How many people have Perfect Pitch and how does it help and/or hinder you? I know a couple of people who have it and they are both exceptionally gifted musicians.
Sadly, I dont have Perfect Pitch, but over the years doing music, my Pitch sense has improved probably to the point of relative pitch! Sadly, my actual hearing has worsened though as I now suffer from tinnitus and a slight hearing loss from over-exposure to sound!

Gae

perfect pitch is bad...your better to have very good relative pitch!

I have perfect pitch...

Helps enormously in the following:
Sight-reading, intonation
Sight-singing, singing harmonies, singing in general
Learning new clefs
Composition (I don't know how anyone can cope without it when it comes to composition personally! Although I'm sure people without perfect pitch manage fine)
Playing in C on a transposing instrument

Hinders enormously in the following:
Playing transposing instruments (e.g. horn or clarinet)
Composing for groups of transposing instruments
Teaching transposing instruments, or hearing other people play transposing instruments
Aural dictation when the piece is not at concert pitch (annoys me sooo much!)

Congratulations for reaching your 100th post! I don't have perfect pitch, but I heard it can be quite annoying when singing/playing on an out-of-tune piano. I still think it would be a very useful thing to have, though. but at least when singing I can mostly feel what note it is (give or take a whole note). Is that what you mean by relative pitch?
Charlotte

QUOTE (cellohan @ Jan 9 2005, 03:12 PM)

perfect pitch is bad...your better to have very good relative pitch!

why do you say that?

QUOTE

perfect pitch is bad...your better to have very good relative pitch!

????
What, bad in the sense that the likes of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Sinatra, Presley and Nat King Cole had it?
Explain please!!

Gae

Relative pitch is where you can work out what a note is if you've heard a different note being played and you know what the different note is (if that makes sense).

So, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was an A... I would then play a D, and if you had relative pitch you'd be able to tell me it was a D.

However, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was a B... and then played a D... you would tell me that the D was an E.

This is because you would have worked it out using intervals...

I sing in a quartet and when we perform we usually play the root of the chord and then I sing the other notes needed to everyone!
so that means I have relative pitch, right?

QUOTE

Plays Violin, Viola, Pianoforte, French horn, Organ, Guitar, Recorder and takes singing lessons Grade 8 Distinction in Violin, Pianoforte and Voice: teaches violin, piano and theory Studying A-level music with OCR and Grade 8 Theory (eerk...)

Cheeble, you are obviously very gifted and having Perfect Pitch must have helped you in being a multi-instrumentalist. It must help so much in the learning of any music and/or instrument. I'm sure you work hard too though!
I'm jealous! I've worked so hard over the years at the Piano and even now I still qualify as only an average Pianist....(well, average compared to say Ashkenazy that is!! )

Gae

QUOTE (july @ Jan 9 2005, 03:19 PM)

I sing in a quartet and when we perform we usually play the root of the chord and then I sing the other notes needed to everyone! so that means I have relative pitch, right?

that's right!

Aww cheers Gae - perfect pitch has helped an awful lot, I'm very lucky to have it.

It's still possible to become a good player without having it though. Relative pitch can often be developed (although I have a friend who is an exceptionally talented flautist, and she can't do aural dictation at all!)

Relative pitch is only really necessary to be a good sightsinger. For instrumental playing, you don't need it at all - all you need is to be able to play the notes and put some feeling into it!

Perfect Pitch illustration
Its the difference between being a Blind painter who stabs nervously at the canvas and a Rembrandt with his Easel of colours at the ready!

I'm partially sighted in the above comparison!

Gae

QUOTE (cheeble @ Jan 9 2005, 03:17 PM)

Relative pitch is where you can work out what a note is if you've heard a different note being played and you know what the different note is (if that makes sense). So, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was an A... I would then play a D, and if you had relative pitch you'd be able to tell me it was a D. However, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was a B... and then played a D... you would tell me that the D was an E. This is because you would have worked it out using intervals...

Well, in that case, I think I need to put up with being tone deaf or something...

QUOTE (Gae @ Jan 9 2005, 03:31 PM)

Its the difference between being a Blind painter who stabs nervously at the canvas and a Rembrandt with his Easel of colours at the ready! Gae

Can't go along with that analogy (before we get to Rembrandt and how he used to work).

There is an analogy though - do you have perfect colour sense? Could you come up with the correct pantone number if shown a colour swatch?


