Is perfect pitch something you are born with, or something you learn?

[Vacume]

if its something you learn, can you recomend how i could learn?

[lemur821]

It is learned, but there is no known way to teach it to an adult.

[DistortedBass]

There's a cd series by david burge. Never tried it though.

[alfredpunkjazz]

Well... there are people with different skills... Some people can actually get any pitch (part of your regular scale or not), but you can learn how to do it. I think age is not that important, of course, if you're a little kid, it's eassier, but I've seen people develop good levels of pitching.

Really, it involves a lot of practice with your instrument, and having some singing lessons help a lot too. Bach is the way to go. Things get harder when you get to Bartok and stuff like that, LOL.

[MysticMichael]

Originally Posted by Vacume

if its something you learn, can you recomend how i could learn?

Believe it or not, having perfect pitch is not nearly the blessing you may think it is. Unless your goal is to simply to become a human tuning fork...

As a musician, what you need is good relative pitch - not absolute pitch. It's far more important, far more useful in real-life musical situations, can be readily developed with good training & discipline...and unlike with perfect (absolute) pitch, you won't be grinding your teeth every time you hear a performance or a recording that deviates even slightly from standard A440...

MM

[Nappa]

My old Band teacher and Jazz instructer commented on how my father had perfect pitch when hearing songs, though he never played an instrument in his life. (my father that is)

[Munjibunga]

You're borneded with it.

[NoNoise]

It's like photographic memory; it is genetic. You can learn something similar, but it will not be exactly the same.

[Scourge441]

Relative pitch (the ability to differentiate between intervals and generally tell when things are out of key) can be learned. Perfect pitch (the ability to hear notes and name them) is something you must be born with (although I have heard that everyone is born with it and most lose it at an early age, so early exposure to music may be a contributing factor).

[John123z]

Originally Posted by Scourge441

Relative pitch (the ability to differentiate between intervals and generally tell when things are out of key) can be learned. Perfect pitch (the ability to hear notes and name them) is something you must be born with (although I have heard that everyone is born with it and most lose it at an early age, so early exposure to music may be a contributing factor).

Thanks for this explaination. So many people really don't know what perfect pitch is. Many people confuse "relative pitch" or "pitch matching" with perfect pitch. My daughter has perfect pitch. Name a note and she can sing it dead on. It's a very valuable talent for her since she frequently has voice auditions acappella. If your singing songs (acappella) requiring your full vocal range and you start a note to high, obviously your not going to be able to hit some of the notes that are now out of your range. So in this case relative pitch won't cut it. So I obviously don't agree with Mystic.

John

[David Lansen]

Originally Posted by John123z

My daughter has perfect pitch. Name a note and she can sing it dead on.

You may be confusing active perfect pitch with passive perfect pitch. Most of the time when people talk about perfect pitch, they are refering to the passive kind.

Passive = names the absolute pitch when she hears a note.
Active = sings the exact pitch when she is given the name a note.

The argument that that everyone is born with it and most lose it at an early age refers to passive perfect pitch (and I don't know if that's true). Active perfect pitch is something you must be born with, and it's very, very rare. Your daughter is blessed!

David

[Deacon_Blues]

I believe it cannot be learned, but many people have something that reminds a bit of passive PP. I'm thinking of when you start singing a song and hit the right key automatically. You don't necessarily need to know the key of it to do it. What is this phenomenon called? It's not "coincidence", at least... Anyway, I see this being almost as useful as PP is for John's daughter. (read his post above).

PP is not too important to have as a musician although it might be helpful from time to time. It's much more important to develop a good relative pitch, as well as a good timing.

[Dr_Funkdamental]

Originally Posted by David Lansen

You may be confusing active perfect pitch with passive perfect pitch. Most of the time when people talk about perfect pitch, they are refering to the passive kind.

Passive = names the absolute pitch when she hears a note.
Active = sings the exact pitch when she is given the name a note.

Maybe its me, but I really dont see the difference in that explaination.

Relative pitch (the ability to differentiate between intervals and generally tell when things are out of key) can be learned. Perfect pitch (the ability to hear notes and name them)

I go with this. I have relative pitch. When I first started in music, before I knew what it was, I could hear intervals very well. My older brother has perfect pitch. He can tell what note a lawnmower is buzzing at through a cellphone LOL (seriously). Hes always been able to do that.

[David Lansen]

Originally Posted by Dr_Funkdamental

Maybe its me, but I really dont see the difference in that explaination.

