Does anyone know anyone with the ability of 'Absolute Pitch', or do you have it?

And if your wondering what im tlaking about, ill tell you what Absolute Pitch is.

Absolute tone is the ability to know what note is being played without it being played in relation to another tone. In other words, you know what note is being played without another note being played.

Another explanation : Someone can tell what note is being played, but he/she has to be played another note and given the other notes 'note'. Another person can be given just one note, with no other note to compare it to and tell what it is. The second person has Absolute Pitch.

EDIT:God, I knew I got somthing worong on my post! Thanks for correcting me Al.

To me it sounds better if it's called absolute/perfect *pitch* ^^

I sorta have relative pitch . . give me a note and the pitch name, and I can probably figure out most of other notes without being told the pitch name. Helps with transcribing!

But also . . I don't know how to explain it, but maybe I have a bit of absolute pitch ability? Because I remember a few years back when my dad was driving me home from school, I'd listen to the classical music radio station. And the program would always start off with the same introductory song. Somehow, probably after weeks of listening to the same thing over and over again, I was just able to predict the starting note pitch seconds before it'd play o.0

lol. I can listen to music [like 20 times though] and be able to play out the melody..I dont think that counts though

I have perfect pitch... almost. A few times I misheard the key of a piece to be just 1 semitone higher than it really was (e.g. F# major instead of F major).

Is perfect pitch developed when classical/highy technical music is played to you as a baby? Or is that just an urban myth?

Well, you don't have to begin as a child to gain perfect pitch. It's something people are born with, but it can be trained up later in life. As for me, I've always had a sense of it.. I mean, if I hear a song, I can play it, but I can't always name single notes like "duuuun" - A#

No one is born with any abilities like that. Its somthing you grow up learning.

In National Discovery [the magazine], there was an artical about it. It said children who grow up with musical instruments are more likely to have the gift then children who just sit around and listen to music. Also, this was very weirds to me. Asians are more likely to have it caucasians because most of the languages in Asia are multi-tonal, as in the tones change pitch VERY OFTEN. As with European languages, almost every arnt multi-tonal, or even all arnt. They did a survay in a collage of music in Hong Kong and New York to see how many students had Perfect Pitch. 7 percent of non-asian freshmen had Perfect Pitch in New York, Compared to the 63 percent in Hong Kong.

But language may have nothing to do with it. In Japan, the traits for Perfect Pitch was relativly high compared to the west, but Japanese isnt a multi-tonal
language.

I think thats very weird O_o

No one is born with any abilities like that. Its somthing you grow up learning.

Not true. There are people who are born with it, and then further developing it when playing an instrument.

herm..Learn somthing new each day :P

You're probably right about the asian thing though, you're the one with the stats after all.

DAMN Dubble posT! DAMN KEYbOard! it just caps by it self!

but yeah, a just read it in national-geo, so dont get mad at me if you will!

Yes, I do have absolute pitch. I didn't know it had a name for it lol.

People are usually born with perfect pitch, though some could learn it with enough training.

Actually, I was born with it... I can keep rediciculously in tune when I play an instrument, especially Bass Clarinet, where the pitch goes weird with every note

People who are born with absolute pitch and recognize a single note and could recognize multiple notes are good in Widowing Musical pieces. You know, people who could play a song, a piece just by hearing the song numerous times or for those who are really gifted could even play it once.

I am not good in widowing pieces nor songs, I could just play the melody from the right hand perfectly so that means I am a singular monotone listener. I could only memorize the melody or just one piece of chord in a piece. But for those people gifted with that abilty, they are considered multi homophonic listener or what people say, "THE WIDOWIST"... Cool name, I wish I was one...

Uhm, did you know guys that Mozart, Beethoven and Bach could play a piece just by hearing it once. Mozart did it when he was performing in front of a queen of england or something, he copied a piece well, people recognized it but then he suddenly added a twist of his own then came back to the original piece. So yeah, people were astounded by that feat. As for beethoven, knowing that he could still play the piano when he was still blind. His ability for hearing notes perfectly helped him to still play the piano, even though he was blind. I don't know for Bach, what was the story behind that. But I also heard that Lizst was a widowist and Rachmanninov too...

