Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!mephisto!eedsp!chara!daysinns!artsnet!mgresham From: mgresham@artsnet.UUCP (Mark Gresham) Newsgroups: comp.music Subject: Re: Perfect Pitch Keywords: perfect absolute pitch Message-ID: <892@artsnet.UUCP> Date: 12 Jul 90 09:46:54 GMT References: <137559@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <1990Jun22.171537.1596@ultra.com> Reply-To: mgresham@artsnet.UUCP (Mark Gresham) Organization: ARTSNET Atlanta, GA USA Lines: 55 In article <1990Jun22.171537.1596@ultra.com> jimh@ultra.com (Jim Hurley) writes: >In <137559@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> morning@mountains.Eng.Sun.COM (Cristina Ungstad) writes: > > >>A couple days ago there was a big discussion on perfect or absolute >>pitch. Can someone explain to me the benefit of having perfect pitch? > >>Cristina > >Not to answer, but to ask another - > >If someone has perfect pitch, just how perfect is it? That is, if I >have an instrument tuned, say, in pythagorean scales, does this present >a problem for that person? I would imagine that anything within about >20 cents of equal temperament would be unnoticeably different. Most estimations of noticability are within 2 cents, not 20, even with people who don't have 'perfect' pitch. Example from experience: when I was in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, we would occasionally do an excercise where over 16 *very* slow beats (about 40/min.) we would do a smooth, evenly paced glissando over the total interval of 1/2 step; yes that's 1/16 of a half-step per beat or 6.25 cents per beat; oh, yes, this is with half of the chorus starting on the lower note and going up, and the other half starting on the upper note and going down. Needless to say, it is not an easy thing to do (especially with 180 voices) but is quite possible. To answer the first part of the question, about 'perfect pitch' posing problems for different tuning systems, my experience is that it depends on the person, not the skill itself. I met one person with perfect pitch who simply could not enjoy music (like classical music of India) which was not structured harmonically like most 19th century western music. This brings us back to the subject found elsewhere in this newsgroup, the 'intellectual enjoyment' or, more accurately, 'intellectual appreciation' of music. It seems that those instances where perfect pitch becomes a hinderance is not because of the skills of perfect pitch (which is really, I think, primarily a function of memory, not intellect) but because of the intellectual sieve which is imposed on what is heard (rightness/wrongness in relation to a believed 'correct' model of tuning or harmony). More on this, of couse, later. Cheers, --Mark ======================================== Mark Gresham ARTSNET Norcross, GA, USA E-mail: ...gatech!artsnet!mgresham or: artsnet!mgresham@gatech.edu ========================================