Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!dogie.macc.wisc.edu!uwvax!umn-d-ub!umn-cs!nis!quad!dts
From: dts@quad.uucp (David T. Sandberg)
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: Re: What is perfect pitch?
Message-ID: <362@quad.uucp>
Date: 30 Nov 89 07:45:42 GMT
References: <18807@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <365@bbxsda.UUCP> <1989Nov27.212927.3253@agate.berkeley.edu> <7051@portia.Stanford.EDU> <357@quad.uucp> <25742AAA.56CC@rpi.edu>
Reply-To: dts@quad.uucp (David T. Sandberg)
Organization: Quadric Systems, Richfield MN
Lines: 19

In article <25742AAA.56CC@rpi.edu> mketch@pawl.rpi.edu (Michael D. Ketchen) writes:
>Actually, perfect pitch can be a hindrance.  I have a friend here at school
>with perfect pitch, and when he hears a recording in our Music Analysis class
>that's in a different key than the score he's trying to follow along with, he
>can't do it.  (Or at least it takes a lot of work.)

I've heard other stories to that effect as well, and I don't expect
to really suffer from it's absence.  I just didn't want to come off
as _completely_ discounting the usefulness of perfect pitch, since
some people might be offended by such a blunt statement.

Is there anyone here who does have perfect pitch as well as good
relative pitch, and who can testify as to whether he/she can "shut
one or the other off", i.e., ignore his/her absolute pitch in favor
of being in tuneful harmony with someone/something else, or visa
versa?

-- 
David Sandberg             dts@quad.uucp or ..uunet!rosevax!sialis!quad!dts


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