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From: chenr@tilt.UUCP (Raymond Chen)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: absolute pitch & musicianship
Message-ID: <129@tilt.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-May-84 01:21:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: tilt.129
Posted: Thu May 24 01:21:17 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 26-May-84 12:31:48 EDT
References: <1795@randvax.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton Univ. EECS
Lines: 34

>I am intrigued by the interest in perfect or absolute pitch.  I've always
>thought that a musician's perfect pitch is comparable to a programmer's
>ability to recall from memory the first 32 powers of 2: a useful ability if
>you happen to have it, but given the available tools (pitch pipes &
>calulators, for example), not worth the trouble of trying to develop.

>	Larry Baer
>	decvax!randvax!baer
>	baer@rand-unix.ARPA

Take it from me, good relative pitch can be a real pain.  Having
studied classical piano since age 5 and playing violin for 6 years,
for a long while, I had concert-A memorized, and could tell you whether
an A was off by as little as 2 hertz.  (other notes, also, to a lesser
degree)  Do you know what a *pain* it can be, having to perform on a
piano where you *know* that most of the notes you have to play are
slightly out of tune?  It's hard to concentrate on performing a piece 
when you're busy gritting your teeth trying not to scream.

Today, although I can't give you an A on demand, I can tell you if
you're not on key.  This can cause real pains when a horn player
tunes the entire band a few hertz flat.  The band was in tune,
all right, with itself.  It was a good performance for a college
band, but I almost died listening to it.  Talk about *PAIN*.

Arggghhhh.  Bad memories.  Time to go to bed and dream about
perfect fourths....
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		Ray Chen
		princeton!tilt!chenr