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Is pefect pitch really perceived like color?
- Thread starter pklima
- Start date
Having relative pitch and being able to hear good and bad notes and proper chord colors is way more valuable in my opinion.
I don’t have perfect pitch but my relative pitch is almost there. When my oldest son was in High School band and we attended his concerts, it was painful to me. I can tell when any string on my guitar or bass are out of tune with the others. The whole instrument could be 3/4 of a step from proper and I wouldn’t necessarily know that, but if that stupid G string is sharp or flat from the others, I can tell.
I truly believe this is one downside of electronics.
When I came up with guitar, tuning was essentially harmonics and vibration (oscillation). It attuned your ear.
I agree. I still have my A440 tuning fork and use harmonics to check my instrument tuning periodically. Electric tuners make it easier but I still use the old ways sometimes. My son and grandson think I'm a caveman when I do that though.
I don't claim to have perfect pitch, but I can identify notes out of nowhere quite often. Lots of people I've played with are convinced that I do have it. I don't have any association with colors at all.
We did a choir rehearsal in college once -- in the main auditorium, not the usual practice room -- and the director forgot her pitch pipe. We did a couple songs guessing at the pitches, and one of the sopranos noted after "I don't know if it matters or not, but we've all gone about a quarter step flat." Now THAT's perfect pitch!
We did a choir rehearsal in college once -- in the main auditorium, not the usual practice room -- and the director forgot her pitch pipe. We did a couple songs guessing at the pitches, and one of the sopranos noted after "I don't know if it matters or not, but we've all gone about a quarter step flat." Now THAT's perfect pitch!
My wife has perfect pitch. Really amazing to watch her pick up a guitar and just tune it just like that. Her parents started her on piano when she was three, but don't know if that would make a difference. She also plays strings, woodwinds, and was a coloratura soprano - involved in 'all city' orchetras and choirs. Also a rocker - that's how we got together playing in bands.
While it is very cool she has the ability to pick out the names of notes out of the air, she knows nothing about theory or how chords are "built". That is; she can hear all of the notes in a chord individually, but has a hard time naming the chord. She can write out individual lines for choral stuff and write out parts and fit them all together perfectly, she has a hard time labeling what they are as chords until it's all down on paper as stacks - then she can figure it out. For band stuff she can hear and figure out her parts pretty much immediately and can give others their correct vocal parts.
I'm the exact opposite. My relative pitch is pretty right on and have good intonation for fretless stuff. Learned lots of theory to figure out and label stuff fairly quickly. I can hear and label intervals readily, but can't necessarily hear and label complex chords much beyond seven or nine chords = rock is easy; jazz is a bitch on the fly. Plus I just play bass. I can "work" piano and guitar, but can't "play" them to save my life.
While it is very cool she has the ability to pick out the names of notes out of the air, she knows nothing about theory or how chords are "built". That is; she can hear all of the notes in a chord individually, but has a hard time naming the chord. She can write out individual lines for choral stuff and write out parts and fit them all together perfectly, she has a hard time labeling what they are as chords until it's all down on paper as stacks - then she can figure it out. For band stuff she can hear and figure out her parts pretty much immediately and can give others their correct vocal parts.
I'm the exact opposite. My relative pitch is pretty right on and have good intonation for fretless stuff. Learned lots of theory to figure out and label stuff fairly quickly. I can hear and label intervals readily, but can't necessarily hear and label complex chords much beyond seven or nine chords = rock is easy; jazz is a bitch on the fly. Plus I just play bass. I can "work" piano and guitar, but can't "play" them to save my life.
A friend of mine who's a good jazz pianist has musical synesthesia. His mind associates notes with colors as he's playing. This is completely different than perfect pitch.
Having come of age in the 60's, a bus going down the street created a beautify hue of amber....Music? Not so much.
I dunno, my mother had perfect pitch and after her usual harangues about my intonation interrupting my practice, I was seeing red!
This is one of the most interesting threads I have seen on TB!
