Mats Norrman <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Dan Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>I have it and I find that its disadvantages are dwarfed by its advantages.
>>For example, it's nice to be able to say 'aha, now we've reached the
>>dominant' in the middle of a lengthy development section.
>
>It is not necessary to have perfect pitch to be able to hear that.  Most
>of people - also those with "bad" pitch - who plays the C-major scale on a
>piano will hear when they reach the dominant, and that is enough to hear it
>in a piece of music as well.  I can do it without perfect pitch.

I think we are talking about different timescales.  In my experience,
people without absolute pitch, even if their relative pitch is quite good,
have lost track of what key a Mahler symphonic movement (say) has reached
by the time it's twenty minutes into the movement, after it has gone
through a dozen modulations.

Certainly anyone can hear it in the scale of seconds (as in your example).

Dan Schmidt | http://www.dfan.org