PS, I tend to go a bit sharp in the winter. The cold?

I don't know wether I have perfect, relative or any pitch for that matter!
If my choir conductor says to me "sing an A" I can do it..but I get the A by going through pieces or songs in my head that start on an A, and remembering what they sound like I can do it (not just on an A, any note lol)
So what's this...if anything!?

Hmm, yes, I can sing an A that way, and an E (2 oct above middle C only)

Perhaps that would be 'memory' pitch! lol

Wouldn't having perfect pitch make it a lot easier to tune your instrument, particularly if you're a string player? I find it difficult to tell if my flute's in tune or not when I'm practising uness I have someone to play a note for me to tune to.

QUOTE (its so rock n roll @ Jan 9 2005, 06:41 PM)

I don't know wether I have perfect, relative or any pitch for that matter! If my choir conductor says to me "sing an A" I can do it..but I get the A by going through pieces or songs in my head that start on an A, and remembering what they sound like I can do it (not just on an A, any note lol) So what's this...if anything!?

You're like me then, and I who thought I was the only one!

You could say that you're "on your way" of developing perfect pitch, you still have a sort of "reference"(depends on how you see it) but with training, you won't think of it as "that song begins on an A" but instead, you'll just think like "it's a A".
It's just a matter of training, trust me. I myself have without any help at all, started to learn perfect pitch this way. It's like remembering "the feeling of a note", so when I want to sing an F, for instance, I just sing "the feeling" of an F (sounds weird, I know), but it works! For me at least.

Although I can't develop perfect pitch entierly, as when I hit a note on a piano I can feel whenever it's a black or white key as the black ones are smaller than the white ones... but I'm at the stage when I at least can perfectly tell what note it is only if I know whatever it is "black note" (C#,D#,F#,G#,A#) or a "white note"(C,D,E,F,G,A,B ).

If someone else just could play the notes on the piano instead, I would have perfect pitch already... Anyway, it's all about training!

Helen, we should have another club called, we have the complete opposite of perfect pitch, nowhere any pitch!

QUOTE

Wouldn't having perfect pitch make it a lot easier to tune your instrument, particularly if you're a string player?

Yes, I have perfect pitch and it's very useful for tuning my violin! I also think it definitely helps with intonation, sight-reading, sight-singing (and aural tests, etc.) and those composition questions in theory exams!

Rhapsodin asked

QUOTE

Could you come up with the correct pantone number if shown a colour swatch?

My analogy might have been a poor one, but with regards to yours....
I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Gae

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jan 9 2005, 07:44 PM)

Helen, we should have another club called, we have the complete opposite of perfect pitch, nowhere any pitch!

Wow that is such a good idea!

QUOTE (Gae @ Jan 9 2005, 10:11 PM)

Rhapsodin asked QUOTE Could you come up with the correct pantone number if shown a colour swatch? My analogy might have been a poor one, but with regards to yours.... I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Gae

I think he means could you give the colour number of one of those little colour samples when you are choosing paint? But, I might be over-evaluating...

QUOTE (cheeble @ Jan 9 2005, 03:17 PM)

However, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was a B... and then played a D... you would tell me that the D was an E. This is because you would have worked it out using intervals...

Not necessarily... if one has played for a long time, especially orchestral instruments that tune to A, one can develop a kind of almost-perfect pitch for a note (usually A!) - especially someone who plays a lot and regularly. For instance, if you played me a B and told me it was an A I'd probably know. If you started on a different note I'd struggle more. But good relative pitch plus note memory of a note or notes (I used to be able to accurately (most of the time!) pitch E A D and G because of being a violinist) can be almost-perfect-pitch - with the advantage that for someone without true perfect pitch, if playing a tranposing instrument/playing at a different A than A=440/etc, the relative pitch sense tends to take over, and so it's not as hard/immensely annoying... and if an orchestra is slightly out but all tuned well to each other, it wouldn't grate. I can't imagine how dreadful it would be growing up with perfect pitch in a country which used A=440 and then having to go play in the Berlin Phil or something, which is apparently A=445 if I remember correctly... imagine everything sounding a tiny bit sharp the WHOLE time!!!