I might be the furthest thing from perfect pitch, and have sometimes struggled with intonation throughout my double bass playing career. I could hear notes as being off but hard to tell sharp or flat. I am also very much NOT a singer! But, I can oddly whistle in tune, so that is just kind of weird. Every so often though, I am am just on. Singing, bass playing whatever, the pitches are just there and I can hear when it all clicks - becomes second nature. Kind of like basketball playing when you can't miss a shot. If my fingers land in the wrong spot I adjust immediately. If one of my strings is ever so slightly out of tune I know just how much to fix it. This ability has improved with practice and thankfully gotten better over the years.
Over the years, particularly after devoting a lot of time to fretless electric bass, and learning more and more songs, my pitch has improved. I'm not perfect but I would say that I don't struggle with intonation anymore. Being able to adjust quickly and focus on technique has really helped on this instrument, and it has coincidentally helped my DB playing. Can't say why exactly, but perhaps it just raised the bar.
And then there are moments of near perfect pitch. Changing strings on a bass sometimes I'll just find a G or E in my head and tune the other strings to that. I'll just know its right, and it's at usually at least very close. Also, learning new tune off of a recording: Sometimes I can put on a recording, pick up my bass and start playing. I already know what key its in, and can hear the changes as they happen, hopefully anticipating them too. However a good amount of the time I might need to play a note or 3 to find the key. And then there are the times when I need to try damn near every note to find the key. Fortunately this is less than 10% of the time!
I might be the furthest thing from perfect pitch, and have sometimes struggled with intonation throughout my double bass playing career. I could hear notes as being off but hard to tell sharp or flat. I am also very much NOT a singer! But, I can oddly whistle in tune, so that is just kind of weird. Every so often though, I am am just on. Singing, bass playing whatever, the pitches are just there and I can hear when it all clicks - becomes second nature. Kind of like basketball playing when you can't miss a shot. If my fingers land in the wrong spot I adjust immediately. If one of my strings is ever so slightly out of tune I know just how much to fix it. This ability has improved with practice and thankfully gotten better over the years.
Over the years, particularly after devoting a lot of time to fretless electric bass, and learning more and more songs, my pitch has improved. I'm not perfect but I would say that I don't struggle with intonation anymore. Being able to adjust quickly and focus on technique has really helped on this instrument, and it has coincidentally helped my DB playing. Can't say why exactly, but perhaps it just raised the bar.
And then there are moments of near perfect pitch. Changing strings on a bass sometimes I'll just find a G or E in my head and tune the other strings to that. I'll just know its right, and it's at usually at least very close. Also, learning new tune off of a recording: Sometimes I can put on a recording, pick up my bass and start playing. I already know what key its in, and can hear the changes as they happen, hopefully anticipating them too. However a good amount of the time I might need to play a note or 3 to find the key. And then there are the times when I need to try damn near every note to find the key. Fortunately this is less than 10% of the time!
skyline_01
Endorsing artist: Nordstrand Audio, Tsunami Cables
I have PP, and it can be a gift or an affliction depending on the day. 
I've never associated colors with notes but I've known others with PP who do. I just know what the notes are when I hear them, and no reference is needed. My mom claims that when I was around 8 years old I was able to name random notes she played on the piano. This was around the time that I started taking lessons myself, so I DID already have some idea of musical notes. And when I started beginning band a few years later it sort of ramped up I think.
I will say that, for as cool as it has been as a party trick over the years it has made me a bit lazy in terms of improvisation. I feel that I often play what's in my head vs using the chord structure, and I think it has limited my potential as a result.
Additionally, it is often difficult for me to transpose songs on the fly bc I hear the original key in my head and muscle memory wants me to play that. Even knowing music theory/comp (I was a music major) doesn't help me much on that one LOL.
Oh, and when I dream that I'm playing an instrument it's always technically accurate - the audible notes match what I'm applying to the instrument. It sounds like bullsh*t but I swear on my Granny's grave it's not.
