Do I have perfect pitch?

Question

I can hear an A in my head, hum it, and then play it on the piano, and I'll be right. But when people try to test me, I always have to stop and think about what interval that note is from an A. So, I have perfect pitch with an A. But does it count for everything else too?

Answer 1

If you can hum an A and get it .. That is perfect pitch. But, if you can't make out the interval, then you don't have perfect pitch.

By knowing your scales well, when you hear the A in your head, you should be able to differentiate the notes of teh scale perfectly.

If you give me any note and ask me an interval, I will tell you no problem. This is perfect pitch.....to be able to play on key and stay in tune and kow when you are off key.

All this pertains to perfect pitch.

Answer 2

That sounds like a form of relative pitch to me.  All of your pitches are relative to A.  there are other definitions for relative pitch, but that certainly fits.  But I wouldn't say that fits into perfect pitch.  True perfect pitch is being able to recognize the note by itself without relation to any notes.  One with very good perfect pitch can also tell notes from clusters and be able to tell when notes are out of tune.  However, do I think you're on the right track?  Definitely.  Perfect pitch can be learned...or at least I believe it can.  Others may disagree.

Answer 3

I'm sorry, but you do not have perfect pitch.  It's unfortunate that many instructors teach the method that you have described as a way of learning perfect pitch.  This method, however, does not work.  If a student memorizes a pitch and uses interval relations to find other pitches, the student has obtained relative pitch.

It's no different from the lessons that your instructor gives in ear training courses.  Has your teacher ever played a random note and asked a student to sing an interval above it?  If so, the teacher was trying to teach relative pitch.  This is exactly what you are doing.

Many musicians do not have perfect pitch.  The ones that do were born with it.  However, there are a few musicians who "seem" to have learned to have it, but in reality, they had it all along.  It was merely undiscovered.

If you think that you are one of these people, continue to play your instrument and practice pitch naming skills.  Perfect pitch will come to you naturally if you already have the genetic predisposition.  However, if it doesn't, you do not have the genetic predisposition and you will never have perfect pitch.

Either way, don't worry too much about it.  You'll become a great musician with or without perfect pitch.

Answer 4

No. It means you know an A. Perfect pitch is when you can sing any note on cue.

Answer 5

No

you have perfect a

but you do have perfect RELATIVE pitch