I, for one, am glad I do not have perfect pitch. It would seem a curse to agonize over missed notes occuring during any performance.
Charlie |
I second that,just about everything has pitch problems. How could you enjoy anything? |
I have it and I am partly happy with it and partly not. The good thing is that I can adjust to a higher pitched piano in a concert hall f.e.without being distracted too much. The great thing having perfect pitch is a deeper sense of listening INTO the music. Like looking at a very colorfull picture and being able to see all the little hints of different colors very precisely.
The drawback is that all the "historical" recorded or played stuff really is confusing at times when you know it should be b-minor and actually is b flat minor for your hearing. The worst is that it is impossible to sing or play different notes from those on the paper if you are making music. A written c has to be a c or you get crazy. |
I think some may be confusing 'perfect pitch' with sense of relative pitch. If there is really such a thing as 'tone (should actually be 'pitch', I suppose) deafness', that would be the inability to recognize discordant relative pitch, and I for one don't really believe this exists, though obviously there will be different degrees of proficiency in recognizing subtle disharmony or wandering intonation. 'Perfect pitch' is supposed to be the ability to correctly identify pitches as named notes, not some extraordinary sensitivity to out-of-tuneness in ensemble, which based on my own experience is easily enough perceived even by those who don't possess perfect pitch. However, I have heard where those who do have perfect pitch ability can sometimes be driven to distraction when a piece is played in fine and consistent relative harmony, but just a bit off from what their brain tells them is the 'correct' absolute frequency of the key in question. |
Aida_w, not to be impolite or anything, but how could you possibly know whether or not you hear the music any differently than me, other than being able to identify pitch names correctly, and maybe being bothered by 'off-pitch' keys? |
William Schumann and others demonstrated that true tone deafness is as rare as ptomane poisoning. Pitch recognitions can be taught and learned. By using Curin hand signals and Solfege syllables,the intervalic relationships among pitches can be kinesthetically reenforced.
I hae seen Kodaly trained music teachers in public schools get first graders to the point where they can recall and sing an A after about four or five minutes without singing. Yes,you can activate and make more coordinated the parts of your brain that function as a "mind's ear" to recall tone.
Can you hear tones in your brain? If you can, you can improve your pitch recognition-with practice. |
If memory serves me right, this prof said that something like five percent of the general population is "tone deaf". Maybe those are the audio high-enders! He also mentioned that different portions of the brain are involved in pitch processing, rhythm processing and the distinguishing different voices and various musical instruments. At his point no one is willing to correlate perfect pitch to audiophilia. I guess being a golden eared listener has more to do with voodoo, magic and mystical powers. |
There is an interesting story about pitch..perfect or otherwise.
At one time the internationally accepted standard for pitch was... middle A as played by the Vienna Opera. This developed into an international fracas because the Vienna musicians tuned a half note sharp, because this made all their productions sound more brilliant. Singers complained that their voices were strained. I forget all the details, but the story would make a good basis for a comic opera. |
Talking comic opera, don't you think audiophilia nervosa might be the basis for an intresting one, albeit only understandable by more "objective" 'philes. It's only a bloody record player, you know. Good tunes. |
Yes, I have it as well and it is a mixed blessing. The
amazing thing to me are the number of artists that have
incredible abilities but don't even have their instuments
truly in tune. Or worse yet, singers who get close to the
note their trying to hit and never quite get there. How
can this stuff really get to the marketplace? I was just
last night listening to Jesse Cook, who is a marvelous
talent on flamengo guitar, great stuff but PLEASE........
somebody get that instrument in key!!! |
Yes, I have it as well and it is a mixed blessing. The amazing thing to me are the number of artists that have
incredible abilities but don't even have their instuments
truly in tune. Or worse yet, singers who get close to the
note their trying to hit and never quite get there. How
can this stuff really get to the marketplace? I was just
last night listening to Jesse Cook, who is a marvelous
talent on flamengo guitar, great stuff but PLEASE........ somebody get that instrument in key!!! |
I don't play any musical instruments but can usually whistle passages of a tune I've just heard for the first time pretty much in key. A friend here at work has the same enthusiasm for whistling as I do, but when he responds to a song I have no idea what he's whistling.
Is this what you mean? |
Pbb....You should hear a song by the 1960's British comic duo Swann and Flanders. The song is "Song of Reproduction" the second cut on Angel LP 35797 (mono) titled "At the Drop of a Hat", which was the name of their Broadway show. They made one other record that I know of, Angel 36112 (Stereo) "At the Drop of Another Hat". Both recordings will have you rolling in the aisles. |
Aida-w, your description reminds me of the time I dropped acid and listened to Jimi Hendrix. WOW!!! |
Dwudman - it depends on which occasion you listened to Hendrix. Sometimes he was only bearable when you were stoned - sometimes he was so brilliant that you didn't want to be. So Hendrix always was a tricky number.
Let's commemorate Noel Redding, the Experience's bass player, once again who died recently in Ardfield (near Clonakilty) Ireland. He was a neighbour to our summer cottage down there and we lost a real gentle soul and a great man.
May he rest in peace. |