So whereas perfect pitch can be a boon, *good* relative pitch plus note memory can *almost* replace it, and even beats it in some categories (if someone had exceptional "note memory" and extremely good relative pitch, then they'd probably have all the advantages of perfect pitch with few of the disadvantages - but to have that good a memory for notes and that good a relative pitch would be hard work - much easier to have it inborn!) I'm fortunate that my first ever music teacher was into teaching musicianship as well as instruments, and gave us all a great grounding in the aural side of things. I could accurately sing a major or minor scale, and do all the major intervals with no hesitation whatsoever before I was... oh 10 at the most. Many, many people get no such training and spend the rest of their aural-exam-life struggling as a result!

Re: Aural dictation: depends how complex it is, but most stuff I'd be OK with given a starting note and a key. I'd struggle with atonal, which obvously you wouldn't! (I remember the correcting of an atonal piece in the a-level exam was a pig... except for the guy who had perfect pitch! though I used to get most of it mostly right most of the time... lol...) But you'd be surprised how far a good sense of relative pitch can get you

Doesn't stop me for envying you for having perfect pitch, though

I don't think that the memory thing, however good you get it, is the same as having perfect pitch. What Cheeble has described is what I would call really perfect pitch. Not just a memory feat but incredibly accurate and sensitive pitch sense married irrevocably to an in tune scale. I think sometimes people who do simply have incredibly sharp relative pitch say they have perfect pitch, and really it isn't the same thing. Though I guess the only way you could really know is by experiencing both, and sadly we can't do that!

Is sight-singing ever examined in the AB exams? Because it always struck me that it would be rather unfairly weighted to those with perfect pitch. Must make that section of the aural a piece of cake!

Out of interest, those of you with perfect pitch... how did you/your parents find out? Presumably you're not born knowing where A is... lol... unless we humans are very specifically designed - but just have a very accurate pitch sense which didn't take long to latch on to the normal diatonic scale. But I'd be really be interested as to what age you found out/how/what it feels like (lol, insofar as you can quantify that!)

QUOTE

Many, many people get no such training and spend the rest of their aural-exam-life struggling as a result!

Sounds familiar...

QUOTE

Is sight-singing ever examined in the AB exams?

Ooooh yes.... and its very, very scary... ph34r: I have never got any of it right... ever... Or the singing/playing back of the melody... But that might be just me. I get comments like "Ci well answered, other tests unsure and unaccurate..." etc etc

QUOTE (cheeble @ Jan 9 2005, 07:14 AM)

I have perfect pitch... Helps enormously in the following: Sight-reading, intonation Sight-singing, singing harmonies, singing in general Learning new clefs Composition (I don't know how anyone can cope without it when it comes to composition personally! Although I'm sure people without perfect pitch manage fine) Playing in C on a transposing instrument Hinders enormously in the following: Playing transposing instruments (e.g. horn or clarinet) Composing for groups of transposing instruments Teaching transposing instruments, or hearing other people play transposing instruments Aural dictation when the piece is not at concert pitch (annoys me sooo much!)

I totally agree...
I absolutely hate transposing... It makes my head hurt

awww... it's a shame, because being trained well and early makes SUCH a difference, and so many teachers neglect it.

I mean... sight-singing as instrumentalists have sight-reading - not just the aural section of the exam.

I just tested my note-memory theory by the way - that Cheeble wouldn't be able to fool me - I haven't played or sung anything since 3hrs and 20 minutes ago at chapel, and then it was not from music - I just had the words. And I sat here at the computer and sang an A off the top of my head, then ran down to check myself with the piano - and I was more in tune than it was (it was tuned flat last time round because it hand't been tuned for a long time and the tuner didn't want to snap any of my strings!) so I guess that proves my pitch memory is not half bad... I'm quite chuffed with myself!

I have such perfect pitch that I've just found out that the piano needs tuning.

Just 0.5Hz on the concert A, you understand.

So thayerr

I do not think I have perfect pitch... because if you ask me to sing F from nothing, I won't be able to do it... in fact I can roughly get A (because I played violin 20+ years ago. ), and then "relatively" come up with a no so in tune F.

But... recently (in fact after reading this discussion here) I just found that if I asked my wife to play the _just_ the white keys on the piano up or down 2 octaves randomly, I can tell exactly what note she played, without needing to think. However, if she play black keys along with the white keys randomly, I will be in complete darkness!!

I hope I just need more "resolution" to be able to identify the chromatics, and hope that this "resolution" can be trained - but many people said this ability is inborn and will be lost if not kept trained.

