What d Y think? D Y think it's essential for a composer to have a perfect pitch???

I certainly don't have it and I think it's a large part of why I suck so badly, but then again, I hear that there were a few composers who didn't have perfect pitch, either (I think they were Wagner, Ravel, and Stravinsky). Whether or not that's true, I have no idea (I read it on Wikipedia), but I wouldn't give up hope just yet. Keep in mind that perceiving pitches correctly is only one part of composing. Orchestration, development, and so on are also very important.

Though I have absolute/perfect pitch and I will admit that it helps out A LOT, it is preposterous to think that it's vital in order to be a successful composer. There's plenty of composers-- such as Danny Elfman, Nobuo Uematsu, and others-- that do very well without it.

so let me get this straight, I can say: sing a C#!

and you can sing a perfect C# do that without hearing any notes for a day before that?

I don't have perfect pitch, either.

Its very very very rare... I have never met a single person who has absolute pitch. so, no I dont think its "essential"...

Though I have absolute/perfect pitch and I will admit that it helps out A LOT, it is preposterous to think that it's vital in order to be a successful composer. There's plenty of composers-- such as Danny Elfman, Nobuo Uematsu, and others-- that do very well without it.

I hate to be blunt, but would you really say Elfman or Uematsu are among the greats in classical music? I'm not too familiar with their work, but I can't say I've ever heard of them listed as important contributors to the classical canon.

I hate to be blunt, but would you really say Elfman or Uematsu are among the greats in classical music? I'm not too familiar with their work, but I can't say I've ever heard of them listed as important contributors to the classical canon.

I believe they weren't specifically speaking of classical music, and please, if you don't know of these wonderful musicians, I suggest you familiarize yourself with other composers besides classical ones and keep an open mind when it comes to music (or anything else, for that matter). ^_^

EDIT: BTW, no, I don't have perfect pitch... :think: My friend does though. It scares me. XD

My band teacher, and piano teacher both say i have Perfect Pitch/Absolute pitch. Yes, it is more of a curse than a talent at times.

For ex:

You hear a car screetching-really annoying to listen to
You can tell what instruments are (like 14+ or 3- etc) then you hear an arrangemtn play, and its like 13 sharp and 8 flat-omfg its painful.

Anyway, I can sing in-tune, but I cant sing well so with singing things-doesnt work. I don't know how to perject my voice 'perfectly' but esscentally.

EDIT : I can also have a better memory with sound almost with smell-which is very very weird at times.

@One Yes, mainly you can sing a C# when you say... sing a C#-no matter how long its been since you've heard it. Hard to explain, but you just memorize what the notes sound like.

@Gaki It does help, doesn't it? If you have a melody that pops into your head, can't you memorize it no matter what? Odd, but picking out things aren't tough either.. Its hard to respond to people when they say, "How'd you just play that?" or "Where's the sheet music for that?" Improvising is easier as well. It's odd-Perfect Pitch is more than just telling what notes are which notes-its mainly everything that does with "perfect music and sound hearing"

Do you really not know who Danny Elfman and Nobuo Uematsu are? Elfman is in all the Tim Burton movies, and Uematsu is Final Fantasy.

I believe they weren't specifically speaking of classical music, and please, if you don't know of these wonderful musicians, I suggest you familiarize yourself with other composers besides classical ones and keep an open mind when it comes to music (or anything else, for that matter).

I strongly disagree. Classical is the greatest genre of music. No other genre demands the same level of commitment, skill, and creativity as classical. I think the fact that virtually all classical composers spent at least a decade studying intensely before composing their first published works and had perfect pitch proves that. Just my two cents, though.


Do you really not know who Danny Elfman and Nobuo Uematsu are? Elfman is in all the Tim Burton movies, and Uematsu is Final Fantasy.

Well, I knew that much, but I never really got into either, so I never actually heard their music.

I don't think you should make that big of an assumption: that all classical composers had perfect pitch. Are you including...say...John Williams in your 'Classical' genre? If not, I believe he has all the requirements. Danny Elfman isn't that much worse than John Williams.

