Is pefect pitch really perceived like color?

[pklima]

I have decent relative pitch but know perfect pitch exists, and have heard it described that it's like colors - E is one color, G another etc. So yesterday singer is writing down lyrics in her notebook, adding chords, and doing stuff with highlighter markers. I joke that Willow's song from the Wicker Man soundtrack will be green because willows are green, but she's like, no, there's only a little E minor in it and E minor is green.

Huh. I don't know if she has perfect pitch, technically, but she sure does have great pitch and don't remember her ever missing a note, just sometimes going "wait, no, I should sing that whole thing an octave higher".

Those with perfect pitch or who have worked with people in perfect pitch, is the pitch-color association being that strong and literal common?

 

[Azari]

Next time you meet someone who claims to have perfect pitch, ask what tuning system they use. Lol

 

[crapusername]

It’s very possible.
In the book musicophilia, the psychologist author discusses this and other ‘conditions’ associated with music. Well worth a read

 

[dreamadream99]

I have never heard of an association between different keys and certain colors. I have heard perfect pitch described as being like colors, but what they meant at the time was that people with perfect pitch recognize notes the way most people recognize colors.

 

[Leigh Semmens]

I knew someone, years ago, I seem to recall that they did just that, so there may well be something to this. I'd just like to be able to identify a pitch! I'm gonna have a long talk with God over that one when I finally get my interview!! From what they also said, those with Perfect pitch can find it difficult to appreciate some music if one of the instruments is off by a degree. The rest of us wouldn't notice!

 

[pklima]

I have never heard of an association between different keys and certain colors. I have heard perfect pitch described as being like colors, but what they meant at the time was that people with perfect pitch recognize notes the way most people recognize colors.

Yeah, that's also exactly how I've heard it described. Somebody talking about it in a much more literal sense definitely surprised me. Synesthaesia in addition to perfect pitch, maybe?

 

[BassAgent]

Yes and no. Perfect pitch and synesthaesia tend to go hand in hand with many people, but aren't necessarily always connected. I've played with musicians that have synesthaesia, but not with pitch but with style. A piano player I once did a gig with asked if the drummer and me could play a bit greener. And because synesthaesia works different for every individual, it is impossible to know what she meant exactly. Youtuber Adam Neely has synesthaesia as well, and chords and pitches have a color for him that correspond with the colors he uses in his videos. He has explained this a while back (but I can't remember when it was).

Synesthaesia is a very interesting subject and the aforementioned Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks is an excellent book to read more about it.

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Yeah, that's also exactly how I've heard it described. Somebody talking about it in a much more literal sense definitely surprised me. Synesthaesia in addition to perfect pitch, maybe?

Mr Mars' Musical Colour Wheel

Warren Mars' wheel associating the 24 musical keys with the 24 main colours of the Martian Colour Wheel. It is also a discussion of the uses of each of the 24 keys and contains YouTube examples of each key in a range of genres.

warrenmars.com

 

[ahbass2500]

Next time you meet someone who claims to have perfect pitch, ask what tuning system they use. Lol

I recall having a judge's tape during high school marching band with something along the lines of “solo is sharp… oh wait it is all in tune with each other; you just tune to 442”. This was the first comment on the tape right when we started playing (solo opened the show).

I am not saying the judge definitely had perfect pitch, but we did tune to A442.

 

[BassAgent]

Oh what is also interesting is what I call "taught synesthaesia": children tend to learn stuff like the days of the week with a color system, and that's how many people I talk to about this subject still remember it. They think that's also synesthaesia. But it isn't "true" synesthaesia. Synesthaesia isn't necessarily connected to anything logical. A romantic sound isn't necessarily pink, or a minor chord doesn't necessarily taste bitter.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

There used to be a standing monthly ad in Bass Player Magazine which put forth that one could learn perfect pitch with color association.
I'd like to find the course so I could improve. My solfege reading at choir is improving, but once in a while I see an interval and my mind turns instantly to mashed potatoes with butter...at which point I sing the wrong interval and avoid eye contact with the choir director.

 

[Jogobass]

I knew someone who learned to memorize the A note from listening to a particular song a lot. He still had to use relative pitch to get to the other notes though. Back in the day our jazz school did the entrance exam with cassette tapes for the hearing part. He always had trouble with that because those cheap cassette players were prone to shifts in pitch.