Nevertheless, I can do perfectly well in AB's sight-singing part of its exams for piano up to grade 8, and I don't think I need to lean on this pitching ability because it's so "handicapped"...... I agree that relative pitching is very useful and important, if not more.

I don't have perfect pitch (though I have good relative pitch), but my children both have it.

QUOTE (cheeble @ Jan 9 2005, 03:17 PM)

Relative pitch is where you can work out what a note is if you've heard a different note being played and you know what the different note is (if that makes sense). So, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was an A... I would then play a D, and if you had relative pitch you'd be able to tell me it was a D. However, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was a B... and then played a D... you would tell me that the D was an E. This is because you would have worked it out using intervals...

I think I have perfect pitch, at least my teacher always said so. And I can distinguish between an A and a D. But after a lot of experience, I think that "perfect pitch" without training is nothing. When I did my gr 6 and 7 aural tests I couldn't distinguish G major and G dominant 7th chords. But that was because I was never taught specifically. Now, after a few lessons in accompanying I can easily do that.

You said:
However, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was a B... and then played a D... you would tell me that the D was an E.

A person with perfect pitch can do that easily. It's not about the perfect pitch itself, it's about counting intervals. But, perfect pitch people have an advantage (or something different). When you played A and said it was a B, they can know automatically that it's really an A and you're lying. But when you played a D they could answer D, if they know it, or they could answer E, because they're "playing your game". In other words, they're lying to themselves. If they want to play your game then they'd have to count the intervals, too (and sometimes they count wrong). Relative pitch people can think it's really E.

So, relative pitch is, from your point of view, able to distinguish intervals from 2 different notes, but not the notes themselves.

Personally, I think that perfect pitch can't be "forgotten" by our ears, but it can get less "powerful". If you don't listen to music for a long time, and never practice "guessing" notes then you might not answer as confident as you could.

Another thing: Sight singing is the same. I can't always sing a nice C or F from nothing. That's why I'm not always succesful in composing. Is it that I need practice, or is it that I don't have perfect pitch? I can also distinguish notes easily on the piano (and cello, my other instrument) but not always the orchestra. When I try to play a melody from a new symphony, I can always play it correctly but not always in the right key. An example is when I first heard Tchaikovsky's first Piano Concerto, I didn't think it was in Bb minor until I read it is.

QUOTE (DGA @ Jan 10 2005, 08:27 AM)

However, if I played an A on the piano and told you it was a B... and then played a D... you would tell me that the D was an E. A person with perfect pitch can do that easily. It's not about the perfect pitch itself, it's about counting intervals. But, perfect pitch people have an advantage (or something different). When you played A and said it was a B, they can know automatically that it's really an A and you're lying. But when you played a D they could answer D, if they know it, or they could answer E, because they're "playing your game". In other words, they're lying to themselves. If they want to play your game then they'd have to count the intervals, too (and sometimes they count wrong). Relative pitch people can think it's really E.

DGA: as far as I understand, a person with perfect pitch would not have to count the intervals. If they hear an E, they know it's an E - they don't need the other pitch to compare it to - they would know instantly that the "B" was actually an A, but it wouldn't make any difference, because they would recognise the E even if you hadn't played them a reference note beforehand - they don't need to count the intervals. And those few people I've know with perfect pitch can indeed sight-sing, and pull a C or F or whatever out of the air. Whereas me, with passably good note-memory and a good sense of relative pitch, *could* probably find that C or F, but wouldn't be confident, and might not be accurate. In this example, I would (probably) know Cheeble was lying.... but I definitely do not have perfect pitch.

I guess it depends on your definition of perfect pitch, but to me it sounds as if you do not have it, but do have a very sharp ear, probably extremely good "note memory", and great relative pitch. I *think* (Cheeble or another "perfect pitcher" (LOL) can correct me if I am wrong) that if you had perfect or absolute pitch, you would have played that Tchaikovsky, for instance, in the right key - or at least would have known that you had tranposed it. Relative pitch allows you to play it by ear well, because you hear the intervals correctly and (without necessarily thinking consciously about it) can reproduce them accurately, so that you play the right tune: perfect pitch would have you able to also play it in the right key. As I say, it depends on who's defining it... some people would class someone who had the excellent note memory for A and a very good relative pitch as having perfect pitch, but I think it is a different animal, from what I have heard from those who do have a sense of perfect pitch.