I don't think you should make that big of an assumption: that all classical composers had perfect pitch. Are you including...say...John Williams in your 'Classical' genre? If not, I believe he has all the requirements. Danny Elfman isn't that much worse than John Williams.

I'm not sure on Williams, really. I was speaking mostly of the common practice composers, though, rather than modern ones.

I strongly disagree. Classical is the greatest genre of music. No other genre demands the same level of commitment, skill, and creativity as classical. I think the fact that virtually all classical composers spent at least a decade studying intensely before composing their first published works and had perfect pitch proves that. Just my two cents, though.

First of all, I think classical music does not demand the most creativity, but, meh, that's just my opinion. :P

But, what I'm trying to get across is for you to expand your horizon in music, and listen to other genres besides Classical music. That way you create your own unique style as you pick up some things from other sorts of music and stand out. ;)

First of all, I think classical music does not demand the most creativity, but, meh, that's just my opinion.

True, jazz does have the improvization thing that obviously demands a lot of creativity there.


But, what I'm trying to get across is for you to expand your horizon in music, and listen to other genres besides Classical music. That way you create your own unique style as you pick up some things from other sorts of music and stand out.

Well, I got into music because I listened to Bach, Beethoven, and so on and liked what I heard. I'm not interested in rap, techno, or pop.

Ive read that you can train someone to get absolute pitch. I cant remember how, but I read it somewhere *I think it was one of the post on VGP's webbie*

Anyways, I think classical music takes as much dedication and creativity as any other genre's. Do you think Mozart could write a hit single in a rock style? Do you think Green Day can write a hit single in the classical style? Its up to personal taste, but no genre is better then any other, unless your stubborn and wont try somthing new.

Exactly! ;)

Anyways, we're off-topic, aren't we...? XD

This might sound kinda wierd, but I think I might have perfect pitch. It's not like perfect though, like maybe I could work to get better at it, (I'm not actually sure if perfect pitch can be learned though.)

But like I'll be watching TV and hear a certain pitch, and it clicks in my mind "That's the note the Zelda theme starts on," (an A) and I checked on the piano and i was right.

It's not like I can do it on command, it just sometimes happens spontaniously. Like I'll hear a pitch and a song that starts on that pitch begins playing in my head. It hasn't happened lately, but in the past, I can recall relating pitches to the first notes of The Zelda theme, To Zanarkand, and the Hell Song, of all things :heh:

so maybe i do have perfect pitch, and I just need to "hone(sp?) my skills," so to say...

@Starwind: you have *relative* pitch, sorta like me =P

And guys . . ALL music takes creativity. Otherwise it's not 'composition/composing'. And improvisation is simply creativity made up on the spot.

Now to get back on topic, no, absolute pitch is not necessary. Someone with perfect pitch may identify whatever note they hear, but does it help them in coming up with notes for their own song? Nope, only if they're a composer. Otherwise . . *shrugs* C#!!!

so let me get this straight, I can say: sing a C#!

and you can sing a perfect C# do that without hearing any notes for a day before that?

Scarily enough, yes.... O_O My choir teacher was actually so skeptical because she kept on hearing about it that, one day, she asked me sit down, facing away from the piano, and name each note that she played. I named every single note virtually instantly with 100% accuracy, so she went on to basic chords-- those being Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented. Once again, I did it with 100% accuracy (and I even showed off a little by naming their inversions when appropriate). Then she started to play really weird chords, and said that I should either name them properly or just name each note involved, and I did that too. Her last idea was to make up a random melody and have me come up to the piano and play it back correctly-- rhythms and pitches. I guess I'm really special, because I did that as well with only one rhythmic error. O_O;

I don't really know how I do it... The best way I can describe it is through color; whenever I hear a note, there's just a flash of color in my head and, from that vision, I name the note instantly. As for the chord thing, anyone with relative pitch (or just a good ear) should be able to at least label the type of chord; I just take it to the next level by adding absolute pitch into the mix. ^^;

I don't really know how I do it... The best way I can describe it is through color; whenever I hear a note, there's just a flash of color in my head and, from that vision, I name the note instantly. As for the chord thing, anyone with relative pitch (or just a good ear) should be able to at least label the type of chord; I just take it to the next level by adding absolute pitch into the mix. ^^;

That sounds like a condition called synæsthesia.

