Jeremey McMillan wrote:

>Hi, go to eartraining.com and you will find it.  I think I will try this
>kit eventually.

You know what? I wouldn't bother.  Lots of better ways to spend your time.
I am a perfect-pitch skeptic, myself.  I don't have it and don't miss it.
I think it is a parlor trick that has very little useful or practical
application, and while Mr. Burge claims he can teach it, I sincerely doubt
that; I think it is something you are born with, you have it or you don't,
like double-jointedness.  The only possible usefulness is possibly for a
choral conductor to give pitches to his group in rehearsal without the aid
of a piano.

I have indeed heard from colleagues who are perfect-pitched that it can be
a hindrance or inconvenience.  In this out-of-tune real world, I have even
been told it is painful or extremely uncomfortable to hear music with
slight intonation variances if you have perfect pitch.

Relative pitch, now, that is a different story.  That is the ability
to recognize intervals.  It is more important to hear that an F# is
out-of-tune in relation to the A you just played, than to know that it is
simply out of tune.  If you have good relative pitch (which, unlike perfect
pitch IMHO *can* be learned) your music-making will indeed be easier.  My
relative pitch is excellent.  You play a really low note on the piano, tell
me what it is, then play a really really high note and I will be able to
tell you what note it is and what the interval is.  That, to me, is more
useful and practical in reality.  I think Mr.  Burge's success is due to
the aura of the "phenomenon" of perfect pitch rather than it's usefulness.
Additionally, I would take strong exception to some of his claims on
eartraining.com, to wit:

   Known over centuries as the
   quintessence of a virtuoso ear for music,
   Perfect Pitch bestows an unmatchable
   mastery of the musical language.

Horsetwaddle.  Perfect pitch bestows an ability to identify an isolated
pitch.  Nothing else.

   In classical times, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin - and most all
   the musical greats - had Perfect Pitch.

Is this really true? LvB had perfect pitch?? Anyone can confirm this? What
other "musical greats" were thus blessed?

   From classical to pop to rock to jazz, many current and recent
   superstars also possess (or did possess) Perfect Pitch:...  Yngwie
   Malmsteen,

Who????

   Eric Johnson, Tommy Mars, Bela Bartok, Jascha Heifetz, Paul Shaffer,
   Yo-Yo Ma, Yanni - the list goes on and on.

Fun seeing Yanni in the same list as Sinatra and Heifitz.

   In the general population, Perfect Pitch is rare.  But the further up
   the musical ladder you climb, the more commonplace the ability becomes.
   For example, at the Julliard School of Music you'll find about 10% of
   the students with Perfect Pitch.

Don't know how rare it is.  Chances are a lot of non-musicians have it and
don't know it.  I would say that about 10% of your average WalMart shoppers
also have perfect pitch, excuse me, Perfect Pitch.

   A typical symphony orchestra will boast 20-40% of its membership with
   Perfect Pitch.

Having played in a couple of typical symphony orchestras, I would say
it's about 10%, same as WalMart.

   Surveys indicate that half of today's most popular recording artists
   have Perfect Pitch, rising to 87% for top concert performers.

What surveys? Again, this "87%" sounds like someone made it up.  Difficult
to give credence to that.

   Professionals rate a good sense of pitch as the most valuable element
   of musicianship - higher than any other essential, including good
   rhythm, technical facility, accurate memory, intensity discrimination,
   and creativity.

Wait a minute!  I'm a professional, and I would disagree with that.  First
of all, note that he says in this case "A good sense of pitch" instead of
"Perfect Pitch" So that much, perhaps is true, but to say that even a good
sense of pitch is the "most valuable element" of being a musician is,
again, horsetwaddle.  (Thanks to Mimi Ezust for introducing me to that
lovely term)

It's valuable, of course, but it is almost taken for granted.  If you can't
carry a tune you ain't going to get very far as a professional.  This has
nothing to do with being able to identify an A out of thin air.  Frankly,
it's similar to saying that spelling is the most important part of being a
good writer.

   It's a curious experience the first time you can tell that a vocalist
   hit a high C, ...

You don't need perfect pitch for that!  If their eyes are bugging out, it's
a high C.

   or when an ensemble has drifted flat

Actually, isn't it better not to know?

   Singers find Perfect Pitch invaluable for sight singing, locating
   obscure pitches, singing in tune, and producing a correct pitch out
   of thin air.

This is true.

   Glancing at a page of sheet music, others may see only black dots.
   But with Perfect Pitch, you can mentally hear how each pitch sounds.

With relative pitch too.  With a year of elementary eartraining too.

   Listening to music, you can hear that a piece is in the key of G
   major,

So what? Does that increase your enjoyment? Look at the key signature or
read the program notes you know as much.

   When you know each pitch by ear, musical tones become yours to command.
   For example, if you want to play by ear, your ear does the work for
   you - instead of searching for desired tones by hand.

Again, true but absolutely nothing to do in the least with Perfect Pitch.

   Do you ever have a new melody or new chord sequence come to your
   mind, unexpected, in a flash of inspiration?

Sounds sort of startling, that, but again, what does P.P. have to do with
it? I hear music in my head almost every waking moment, some of it things
I know or am working on, some of it just music floating around in my head,
and my "inner radio" works just fine without knowing that that brass
fanfare I just made up in my head was in Bb or F.

   Perfect Pitch (known in scholarly circles as "absolute pitch") also
   adds a higher aesthetic appreciation.  Acoustical psychologist A.
   Bachem found that "particular characteristics of certain keys, e.g.,
   the brilliancy of A major, the softness of D flat major, can only be
   appreciated fully through absolute pitch." This richness of sound
   extends even beyond the musical sphere into day-to-day living.  For
   example, as your ear becomes more alert, you suddenly find that you
   can easily recognize voices on the phone, or quickly pick up languages
   and foreign accents.

Or you know that that huge lorry behind you is honking a D.  The
characteristics of certain keys are undeniable but they have the same
effect on everybody in that WalMart whether they have perfect pitch or
not.  It is absurd to quantify asthetic appreciation and what makes it work,
absurd and insulting.  I would wager that many, many people on this list
get deep and profound asthetic satisfaction from music even if they can't
tell an A-flat from a flat tire.

So Jeremy, my advice to you would be to skip the course, work like crazy
on your eartraining and interval work, perfect your more important skills
of musicianship like "intensity discrimination" (isn't that illegal?)
and focus more on other intellectual and aesthetic aspects of music than
Perfect Pitch.

David Runnion
http://mp3.com/serafinotrio