Rhaps: hehe, well what can we do with a genius such as yourself living among us? I am not worthy....

Tannie: yes, the white keys thing - I can do that, have been able to since I was learning the piano first time round at the age of 10 or 11, which prompted my teacher to mistakenly say I had perfect pitch, whereas I think it's more to do with knowing the sharps and flats in any key and hearing where it isn't "right", and thus knowing what key it's in... I think I used to be able to do it without having to "work it out", whether I still can......

A Music shop owner once did a test for a teacher I know who has perfect pitch. I watched them doing the test. Two chords were played across the range of a piano containing any notes played at random...the chord sounded very discordant of course and the teacher couldn't see what was being played. The teacher in question then named what he could hear and said something along the lines of "there's a C# at the bottom, then an F, D, Eb, G# and a B at the top. The look on the shop owners face was the kind of look you see on a young child's face when he has just seen a Magician doing a trick.
Need I say any more? If you have Perfect Pitch you'll know it. There's no question about it.
Rhapsodin, I'm impressed, 0.5Hz? I bow down humbly at your feet sir! No wonder you dont like to use midi software. With hearing like that, who needs to? Have some sympathy for us mere mortals though please. I can just about recognise 0.05Khz.....thats Khz by the way!
Perfect Pitch has nothing to do with being a good composer for those who say they cant compose because of it. Of course, it is an advantage to be able to compose directly to manuscript and the greatest composers have all had perfect pitch, but you can still compose using an instrument, like a piano for instance. Also, with midi software, you dont need Perfect Pitch becaus you hear the notes as you put them in.....another advantage of composing with midi.

Gae

What does all that hz stuff mean? I know A is 440hz, but what is it???

QUOTE (Gae @ Jan 10 2005, 01:32 PM)

A Music shop owner once did a test for a teacher I know who has perfect pitch. I watched them doing the test. Two chords were played across the range of a piano containing any notes played at random...the chord sounded very discordant of course and the teacher couldn't see what was being played. The teacher in question then named what he could hear and said something along the lines of "there's a C# at the bottom, then an F, D, Eb, G# and a B at the top. The look on the shop owners face was the kind of look you see on a young child's face when he has just seen a Magician doing a trick.

Yeah. That is what I would mean by perfect pitch!

Composing-wise - in terms of simple tunes, with good relative pitch, you can compose straight to paper. I usually have to, because my piano-playing simply isn't good enough. But for instance when I composed a descant line for my flute to play over Silent Night this Christmas I had the music for the tune and accompaniment in front of me, the idea for what i wanted in my head, and just wrote it. There was no way in the world I could play even the piano part along well enough to sing the other part along with it or anything - the first time I heard it against the piano part was when I got my piano-teacher-player friend to go through it with me, and it was fine. I also regularly write harmony parts to hymns and choruses at the computer (and I don't have a way to play it back, I just have Finale and wouldn't have a clue even if my computer was able to play back from it), I sometimes nip downstairs to check the harmonies at the piano as best I can, but usually I just have the music open in front of me and some idea of what I want to do with the parts, I can generally "hear" in my head (with my relative pitch!) how it will sound, and then I get my friend to play them through and tell me if they are OK. Never yet had a problem. You don't need perfect pitch to compose!

QUOTE

I also regularly write harmony parts to hymns and choruses at the computer (and I don't have a way to play it back, I just have Finale and wouldn't have a clue even if my computer was able to play back from it)I sometimes nip downstairs to check the harmonies at the piano as best I can

Sarah, cant you get Finale to play your soundcard? Have a look in the files at the top of the software and see if there is anything to do with "Midi devices/preferences etc) and just select your sound card. I dont have Finale but I'm sure there is someone here who has it who can help. It does make life a bit easier when you can hear the notes...especially if you dont have Perfect Pitch.
I suppose at least you get excercise running up and down the stairs! You see...every cloud has a silver lining!

Gae

QUOTE (Gae @ Jan 10 2005, 02:07 PM)

I suppose at least you get excercise running up and down the stairs! You see...every cloud has a silver lining!

LOL!