 

[nnnnnn]

There used to be a standing monthly ad in Bass Player Magazine which put forth that one could learn perfect pitch with color association.
I'd like to find the course so I could improve.

The old course from the 90s(?) that was regularly advertised in guitar and bass magazines at the time said recognising note pitches was (for those who can do it, either naturally or through the course) similar to recognising colours in the sense that most people can do it without thinking, it didn't actually associate notes with colours.

I bought the course back in the day, but didn't make any progress with it because (for one thing) it really needed a second person to play notes for you to listen and guess.

In my opinion you're better off training relative pitch abilities, it's much more possible to progress with that.

 

[onda'bass]

I also agree that relative pitch is more valuable. I know perfect pith guy in town, he can pick out notes but don't ask what he hears in context.

 

[STRMan]

I've known many people with perfect pitch. There are varying degrees. I went out with a girl that played viola that had such refined perfect pitch, if the entire Orchestra was in tune with each other, but we were tuned to anything but 440, it would drive her nuts. She could play viola and piano on a professional level, but walked away from music entirely. It was too stressful.

One of my best friends and fellow band mate had it. Discrepancies from 440 didn't set him off at all. We'd always test him. If I was driving over a draw bridge, and the tires hummed, I'd ask him "what note"? He'd say something like "just a little sharp from a B flat". He is now a successful and sought after recording engineer.

My daughter, a violinist, had an orchestra directer in a youth Orchestra. Whenever one of the kids hit a bad note, his face would flush red. He was a great teacher and would always be smiling, but it was like watching a Christmas tree when he conducted. He died of a stroke while driving his car in his early 50s.


I had a jazz guitar teacher that didn't have perfect pitch, but his relative pitch was so refined, he could tell a C9 from a D9 by the timbre of the shorter length of the strings.


Some people have an innate ability to recognize the exact pitch of a note. When utilized properly, this is a fantastic tool, but it doesn't automatically make one a better musician.

I have read about the color analogy. None of the people I've known with perfect pitch ever said this applied to them.

 

[Turnaround]

Perfect pitch is really part of a spectrum of pitch identification. Without any reference point I can usually sing a G note. Sometimes I can identify the key of a song without any reference point. So perhaps I have imperfect perfect pitch? But that's not like a singer I know who can sing any note without a reference pitch and can identify notes and keys unfailingly. For neither of us is a pitch associated with a colour.

 

[micguy]

I have really good pitch. I will often wake up with a tune or a note in my head - not having played music for well over 8 hours, if I wake up that way, I will go over to my bass, sing a pitch, then pluck a note, and I'm always right. For a while I tried playing a bass tuned in D standard, so that I could have a couple lower notes than an E standard tuned bass. The transition between a standard tuned bass and that one was tough - if I wanted to play that bass for a gig, I had to practice with it a whole week beforehand, or I'd end up playing wrong notes - my brain would know the next note was "C", my fingers would go to where C is on the fretboard, but it wasn't C. Aaargh - I ended up playing 5s because it was much easier for me - the notes hadn't moved, there was just the addition of some new ones.

I once went backpacking on an island. For several days, the only man made sound was a bell ringing on a bouy in the channel next to the island. Just about drove me nuts the first day - it was an F sharp! The second day, I "found" a tune (searching all the ones in my head) that my band was doing in F sharp - once I figured that out, I could play that tune in my head along with the bell, and I was better. A few years later, I found a mention of that bouy online, and a recording of it. F sharp.

There may be people with perfect pitch that perceive pitch like colors (or even as colors), but for me, nope.

 

[BassAgent]

I knew someone who learned to memorize the A note from listening to a particular song a lot. He still had to use relative pitch to get to the other notes though. Back in the day our jazz school did the entrance exam with cassette tapes for the hearing part. He always had trouble with that because those cheap cassette players were prone to shifts in pitch.

That's what I do. I have an A in my head at all times, plus a couple of songs in the original key. Really helps.

 

[Nev375]

I know one person with bona fide perfect pitch. He is completely blind and he makes his living by tuning pianos. A tuning wrench and his ears is all he needs.

 

[Nev375]

So I'd say it's more accurate and specific than color. I never met anyone who could mix paint accurately without a reference.