Relative pitch, eh? heheh, cool.

Noting that thing your saying about colors, I once saw an ad for an ear training program on the back of a guitar magazine. That's exactly what they said. They say the program will train you to hear colors.

That sounds like a condition called synæsthesia.
I just looked at the Wikipedia entry for synaesthesia, and I guess you're right; I'm a synaesthete who possesses absolute pitch.

I just looked at the Wikipedia entry for synaesthesia, and I guess you're right; I'm a synaesthete who possesses absolute pitch.

heh, I just got through reading up on "relative pitch" on Wikipedia.

But I would really like to have perfect pitch. I guess its not something required to be a good musician/composer, but I would think that it does have some benefits.

I know exactly what you're talking about with the whole Zelda thing, Starwind. That happens to me ALL the time!

Ive read that you can train someone to get absolute pitch. I cant remember how, but I read it somewhere *I think it was one of the post on VGP's webbie*


Yeh, even if you don't naturally have perfect pitch, if you work hard enough at it, you should be able to get pretty close - there are actually some software that helps to develop such (though most are for relative pitch).

Shizet is right. I've been practising on such a program and my sense of pitch has increased dramatically. I had always been able to pick out if a song was in F major for some reason, just like some of you guys said... but now I can name most notes (if someone plays a random note) when I hear it.

I can pick out F major, too, because of this choral arrangement we did of called Festival Deck the Halls where the basses had to sing an F over and over again throughout the song, which was indeed in F major.

Hmm... I still wonder if someone still has heard sounds and could hear frequencies?

I don't know, heppened to me on every sound.

EDIT : You guys were saying earlier that no one can really make Mozart write a Rock hit, or Green Day hate Americ mor-I mean, write a classical song.

I have to dissagree. Listen to "Iron Maiden's" music. The old lead singer was trained in classical music form, and is a very brillant composer. I can see what forms that he writes-it's very very nicely put together.

Allthough, he composes Metal (Which my Brother and I say they have their own style of rock/metal) I think the singer could also compose Classical as well, too.

Well, they don't have to necessarily have to have a perfect pitch. It just needs to be good enough to kinda tell which note would sound better for the song and what the note is. Besides, nobody can have a perfect pitch.I don't even know why that word exists since there is nothing perfect around this world.

"Perfect pitch" isn't exactly the proper term for it anyway. It's really supposed to be "absolute pitch," but both are used interchangeably-- the former in less formal settings, and the latter in scientific documentation.

Well, I've read somewhere, we can separate absolute pitch and perfect pitch. Absolute means static right? Well, it's mean you can know if the pitch is too high or too low. But perfect pitch is just know the right pitch, you can't sense the flatness or sharpness of a single tone.. So perfect pitch is part of absolute pitch but not yet become absolute pitch..

Btw, any of you have heard/tried David Lucas Burge Perpect Pitch Training? I want to know bout it.. Any have succeed??

'Any have succeed?' NICE.

I think absolute and perfect are interchangeable. To understand what absolute means, you need to consider the term 'relative'.

Take math for example (a bad example I'll admit). Consider a scale, going from -10 to +10. Then let me pick +5. Now +5 is absolute (or perfect), because it is 5 away from the 0 position.

Then if I pick +7, and if my reference point is +2, then I can say that +7 is still 5 away, but now it's relative to +2.

If you apply this analogy to the sound waves and frequencies of individual notes, absolute/perfect pitch will make more sense.

Well, I've read somewhere, we can separate absolute pitch and perfect pitch. Absolute means static right? Well, it's mean you can know if the pitch is too high or too low. But perfect pitch is just know the right pitch, you can't sense the flatness or sharpness of a single tone.. So perfect pitch is part of absolute pitch but not yet become absolute pitch..

Btw, any of you have heard/tried David Lucas Burge Perpect Pitch Training? I want to know bout it.. Any have succeed??

