the sound dies quicker.  

    Chords are made up of groups of notes with common harmonics. A basic C chord is made up of the notes C, G and E.  If you hold down the G key on an acoustic piano and strike the nearest "C" the G note will also vibrate or make sound because of the harmonic relationship between the two frequencies. Long story short is that the inherent harmonics of a note will give the above mentioned characteristics, The F# being shrill or resonant and the Eb being somber.

      The chords themselves also have characteristic because we do not have a perfect scale ( Each scale would have its own frequencies) but a tempered scale that is based on the starting frequency. In most cases A being equal to 440hz.  The harmonic notes in a chord would interact in certain ways to make the chord more or less "In Tune" or resonant  giving certain qualities that can be recognized and distinct from another chord. 

      It would not be hard for even the average musician to recognize a D chord and then state he "Heard"  the notes D F# and A.  

     I could elaborate more but most of you are asleep by now..... 

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