I've never associated colors with notes but I've known others with PP who do. I just know what the notes are when I hear them, and no reference is needed. My mom claims that when I was around 8 years old I was able to name random notes she played on the piano. This was around the time that I started taking lessons myself, so I DID already have some idea of musical notes. And when I started beginning band a few years later it sort of ramped up I think.
I will say that, for as cool as it has been as a party trick over the years it has made me a bit lazy in terms of improvisation. I feel that I often play what's in my head vs using the chord structure, and I think it has limited my potential as a result.
Additionally, it is often difficult for me to transpose songs on the fly bc I hear the original key in my head and muscle memory wants me to play that. Even knowing music theory/comp (I was a music major) doesn't help me much on that one LOL.
Oh, and when I dream that I'm playing an instrument it's always technically accurate - the audible notes match what I'm applying to the instrument. It sounds like bullsh*t but I swear on my Granny's grave it's not.
I know people with perfect pitch. I know people with synathesia who also associate keys with colours (or in other instances, numbers and colours). I am not aware of any overlap between the two groups, or at least my friends haven't saw fit to mention it. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, just not within the group of people I know. One with perfect pitch has some sort of gustatory relationship with pitch, almost - a sort of 'feeling in the pit of the stomach'. For me, that would just be wind.
I'm not aware of having perfect pitch, but at a jam session on a piece I wasn't playing with someone thinking of joining in said "You seem to know about music, what key is this in?". I thought "sounds like G" but declined to comment in case I was wrong, but I was right when I actually looked at one of those playing guitar. Maybe my pitch is better than I imagine as I can listen to a song and mentally play along, and I am typically 'playing' the right notes in my head. The sad part is, I play better in my head than in reality. My imaginary slap playing is awesome. I can sometimes tune up without a tuner. But I am pretty sure I don't have perfect pitch and that it's a spectrum as some days I probably couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. However, my handedness also varies somewhat from day to day (it's more left-oriented today than most which also means my stammer is really bad) - maybe it's related in some weird way.
One of my friends has PP. Unlike Rick Beato's son, he wasn't exposed to 'complex music' in the womb AFAIK. Maybe some Doors. But he can do similar things like identifying notes on a piano. He also once sat in on a gig on keyboards and they failed to put him into his monitor, but he was able to 'visualise' what he was playing so he improvised along anyway (and this was on a synth and he used different sounds). People came up afterwards to praise his playing of which he had heard not a note all evening!
Apparently I have perfect pitch.
E doesn't sound like purple to me; it just sounds like E.
E doesn't sound like purple to me; it just sounds like E.
Relating colour to music is called Chromesthesia.
en.wikipedia.org
“Chromesthesia or sound-to-color synesthesia is a type of synesthesia in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, shape, and movement. Individuals with sound-color synesthesia are consciously aware of their synesthetic color associations/perceptions in daily life. Synesthetes that perceive color while listening to music experience the colors in addition to the normal auditory sensations. The synesthetic color experience supplements, but does not obscure real, modality-specific perceptions. As with other forms of synesthesia, individuals with sound-color synesthesia perceive it spontaneously, without effort, and as their normal realm of experience. Chromesthesia can be induced by different auditory experiences, such as music, phonemes, speech, and/or everyday sounds.“
Chromesthesia - Wikipedia
“Chromesthesia or sound-to-color synesthesia is a type of synesthesia in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, shape, and movement. Individuals with sound-color synesthesia are consciously aware of their synesthetic color associations/perceptions in daily life. Synesthetes that perceive color while listening to music experience the colors in addition to the normal auditory sensations. The synesthetic color experience supplements, but does not obscure real, modality-specific perceptions. As with other forms of synesthesia, individuals with sound-color synesthesia perceive it spontaneously, without effort, and as their normal realm of experience. Chromesthesia can be induced by different auditory experiences, such as music, phonemes, speech, and/or everyday sounds.“