Mainly, here are the types of talents of sound and music:

Perfect Pitch has more to the word 'pitch' to it, I hope you know that. Perfect Pitch / Absolute Pitch ARE the same thing, no matter the first word. Yes, you can tell if something is flat or sharp, but you can also tell what notes are being played-no matter the instrument or sound type. Only then can you tell if you or someone really has PP/AP. Someone can also be have the 'curse' of PP/AA too. For example, you hear an out of tune band or instrument player-DRIVES YOU NUTS. Which is true, it does hurt, BADLY.

There is another talent, "Ear for Music" in which you can remember anything that has a melody, harmony, notes-anything with sound.

"Soul of Music" contains a state in which a person has total Musicality Enlightenment. They have an Ear for music, PP/AP and even photographic memories. Now, you can have A Soul of Music, or THE Soul of Music. Mozart was THE Soul of Music, and the only one, some others can have some comparisons to this rare selection gift from God which is A Soul of Music.

Anyway, there a lot more Sound and Music talents, and in Can pick up [certain] instruments very well, and play them with all of your heart, soul and life. This is mistaken so much for people now adays. They say, "...Yea, he/she ran through these exercise books..." or,"Yea, he can play things without playing them for a long time!" Well, it matters on the quality of them playing it, and knowing the notes with simplicity and complexity (Chopin & Liszt) with emotion.

'Any have succeed?' NICE.
Well, that wasn't very nice. >>; English may not be Ly'x's first language; and if it is, everyone makes mistakes. There's no need to point them out and embarrass anyone.

But everyone else is right; absolute pitch and perfect pitch are entirely synonymous. I can somewhat see where you're coming from, Ly'x, but you either have it or you don't. ^^;

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean, but I did find it amusing, I must admit. Truthfully, I don't know much about AP/PP, and I don't have either. Honestly, I don't care that much.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean, but I did find it amusing, I must admit. Truthfully, I don't know much about AP/PP, and I don't have either. Honestly, I don't care that much.

Well, no one read my post then.

Sorry for the wrong language...
Btw, what's the different between A soul music and THE soul music?? I don't really understand but I'm pretty interested...

I was "born" with perfect pitch. As in, I could sing in tune. However, I had to train myself to hear a note's pitch. It makes playing easier for me, but not really composing. As of late, my pitch has gone a little sharp (damn my piano going out of tune!) but it is relatively perfect. So... yeah.

Just because you can sing in tune doesn't mean you have perfect pitch.

I have perfect pitch and it drives the teachers in my music department crazy! :shifty:

Just because you can sing in tune doesn't mean you have perfect pitch.

mystery editor, did you mean you can sing a pitch without hearing a note for reference? or just that you can match a pitch you hear with your voice

mystery editor, did you mean you can sing a pitch without hearing a note for reference? or just that you can match a pitch you hear with your voice

Sorry for the wrong language...
Btw, what's the different between A soul music and THE soul music?? I don't really understand but I'm pretty interested...

"The Soul of Music" is what Mozart was, and is. If you had THE Soul of Music, you are what defines music entirely. All and everything about Mozart was music. If other gods would become true, he'd be the God of Sound and Music.

"A Soul of Music" is a person that loves all music entirely, and can feel music through his/her body and soul. Although, they are not absolutely perfect (Mozart) they still love music with all their soul, heart and strength.

Why is Mozart THE Soul of Music? He was a good composer, but I wouldn't say he's anywhere close to being a God. Sometimes his music is quite boring to me...

Why is Mozart THE Soul of Music? He was a good composer, but I wouldn't say he's anywhere close to being a God. Sometimes his music is quite boring to me...

Yeah, same here. He was certainly brilliant, but I never really liked him that much.

"The Soul of Music" is what Mozart was, and is. If you had THE Soul of Music, you are what defines music entirely. All and everything about Mozart was music.

Lol, what a load of bull. Seriously, you sound like one of those über zeleous Christian people who want to convert everyone to their religion.

yeah, "the soul of music" sounds more like an opinion then a true term

Off-topic!

If you like Mozart, great, if not, great.

Lol, what a load of bull. Seriously, you sound like one of those über zeleous Christian people who want to convert everyone to their religion.

What the hell does this have to do with converting and religion? For pete sake, it is an opinion and you make it like I am saying something about converting.

