Does the fact that you're synesthesic allow you to tell notes apart? I'm interested.

Interesting article on 'Yahoo News' yesterday:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Musicians and singers work for years to develop their sense of pitch but few can name a musical note without a reference tone. U.S. researchers on Monday said one gene may be the key to that coveted ability.

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Only 1 in 10,000 people have perfect or absolute pitch, the uncanny ability to name the note of just about any sound without the help of a reference tone.

"One guy said, 'I can name the pitch of anything -- even farts,"' said Dr. Jane Gitschier of the University of California, San Francisco, whose study appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

She and colleagues analyzed the results of a three-year, Web-based survey and musical test that required participants to identify notes without the help of a reference tone. More than 2,200 people completed the 20-minute test.

"We noticed that pitch-naming ability was roughly an all-or-nothing phenomenon," she said.

That lead researchers to conclude that one gene, or perhaps a few, may be behind this talent.

Gitschier said those with perfect pitch were able to correctly identify both piano tones and pure computer-generated tones that were devoid of the distinctive sounds of any musical instrument.

She said people with perfect pitch were able to pick out the pure tones with ease. And they also tended to have had early musical training -- before the age of 7.

"We think it probably takes the two things," she said.

They also found that perfect pitch tends to deteriorate with age.

"As people get older, their perception goes sharp. If a note C is played, and they're 15, they will say it's a C. But if they're 50, they might say it's a C sharp."

"This can be very disconcerting for them," Gitschier said.

The most commonly misidentified note, based on the study, is a G sharp. That may be because G sharp is overshadowed by A, its neighbor on the scale, they said. A is often used by orchestras in the West as a tuning reference.

Gitschier said she and her colleagues were focusing on identifying the gene responsible for perfect pitch, which will involve gene mapping. Then they will try to figure out what is different in people with absolute pitch.

"We'll have to play it by ear, so to speak," she said"

I've always had very accurate Perfect Pitch, and yet over the last year, I have found myself slightly sharp, I was always worried that having taken so many years away from music, that I'd affected it myself - can't decide whether I'm happier or not, that it's a function of age.

Any other older musicians here with Perfect Pitch finding they're pitching sharp?

I know that feeling lol. I was helping a friend buy a piano for her daughter and the piano was 2 tones off. Even though I pressed the correct keys playing the piece, it sound so so so wrong. Felt like puking lol. I was wincing. I plonked on it awhile and I gave up.

A question that occurred to me on the way home...

If you have absolute perfect pitch, so I play a note and you can tell me what that note is...does it only work for A=440? If I whipped out a recorder with A=415, would you still be able to identify an A as an A?

Just intrigued...

I remember reading that Michaela Petri couldn't play recorder with the 'authentic' orchestras, as she has perfect pitch at A440, and couldn't play a low pitch recorder, as it felt/sounded as if she was playing the wrong notes all the time.

Over on trumpetherald, there was a sometimes very heated, but fascinating debate on the subject. If you've got a while, it's worth a read:
http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtop...&highlight=

Please excuse my feeble ignorance (), but what's the difference between 440 and 415?

In modern tuning, the A above middle C is at a frequency of 440 Hz. There have been many different tunings in the past. One you get with recorders is A = 415 Hz. This makes the note about a semitone flatter. But it is still called the A above middle C, you've just changed what the A sounds like and thus all other notes change accordingly.

Here's info about historic tunings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch...n_Western_music

Does this mean the recorder is a transposing instrument? Doesn't that create problems for somebody accompanying the recorder?

If you're playing a 'normal' recorder - at A=440 - then you'll be fine with other instruments.

If you're playing a recorder that's been tuned to A=415, then your accompanying instruments need to be in 415 as well.

This is why most recorders come in 440 (to fit in with most other instruments) and 415s are more specialist instruments aimed at groups playing period music properly with suitably tuned instruments (e.g. instead of a 440 recorder + 440 piano, you have a 415 recorder with a 415 harpsicord and 415 lute)

On a pernano, and, to a lesser extent, on the violumolin and vilola, I tend just to be able to hear what a note feels like and place it accordingly. It's just how it feels. I'm assured it's linked to synesthesia (which I realise is spelt wrong), and I must confess, it certainly has a similar feel to it...