Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!shelby!portia!jessica!cello From: cello@jessica.Stanford.EDU (Sean Varah) Newsgroups: comp.music Subject: Re: What is perfect pitch? Message-ID: <7189@portia.Stanford.EDU> Date: 2 Dec 89 00:11:35 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> <362@quad.uucp> Sender: USENET News System Reply-To: cello@jessica.Stanford.EDU (Sean Varah) Organization: Stanford University Lines: 25 I'd like to offer an analogy regarding the argument between relative and absolute pitch. I'm color blind (ie: I lack the abilitly to distinguish certain colors from others). The way I estimate what some colors are is by their shading, for example, green is a darker shade than brown, for example. I can see colors quite well, however, since I developed a good sense of shading, as well as a good ability to analize the color content of what I see. I have perfect pitch, and in a way this is like seeing all colors. Since music is a large part of my life its important for me to work on my ear as an analytical tool, and thus seeing the shades of sound with good relative pitch is an essential part of hearing. There is no need to "turn one or the other off". You hear all the sound and pitches all the time, and its a natural function of your brain to hear different things in different ways, so when its necessary, you hear the relative context of notes, or their exact pitch location. When developed properly, perfect pitch is just another analytical device you use in the perception of music. Sean Varah ****************************************************************************** "It's just full of blatant tonality" Sean Varah, AIR Stanford, cello@jessica.stanford.edu, (415) 723-5343 ****************************************************************************** Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com