On know this is off-topic, but tell me how this is for converting to my religion?

You misinterpreted him. He was just using an example; he wasn't accusing you of that. People who try to convert others to their religion are well-known to be over-zealous. All he said was that you were over-zealous as well, but only in your attempt to explain the soul of music.

can we all agree that Mozart was a wonderchild? He had extensive musical training wich made him a great piano player for instance and because his world revolved around music, he became a great composer. some claim it was a gift from good and that is fine but the really tragic thing is that the pope abused his "gift" to the extent that he resigned his job, composing music for the pope that is. end of story. besides is it said anywhere that Mozart had "perfect pitch"? now can we drop the subject of mozart and religion and stick to the real subject please...

I have to point one thing out.

if you can pin point only the note C for instance, without a reference, that is absolute pitch.
Most people who have absolute pitch have one note that they know the exact pitch of and can often calculate the other note´s pitches in their mind.

Having perfect pitch can be annoying at times...especially, say, when people sing Happy Birthday. People NEVER sing that song in the same key throughout...it seems like most of the people singing it don't notice, but with perfect/absolute pitch, you notice...and cringe... :P

And yes, perfect pitch is learnable...my sister used to be horrible at it, and now she can identify random pitches...(for a while, she was about a half step to a whole step off, and she kept insisting that I was the one who was off whenever we would sing something spontaneously :P)

Most people who have absolute pitch have one note that they know the exact pitch of and can often calculate the other note´s pitches in their mind.

That's relative pitch.

I thought something like that would be sort of both absolute and relative. The absolute part being able to identify a note without reference and the relative from being able to calculate other notes based off of that single note. Because isn't relative pitch being able to calculate other notes after hearing a certain note, or is it being able to only identify certain pitches?

Having perfect pitch can be annoying at times...especially, say, when people sing Happy Birthday. People NEVER sing that song in the same key throughout...it seems like most of the people singing it don't notice, but with perfect/absolute pitch, you notice...and cringe...

I cringe, too, but I don't have PP/AP.

Ah...true...probably a better example is what happens if you play on an instrument that's exactly a half step out of tune...if you have relative pitch, you won't notice a thing; if you have absolute pitch, you'll have a hard time with it. I believe the really good musicians with absolute pitch will transpose their piece on the spot if they encounter such an instrument (I can't even imagine how they think that fast ><)

I thought something like that would be sort of both absolute and relative. The absolute part being able to identify a note without reference and the relative from being able to calculate other notes based off of that single note. Because isn't relative pitch being able to calculate other notes after hearing a certain note, or is it being able to only identify certain pitches?

Memorizing the pitch of one note (and using it to figure out the other pitches) is not the same as just 'knowing' the pitch (as in absolute).

Memorizing the pitch of one note (and using it to figure out the other pitches) is not the same as just 'knowing' the pitch (as in absolute).

But could you tell the difference between a person who did the first and a person who did the second? The difference would probably be a couple hundredths of a second, meaning it would be drowned out by other variables such as how alert the person is, etc. They are practically the same thing; I guess the only distinction this makes is between the kind that is learned and the kind that is a gift, so unless you've known the person since they were a kid, you wouldn't be able to tell...

Memorizing the pitch of one note (and using it to figure out the other pitches) is not the same as just 'knowing' the pitch (as in absolute).

Oh i see what your saying. So the difference is learning to recognize pitches and just being able to identify them automatically?

Back uin 7th grade my old band director told our class about one of his students with absolute pitch. She was actually tested and they determined that she could Tell the difference between A440 and 442.

and i tried last night, hitting a key on the keyboard without looking, I could identify G, A (most easily), and sometimes C.

Al, I want you to check this out...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_pitch

this clearly states that relative pitch has nothing to do with pinpointing a frequenzie. relative pitch is merely knowing chord colours and intervals...:bleh:

so once again I state that many that has absolute pitch can pin point just one note and then calculate the pitch of any given note, this calculation can be very rapid though, or even subconsious.(this is not proven its just my belief)

Edit: I have a very well developed relative pitch but I certainly, do not have absolute pitch.

relative pitch is very usefull if you are planing to be a singer.
here are two examples of songs that can be used to learn relative pitch though.

the start of the "top gun" -theme is a 1 to 5 and the song " somewhere over the rainbow" starts of with an uncommon 1 to 8 interval...

