Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!rutgers!cmcl2!esquire!rreid
From: rreid@DPW.COM (r l reid )
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: Re: Perfect Pitch as a Birth Defect....
Message-ID: <3177@esquire.dpw.com>
Date: 11 Apr 91 14:09:39 GMT
References: <3123@esquire.dpw.com> <1991Mar19.134336.23909@ircam.fr> <4123.27fb5354@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <4124.27fb558b@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <346@heurikon.heurikon.com>
Reply-To: rreid@esquire.UUCP (r l reid )
Organization: Playdoh's Republic
Lines: 32

In article <346@heurikon.heurikon.com> gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor) writes:
>I never thought of this before, but I'll bet that those tuning systems
>that don't adhere carefully to equal temperment, or those systems which
>involve the use of close tuning to produce "beating" tones as a part of
>the effect [like, say, Bali] must truly be a torturous experience.

This is what I haven't been understanding about the whole concept -
if "perfect pitch" is inborn,  does this imply that 12-to-the-8ve,
equal temperament is somehow wired into the brain by the Creator?

The implication (that G-d was born after the invention of the piano!)
is staggering.

The serious question to those who understand perfect pitch by virtue of
having it: if I play you a scale made with the following intervals, where
the 1/1 is at a frequency that exactly matches an eq12 "E":
     1/1 8/7 3/2 10/7 5/3 12/7

I expect you'd call my 1/1 an E.  But what would your reaction
be to the 3/2?  It's "about B", but not exactly (or more exactly,
depending on your reference).  Do you just hear B, or do you hear
a mockery of B-ness?

And then WHAT do you do when hit with the 12/7 and 5/3, which are
both "sixths" above the "E", but neither one is anywhere near to
an eq12 C#.

Despite the humorous tone, I'm taking, I'm quite serious and benign
in asking - does perfect pitch preclude enjoyment of Dean Drummond
and Lou Harrison pieces?

Ro