Yep, now that I read it again I realized my wording was very confusing (or wrong?)

Passive PP example:
(Without hearing a known pitch first), you hear a C note (from a piano, for example), and then you say, "That's a C note."

Active PP example:
Without you hearing any note first, I ask you to "Sing a C note," and then you sing it spot-on.

Clear?

David

[Liko]

I respectfully disagree with any notion that absolute perfect pitch, as in "sing me a C", is genetic and cannot be learned. When I was in high school, we had a standardized ensemble warmup that started on (and returned many, many times to) F. That single note has been drilled into me so completely that now, 6 years after the last time I ever picked up a brass instrument, I can sing it spot-on. Bb is very similar.

Also based on those warmup exercises, I can identify and reproduce intervals. One dead-on note + a dead-on interval = another dead-on note. This is called ear training, and it can be drilled into anyone, even someone who is tone deaf, given enough time and effort. Where I am weak is on intervals. The sixth and seventh, and "odd" intervals like diminished and augmented intervals (like the tritone, augmented 5th and diminished 7th) are difficult for me to reproduce without learning it in a melody line by rote. Once done however, I can hit it perfectly with no assistance.

This is simply the ages old talent vs. effort argument when acquiring skill. Talent magnifies the results of effort, but sufficient effort can get you to the same place. The question is whether the time necessary to overcome lack of talent is worth it, or indeed if there are enough hours in the day to devote to the necessary effort.

Perfect pitch can be learned, and it can be taught. The "degrees" of perfect pitch, from perfect relative pitch to passive perfect absolute pitch to active perfect absolute pitch, are all simply degrees of mastery of ear training.

[Deacon_Blues]

Liko, with all your respect, based on what you say above I don't think you really have perfect pitch (PP), despite your ability to recognize and sing a F straight off. A person with PP is AFAIK able to recognize any note/interval/chord notes straight off without thinking.

My brother (pianist) has PP, and he is able to sing/recognize any note at any time and identify exact chords/intervals equally easily. He used to transcribe songs in the train (lots of jazz) using only a CD player and headphones... I've noticed that he doesn't think of chord progressions as much as I do, instead he's recognizing each chord separately. And he can't play properly if the keyboard is transposed. The notes are on the wrong place...

I don't have PP, but I can guess what a note is using my voice. That's cheating, though...

[Dr_Funkdamental]

Originally Posted by David Lansen

Yep, now that I read it again I realized my wording was very confusing (or wrong?)

Passive PP example:
(Without hearing a known pitch first), you hear a C note (from a piano, for example), and then you say, "That's a C note."

Active PP example:
Without you hearing any note first, I ask you to "Sing a C note," and then you sing it spot-on.

Clear?

David

as windex

[Dr_Funkdamental]

Originally Posted by Liko

I respectfully disagree with any notion that absolute perfect pitch, as in "sing me a C", is genetic and cannot be learned. When I was in high school, we had a standardized ensemble warmup that started on (and returned many, many times to) F. That single note has been drilled into me so completely that now, 6 years after the last time I ever picked up a brass instrument, I can sing it spot-on. Bb is very similar.

Also based on those warmup exercises, I can identify and reproduce intervals. One dead-on note + a dead-on interval = another dead-on note. This is called ear training, and it can be drilled into anyone, even someone who is tone deaf, given enough time and effort. Where I am weak is on intervals. The sixth and seventh, and "odd" intervals like diminished and augmented intervals (like the tritone, augmented 5th and diminished 7th) are difficult for me to reproduce without learning it in a melody line by rote. Once done however, I can hit it perfectly with no assistance.

This is simply the ages old talent vs. effort argument when acquiring skill. Talent magnifies the results of effort, but sufficient effort can get you to the same place. The question is whether the time necessary to overcome lack of talent is worth it, or indeed if there are enough hours in the day to devote to the necessary effort.

Perfect pitch can be learned, and it can be taught. The "degrees" of perfect pitch, from perfect relative pitch to passive perfect absolute pitch to active perfect absolute pitch, are all simply degrees of mastery of ear training.

You just proved the fact that it does exist in genetics. There are ppl that can do what you have had to work and drill at to do and have NEVER had ANY MUSICAL TRAINING!! And dont get me started on the talent/hard work thing. I believe ppl who think that way limit their minds to the things that make us special as individuals.

[alfredpunkjazz]

I don't think it's as eassy to say that some people have it and some people don't... There are degrees. Or at least, that's what I've seen.