How long does it take to develop perfect pitch?

Question

I am going to work with a voice teacher in August, because I wanted to try out for a musical in May. I am a beginner, my pitch is kinda bad. Help? feedback?

Any exercises I can do?

Answer 1

Perfect pitch is the ability to sing a specific note without any reference (ie, sing a G without playing it on the piano first, you just know what note a G is).  However, I think what you're referring to here is relative pitch, which is a very different thing; it's the ability to hear a note and sing a third, fourth, fifth or any other interval above or below it - so if you are singing a C and your next note is a G, you know what the G will sound like.  I'm a firm believer that anybody can do this with the right training - you can develop your ear so that you know where to pitch the next note.  Working with a voice teacher is a great step to be taking; it's hard to know exactly how long it will take you but if you work at it it will happen for you!

Answer 2

Over time you can develop relative pitch and pitch memory, and get pretty close, but I agree that it's something you're born with or you aren't.

I get the feeling that you're having trouble with something a lot less complicated than that, like just matching a pitch played on the piano. The good news is that almost everybody can, with a little practice.

Here's a little test your teacher may try to check your ear. Sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for somebody, but don't use the words...just go "la,la,la,la" as you sing the notes.  When you're done, ask the person if they recognized the piece. If they did, then you aren't tone deaf - and you'll be able to learn to sing on pitch eventually!

Your teacher will help. Usually, the problem is not that you can't sing it right, just that you aren't listening to the sounds you are making closely enough. Poor pitch is in the ear, not the throat.  A trick I often use to get an inexperienced singer into the right key is to play the pitch, then sing the playground taunting song "Naaaa, naaaa, na, NAAAAA, nah" (I bet you remember that!) so that the last note is your starting pitch. It's easier to match those particular intervals, especially since you're connecting it to a snippet of music you've known forever. You'll need someone to sing it for you so that you can match it - which could be fun :) Once you get the right starting note, you should be much better.

Good luck!

Answer 3

perfect pitch you have to be born with, you might be able to train into better pitch, ask your teacher

Answer 4

I'm not sure. One of my friends has perfect pitch, but she was born with it.