Chris Bonds <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>It's also my observation that people with strong absolute pitch tend to
>rely on knowing the pitch names in order to figure intervals, rather than
>on the relative distance.  So they would hear D up to F# and use that
>knowledge to tell them they were hearing a major third.  I doubt whether
>that can be true in all cases.  I am sure many people can turn off their
>absolute pitch to some extent so that they can appreciate the "meaning" of
>the various intervals.

The analogy I make is that you can listen to people speak without
spelling out all of the words they're saying in your head.

>Otherwise, they would hear no similarity between C-E and F-A or D-F#, etc.
>All would just be pitch i.d.  Tonal meaning and significance would be
>impossible.  Such a person would be truly unmusical.

Luckily, I spent much of my free time as a kid fooling around on a piano,
transposing songs into different keys and playing by ear, so I was able to
acquire an excellent sense of relative pitch as well as absolute pitch.  I
can imagine that having absolute pitch could cause one's relative pitch
skills to atrophy, though I haven't observed that in anyone I know.

>...  Artificially produced sine tones are very difficult for some people
>to associate with a pitch, particularly very low tones.

My pitch is better the more interesting the timbre.  Organs are probably
the hardest instrument for me to identify.

>In my opinion, to play or sing in tune one must rely more on relative
>pitch than absolute pitch.  But I'm not prepared to say that one relies
>EXCLUSIVELY on relative pitch.  But to rely exclusively on absolute pitch
>means that the performer must maintain a unique pitch reference for EVERY
>audible pitch.  I question whether this is possible.

Hmm...  I don't really think of register as having anything to do with
absolute pitch.  I suppose I have 'absolute pitch class'.  I hear that a
note is an E flat without thinking, but then I have to do a little bit of
thinking to decide what octave it's in.  So I guess I have only twelve
pitch references.  I hadn't really considered that anyone else with perfect
pitch might perceive things differently.

There is a funny story about Slonimsky going to the doctor, who as part
of a hearing test played two tones and asked him to identify which one was
higher.  Slonimsky said something like, "Well, the first one is 1200 Hertz
and the second one is 1600, so the second, I guess," and freaked the doctor
out.

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