Ahh, famous people with the ability. No wonder... I wish I was a WIDOWIST... I like the sound of that...

I don't know that story about Mozart (sounds kinda similar to the feat he performed for Salieri's piece in the movie, Amadeus), but I do know another story in which he listened to Allegri's Misere (a multi-part choral work that was deemed so sacred back then that nobody could take home the score to practice) only once and copied it down almost perfectly from memory.

I don't know that story about Mozart (sounds kinda similar to the feat he performed for Salieri's piece in the movie, Amadeus), but I do know another story in which he listened to Allegri's Misere (a multi-part choral work that was deemed so sacred back then that nobody could take home the score to practice) only once and copied it down almost perfectly from memory.

The power of being a Widowist... Dang, need to practice myself... :heh: :heh: If only I'd have that ablility. Playing pieces would be a sinch... :hey:

Actually, perfect pitch is not good for violinists, Tokoy. Because violins don't use regular tones all the time. ie: G sharp is different from A flat. It's a little bit higher. Not much of a difference really, but it drives people with perfect pitch crazy.

I know a cellist with perfect pitch... he can tell what pitch a straw makes as it is pushed into the lid of a fast food soda cup. :blink: He hates the ability, though, even as he uses it to show off. ^_^

I know a cellist with perfect pitch... he can tell what pitch a straw makes as it is pushed into the lid of a fast food soda cup. :blink: He hates the ability, though, even as he uses it to show off. ^_^

He hates the ability!? I want that ability! Can he also tell you how many hertz the sound is?

Ekh, the differences between equal tempering and Pythagorean tempering or whatever it actually is... I guess you can really go bonkers if your ears encounter a different tempering method.

har har i have a semi-perfect pitch i.e most of the time i can tell what not it is without needing another note, but it doesn't work all the time

Actually, perfect pitch is not good for violinists, Tokoy. Because violins don't use regular tones all the time. ie: G sharp is different from A flat. It's a little bit higher. Not much of a difference really, but it drives people with perfect pitch crazy.

I know a cellist with perfect pitch... he can tell what pitch a straw makes as it is pushed into the lid of a fast food soda cup. :blink: He hates the ability, though, even as he uses it to show off. ^_^
It's pretty bad for choral music too - it's often transposed. So you'd be looking at a score and singing two pitches lower or something. Drives the perfect pitch guy in my choir nuts.

Exactly. It's because on the cello, not every note is the same. On the piano, A flat = G sharp. That's a tempered scale.

I dunno if he knows the hertz... I think he went back to Cincinatti, so I can't ask him. x_x

Actually, perfect pitch is not good for violinists, Tokoy. Because violins don't use regular tones all the time. ie: G sharp is different from A flat. It's a little bit higher. Not much of a difference really, but it drives people with perfect pitch crazy.

I know a cellist with perfect pitch... he can tell what pitch a straw makes as it is pushed into the lid of a fast food soda cup. :blink: He hates the ability, though, even as he uses it to show off. ^_^

I am a violinist myself but took playing the piano as a proffesion. I do know that fact but still a piano can be played in a atonal focus but then the violin is more of a transgresional playing, thus having that ability in a violin player does not have to recognize the exact pitch nor exact chord recognition. It would even be great for a violinist to convert pieces in different chords.

Mozart convert pieces from the piano into the quartet violin orchestra knowing that it could never define in one violin alone. And he made in into a different chord pitch but the exact notes are of the replica.

I guess, mozart was just too good and too awesome to have that ability that he even found a glitch in his ability.

So I guess, in having that ability... It does need practice. Imagine, just listening to a piece and having be able to play it at the instant... :heh:

Ah, I see. The ability is greatest for piano players, I think. Violinists... some people can sort of turn the ability off, so that they're not cringing every time they have to play G sharp different from A flat, but some people have a difficult time with it.

Nobody really has defined it for the person yet have they? Perfect pitch is where you can tune a note perfectly - nothing to do with replicating something played I think. <shrugs>

Nobody really has defined it for the person yet have they? Perfect pitch is where you can tune a note perfectly - nothing to do with replicating something played I think. <shrugs>
Having perfect pitch helps when transcribing, I guess.

Yeah, should do. I never said it wouldn't. Transcibing can be quite tough sometimes.