Dan Schmidt wrote:

>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.

I would say that this does involve an elemental form of relative pitch
simply because the octave is 2:1.  So if two E-flats an octave (or multiple
octaves apart) are called E-flat that is an admission of relative pitch, at
least at the octave level.

It would be interesting to know who among the absolute-pitch endowed hear
a quality of "perfect-fifthness" when presented with the interval of a
perfect fifth, and whether they tell themselves "that's a perfect fifth"
before or after (or simultaneously) they hear (say) C and G.  My theory
is that some may have to do a bit of calculation, no matter how brief, if
their absolute pitch is quite strong.  And it is those people who would
have most difficulty transposing.

One thing we havene't yet touched on is the effect of AP on the hearing
of modulations.  If a composer uses a particularly remote modulation (I'm
thinking now of a sudden twist to F# minor toward the end of the last
movement of Brahms's D minor violin sonata) one would need a sense of
relative pitch in order to appreciate the drama; otherwise one key is
just the same as another, right?

But conversely, some absolute pitch may be of help in nailing down REALLY
distant-in-time key relations, for example in the a capella part late in
Verdi's requiem where the chorus sings the opening "Requiem, requiem
eternam" not in the original key of A minor but 1/2 step higher in B-flat
minor.  It's a chilling moment made more so if one "feels" the key change.

Chris Bonds