I just looked at the Wikipedia entry for "Absolute Pitch," and it actually gave two different types of absolute pitch: "passive" or "active." According to that, I have "active" absolute pitch, meaning that if you wanted me to hum an F# out of nowhere, I could do so virtually instantly. it's both a blessing and a curse in Choir, though... I often found myself singing much higher than everyone else in the Tenor section today because my mind subconsciously forces me to stay in key-- I ended the song on an A above middle C while every other Tenor I could hear was about a quarter-tone flat. ><;

hehe, thats so anoying... my choir-leader always placed me between two guys that were always way out of tune. ^_^ ahh the memories...

Al, I want you to check this out...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_pitch

this clearly states that relative pitch has nothing to do with pinpointing a frequenzie. relative pitch is merely knowing chord colours and intervals...:bleh:

No, I said that if you happen to 'memorize' a frequency, then of course you can use that pitch to figure out the other notes, such as intervals and chords (i.e. relative pitch). It just makes it easier if you have a baseline to use.

EDIT:


Most people who have absolute pitch have one note that they know the exact pitch of and can often calculate the other note´s pitches in their mind.

Oops, I found what you were referring to. But my point still stands. How does a person with absolute pitch only know ONE pitch? And then use that to calculate other pitches? And why would they do that? o.0

But anyways, to clarify what I was trying to say earlier (I think we were talking about different things), in the case of relative pitch, if you so happen to memorize one pitch, then yeah, you can figure out the other pitches.

OMG. Today I was accompanying(sp?) the chorus since it was our last rehearsal and the coir director from some high school came to pin-point what the were doing wrong, and she had absolute pitch. It. was. freaky. XD

Yes, my band teacher asked if I had Perfect Pitch. I said, "I think I do. Like, I can try to sing a note on my tuner, and it comes out +0/-0 (Perfect) and when I play my instrument (Clarinet) I am always in tune."

He said, "Yes. You must have, it is strong now, but the way you are growing and developing to it, you will have a most excellent ear."

It's strange that whenever we have a topic about exeptional abilities such as this, we always have a bunch on Ichigo's who claim to possess it. Like the IQ thread, there were lots of people over 130+ (which is very, very high..). There are other similiar topics..

Anyway, not saying you're all lying, but it's just a weird thought I had that Ichigos seems to be the place where all wizards meet for some strange reason.

Although I read somewhere that asian people have a bigger chance of having "perfect pitch" as their language was more complex or something like that.

If I'd compare myself to you guys, I'm tone deaf :/

It is pretty surprising, but I sort of expected at least a few people here to have perfect pitch, since this is a music site. And doesn't musical talent have an effect on your intelligence? Maybe that explains the IQ thing.

And on what you said about Asian people, I wonder if this would apply to asians who don't can't speak their language (like me, not that I have perfect pitch, or I'm not 100% certain on it at the moment anyway)

No it doesn't affect asian people who don't know asian languages. The thing is, most asian spoken languages are multitonal.

I have played piano for a while but just recently started to get into it. I used to have a photographic memory and was a human calculator for a brief period of time. While I can't name any note someone plays on the spot if I think about it hard for a while ( 2-3 minutes) by comparing it to other notes in songs I've played I can almost always identify it. Occasionally something just clicks and I know what note something is , but this only happens every few days. Do I just have a good memory or am I on the road to perfect pitch?

What you have is often termed "relative" pitch, and many musicians develop this as they progress.

Classical is the greatest genre of music.

*cough* no *cough*

No, absolute pitch is not essential in order to become a good composer, musician, transcriber, etc. Although it is helpful, I'd choose a highly developed sense of relative pitch over absolute/perfect pitch any day. For those of you who don't know, yes, absolute pitch may give you the ability to lock on to a note without any prior knowledge or ability, but absolute pitch has its own downsides too. What do I mean? Well, as many of you musicians may know, instruments such as the piano sag in pitch, meaning that the moment any of them are tuned, they begin to go flat. Now if you had absolute pitch, you'd only have knowledge of a note on tune. This is a handicap because your singing would not be in tune with the piano. Whereas, if you had a highly developed sense of relative pitch, you'd be able to tell which note is which whether it'd be a bit sharp, or a bit flat, hence the term "relative pitch."

