# To those with perfect pitch. How to develop it when you already have it.



## Romeo (Nov 3, 2014)

Excuse me for bad English. It is not my native language. 
Have you noticed that perfect pitch is like hallucinations? You hear that piano, violin, heels literally sing you "fa", "do", "re", "sol" etc. Yes, people, parrots. some computer programs and robots can produce this sounds but not a violin.And everything you have to do is to write down or tell what this hallucinations tell you. And it is always right. You do not have to think, compare the notes, just write down what you hear. Do you hear literally the names of notes, that are produced by musical instruments as I or not?


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## stevens (Jun 23, 2014)

Hm...dont know exactly what you mean by hallucinations here. For me its more like the natural ability to immediately recognize the taste of apples, oranges, bananas, etc. I dont *hear* the name of the fruits. - I never hear the name "banana" when i eat a banana and I never hear the name of a tone when I hear it


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## Guest (Nov 3, 2014)

Funny story: I don't have perfect pitch. I have an exceptional memory though, so here's how I do it:

If I hear a note or interval and I decide to identify it, I go through this process in a few seconds: 1) think of a song I've heard a million times that I know uses that note or that interval. 2) play the measure/bar/song in my head. 3) compare.

So I hear a note that sounds suspiciously like a D or E or something but I actually have no clue because I don't have perfect pitch, then I put "Smoke On The Water" on my mental iPod. If the "E" in my head matches whatever I'm trying to identify, well I'd guess it's an "E".


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I think attempting to acquire perfect pitch when you don't have it is like attempting to play golf like Phil Mickelson when you are a 20 handicap.

If you already have it, what's there to develop?


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I have perfect pitch, but only when I'm in Wal-Mart. The flourescent lights buzz at 60 Hz (Bb), so I am able to reference any note.


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## stevens (Jun 23, 2014)

millionrainbows said:


> I have perfect pitch, but only when I'm in Wal-Mart. The flourescent lights buzz at 60 Hz (Bb), so I am able to reference any note.


-I have a friend who can tune his violin using his tinnitus.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

arcaneholocaust said:


> Funny story: I don't have perfect pitch. I have an exceptional memory though, so here's how I do it:
> 
> If I hear a note or interval and I decide to identify it, I go through this process in a few seconds: 1) think of a song I've heard a million times that I know uses that note or that interval. 2) play the measure/bar/song in my head. 3) compare.
> 
> So I hear a note that sounds suspiciously like a D or E or something but I actually have no clue because I don't have perfect pitch, then I put "Smoke On The Water" on my mental iPod. If the "E" in my head matches whatever I'm trying to identify, well I'd guess it's an "E".


I had a really weird experience a bit like that in an aeroplane on Sunday.
Prior to the flight, I had been composing a scherzo, and had to leave in rather a hurry, so I was still thinking about the music. Strangely enough, I was able to tell what pitches the sounds on the planes were. The tone before the announcements was a tuning A, the engines taking off were a very low D.
Maybe it was because I hadn't finished composing. I think psychologists say that it is easier to remember things that you have left incomplete.
And by the way, I don't have perfect pitch.


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## Dupamplont (Nov 2, 2014)

I can't help but think of this Paul McCartney quote about the Beatles' _Revolver_ album: _"Just to show how wrong one can be, I was in Germany on tour just before Revolver came out. I started listening to the album, and I got really down because I thought the whole thing was out of tune. Everyone had to reassure me that it was OK."_


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

*How To Develop Your Perfect Pitch When You Already Have It:*

Learn all 12 note names.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Twice a day you, exactly at dawn and dusk, you must stand on your head one leg straight up the other tucked behind the knee in the "4" position, arms outstretched, mouth open in a perfect O -shape and you must vocalize "ooooooooooohhh" at 440 hz concert pitch for one hour. After a week of this your perfect pitch will be permanently internalized.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

A lot of people seem to have a romantic notion about perfect pitch.

Or maybe I was too distracted by the second-order combination tones? From my decidedly not made-up compound, chordal tinnitus. Now how do I get my hands [ears?] on a polyphonic variant? :lol:


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

A straight answer:

Those with 'absolute hearing' only need learn the names of the notes but could already identify individual pitches before learning anything about do, re, etc. Their hearing, and the connection, is inborn fine-tuned. A person with absolute pitch can tell you what pitch the squeak of a door is, or if it is 'in tune.' _In western cultures, the native ability of absolute hearing happens in about one out of every ten thousand people._ (Rate of occurrence is much higher in Asia, and countries where the native language uses the same word-sound but then has pitch-level distinctions for different meanings.)

The rest of us who want / need to, learn _Relative Pitch._ This is gained through Solfege, or ear-training. That is a progressive study which, like anything, requires practice. By the time the undergraduate music major requirements were met, all of us music majors could take a dictation of a four-part (tonal) chorale, sight-sing and take a dictation of an atonal line. After the training, you can identify chords, their inversions, etc. When I was very much in practice not long after that training, I could pull A440 out of 'thin air' at any moment, and by 'hearing' intervals, come up with any other pitch.

Relative pitch is what you want to develop, and is something every musician who has trained through undergraduate university or conservatory has as part of their everyday equipment. Study of it does not have to wait until university level -- in fact, the sooner, the better.

Best regards.


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## Animato (Dec 5, 2013)

There is nothing to add to PetrB contribution. Thank you, PetrB ! - Nevertheless I would like to tell some of my experiences. I do not have "perfect pitch", "absolute hearing" (or in german: absolutes Gehoer). But it occured to me, that I sing/humm a melody in the correct tune when it comes into my mind. Example: I have got some of Beethoven's melodies (from his symphonies) in my mind - and when I start the CD, I recognize I memorized the melody in the correct tune. I think it is the character of the sounds of some instruments which teach you to get a "absolute hearing".


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