What type of perfect pitch do you have?

Question

Aren't there are different levels of perfect (absolute) pitch?

Many musicians who were lucky enough to receive professional training at very early ages and happen to have perfect pitch often state that if you do not have it by the age of ten, then you will never obtain it.

I agree with the idea that it is something that a person has to be born with, but what if a person was born with the trait but learned to play an instrument later in life. I have seen some of these types and they tend to display an underdeveloped form of the trait. They can identify notes but cannot sing them accurately. I have also seen their skills improve over time. The only person whom I've ever met who could identify pitches to the frequency was an older woman.

Because there are different levels, what type of perfect pitch do you have?

Answer 1

I have played violin since age three so I can hear a perfect 'A' to tune with in my head.  I can also sing it.  From there I can basically figure out other notes if I hear them, but I can't start on any note other than 'A'.  

I started out with the Suzuki program so I am great at learning by ear.  If I hear it, I can play it.

I had two years of ear training in college and was always a straight A student.

My uncle and brother taught themselves perfect pitch.  Every time they passed a piano they played middle 'C' and  sang (at the same pitch) 'This is middle 'C'.  I am trying but with the 'A' stuck in my head it is slow going.

Answer 2

It depends on ur level of singing. I can sing all of the different types of pitches very well. some ppl can sing alto better than some one who can sing saprano very well. it also depends on what gender u are.

Answer 3

None I sound like a squeaky hinge in need of oil

Answer 4

your question shows a certain lack of sophistication that is a tad insulting to true musicians. There is perfect pitch, relative pitch, poor pitch, & tone deaf,......but not varying degrees of perfection (the very idea is absurd!)!!!!

Most trained musicians have excellent relative pitch & that's actually more beneficial than the highly over-rated "perfect pitch"..................

Answer 5

I have Relative pitch, but not Perfect pitch.  I can sing a pitch within a half-step when I see a note, or identify it within a half-pitch when I hear it.  Perfect pitch gets it right on.

Answer 6

I have perfect relative pitch.  Doesn't matter much, except that I get pained by folks who play or sing out of tune.

The discussion of perfect pitch is largely pointless, unless:

1.  you cannot stand most music, because it all sounds out of tune, or

2.  you can only tell whether something ids in tune if it is a flute, tuning fork, or certain settings on a synthesizer.

Then you might have perfect absolute pitch.  Which is more of a curse than a blessing, unless you are very lucky.

Answer 7

I can kind of identify notes and instruments and stuff. My vocals however aren't that amazing, apparently I have a silken high pitched voice, but I can never seem to get the notes just right. but when I play my cello' I know exactly where my finger go on the finger board, and I can tell what note it is, what string it is on, and if it in tune, or if it is a flat, a natural, and open string, or a sharp, not so much when I sing, but people who did hear me sing before said my voice was very good. Nobody ever said anything about me having perfect pitch though, I can't get very low at all, I strictly sing soprano because I can't get very low, my pitches are quite limited in my ears.

Answer 8

Perfect pitch, contrary to what a lot of the above answerers seem to think, is not the ability to know whether a note is out of tune or not.  That's just a good and well-trained ear.  What I class as true perfect pitch is the ability to sing any note without first hearing it played - so essentially what violin_duchess said.  I have close to perfect pitch - like violin_duchess, I can almost always pull an A out of thin air (years of tuning to an A in an orchestra!) and so can work out other notes from that.  A lesser degree of perfect pitch, in my opinion, is the ability to identify what a note is when you hear it played.  I know a lot of musicians who can identify a note or chord when they hear it, but can't always sing any particular note without a reference point.  As to the whole argument about whether you're born with it or develop it, it's once again the nature/nurture argument, I think.  My own thoughts on that is that you may be born with the propensity to perfect pitch, but that if you are not exposed to music at an early age it won't ever fully develop.  

Another interesting thing to consider is the link with synaesthesia (coloured hearing) - a lot of musicians will tell you that different keys sound like they're different colours.  It's a well-recognised phenomenon, and if you think about it, a synaesthete is more likely to have perfect pitch as each note will trigger a certain colour in their head, and so by association, you learn pitch by colour.  

Answer 9

My music teacher in elementary school said that I must have been born with perfect pitch. Unfortunately, the music program at my school was discontinued and I was never really formally trained. So, I would say that I have an underdeveloped form of the trait, as you say. I can sing a note perfectly if I copy someone else and I can identify notes, but other than that I would need more training.