Although I read somewhere that asian people have a bigger chance of having "perfect pitch" as their language was more complex or something like that.

I've heard that too and I know enough about asian languages to know that is not the same thing at all! The only reason asians seem to have more perfect pitch than other countries is simply because they're probably more enthusiastic about it. I seem to have it to some extent, getting better very slowly, but nevertheless I'm able to figure out notes and sometimes chords without reference but I'm slow at it if it's in context of a song; if the note is isolated I instantly know the name. And I have alot of perception toward tuning my guitar perfectly. My real problem is hearing notes under the soprano notes and notes in context of a song. I'm trying to find a way to make my ear stronger (hmm, Ear crunches might work...) :shifty:

^You were raised speaking an English language? I read that (I think) Japan had a huge percentage of its population that had perfect pitch, because the way Japanese is spoken trains the crap out of your ears. A few other Asian languages are the same, iirc.
Sometimes I recognize notes or even chords instantly, but usually I'm tone pretty tone deaf. I think this means I have mediocre pitch, but a good flash memory, so I'm optimistic about how my ears will turn out with some training. =)

I think a good ear is needed to be a composer, but I don't think absolute pitch is. Someone mentioned Uematsu earlier in this thread; he's one of my favorite composers, so if he doesn't need absolute pitch, nobody does! I can believe that he had a bad ear at first, too, because I dislike most of his earlier stuff. He just got better and better, so I think his talent is a product of his hard work, not a natural gift. That makes his music even more interesting to me. =D

beethoven composed deaf;)

beethoven composed deaf

Yes but beethoven was gifted with some kind of mental music hearing gift. Meaning he could hear an orchestra in his head as vividly as actually hearing it therefore, he could compose deaf because he didn't have to hear anything to know what it sounded like. :hey:

It is not really a "gift", it is the result of an extensive learning and practice through years of hard work. If you were trained with the right things that explode that creative side, you would be able to advance musically to be capable to listen in your mind audio ideas, and to be able to put them down on paper or whatever the medium you use.

the principle of beethoven's 'gift' is simple and I'm pretty sure everyone has it.

try this:

1. Imagine a piano, playing twinkle twinkle little stars.
2. Imagine donald duck singing twinkle twinkle little stars.
3. Imagine a guitar struming simple chords to a small child singing twinkle twinkle little stars.

Were you able to hear that in your head? For most people, this should not have been hard.

Now consider the number of hours you have spent "mastering" the technique of ear testing. So, an individual such as yourself who have only spent x amount of hours (maybe even minutes for some) can already picture a melody and an accompaniment, what would a person who had spent almost every waking hour of his life imagining what different combinations of instruments may sound like can accomplish.

My prof told me that it takes 1000days of stright practice to become a master of something. Try it, maybe it will work for you;)

I can picture the songs I want to write in my head no problem, and it's not even something I've trained in. = \
I think any professional composer would have no trouble at all imagining an orchestra in their head.

And I like Kaitou's attitude. I can't stand all this "BUT HE'S GIFTED" crap I hear from a lot of people. Was Beethoven "gifted?" I'm sure he was more musically inclined than most people, sure. But his real secret was that he submerged himself in music ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, UNTIL HE DIED. The first step to being great at something is to stop making cheap excuses about why you could never be great. Practice composing for twenty years, and see if you still can't imagine songs playing in your head, kentaku. I think you'll be surprised at how easily it comes to you! ;P

I have so many friends who "can't draw" or "can't play piano" or "can't do math." Guess what, guys: it's not that you can't, it's that you won't. If you don't put your all into something, you have no excuse if you fail at it!

Guess what, guys: it's not that you can't, it's that you won't. If you don't put your all into something, you have no excuse if you fail at it!

That needed to be BIGGER and in BOLD. =P