I don't have to run up and down too much, I find. It usually isn't a problem... I think I generally only check if I have a suspension or a dischord that I *think* will work but I'm not completely confident, or another example I can think of from one of the last ones I did, I had 3 parts all rising arpegiated with chord changes as they went up (I haven't explained that very well... sorry) and I knew the harmonies on each not were OK, but I wanted to make sure they sounded ok as they moved too, if you know what I mean.

I have no idea how to make finale play through my soundcard... lol... presumably I even HAVE a sound card... lol. Well I have speakers and soundfiles play through that but I have no idea where to even start making it play final files... I'm sure there is a way, but in the meantime I don't find I need it. It'd be nice to hear some of my arrangements though, I must admit! We've been transposing stuff so that some of the younger ones at chapel can play their saxes (they're not too up on transposing at sight) - that 3 piece arrangement was for two saxes and flute. But so far we've yet to organise them to actually play anything, and I have passed the files along but I don't know if they have got to the saxophonists yet.

Anyway, maybe I will have a try one day (or if any final users want to PM me with tips....) but in the meantime I guess it's very good practice for me to do it in my head and on paper. That's got to be a good start for when I finally get round to doing grade 6 theory, hasn't it??!

QUOTE (cheeble @ Jan 9 2005, 03:14 PM)

I have perfect pitch... Helps enormously in the following: Sight-reading, intonation Sight-singing, singing harmonies, singing in general

Yes, it's helpful in most circumstances, though not essential. I heard a radio talk by a professional singer who has perfect pitch and works at both A 440 and lower pitches. She reckoned that it took her a few days at a different pitch to retune her ear to it, though she could sing reasonably well in tune before then.

QUOTE

Learning new clefs Composition (I don't know how anyone can cope without it when it comes to composition personally! Although I'm sure people without perfect pitch manage fine)

Some of my compositions are OK, IMO, some are to be rewritten or thrown away, but perfect pitch (which I don't have) made no difference to any of them. OTOH, I came top of my undergraduate year in the aural exam, beating a very talented Singapore Chinese fellow student who did have perfect pitch. Not all of this exam was pitch related, however. There was a very good part which required us to mark on a score the differences from what we heard in a recording, and these included rhythmic mistakes. Every potential conductor should train for this one.

QUOTE

Playing in C on a transposing instrument Hinders enormously in the following: Playing transposing instruments (e.g. horn or clarinet) Composing for groups of transposing instruments

I knew two horn players with perfect pitch. One was a hopeless sight reader on horn and OK on his other instrument, viola. He had a very complicated mental process that involved him working out the concert pitch of a note he had to play, so that he knew how it sounded. By that time, the rest of us were playing the next bar. The other one managed pretty well and taught horn, but has now given it up and plays oboe, which is the instrument she wanted to play in the first place. She acquired her perfect pitch in F, so that it worked on horn, and on oboe it is much less useful, since the instrument mostly does what your fingers tell it to.

How do you cope with horn? Do you use your perfect pitch on it at all?

QUOTE

Teaching transposing instruments, or hearing other people play transposing instruments Aural dictation when the piece is not at concert pitch (annoys me sooo much!)

Do you mean "early" music at lower pitch?

QUOTE (cheeble @ Jan 9 2005, 03:29 PM)

Relative pitch is only really necessary to be a good sightsinger. For instrumental playing, you don't need it at all - all you need is to be able to play the notes and put some feeling into it!

Yes, if you don't have perfect pitch then you need interval recognition for sight singing, but also to play the horn and, to a lesser extent, the other brass instruments; also for teaching, coaching and conducting.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Having read all these posts I am feeling really inadequate compared to you all. I have such a long way to go with all this.



Amber
x

awww amber, don't be silly! just look how you're doing with your chocolate woohoo! but seriously: you got merit in your singing exam (can you tell I read your sig??! ) so your singing must be pretty in tune, so you much have a pretty good sense of pitch... in my experience, singing is the hardest thing if you don't have a good sense of pitch. at least with most instruments (not all, but most) you have some idea that you are vaguely in the right place most of the time, and any adjustments are fairly minor, hopefully... with singing, you only have yourself (and your accompaniest if you have one) to rely on for staying in some sort of tune, and I know it can be hard especially to pitch your first note unless you've got a really clear lead-in, and some intervals are truly evil to sing. I'd love to do singing properly, but I think I'd be so terrified in an exam I'd probably sing everything totally off-key. so anyway, your relative pitch must be really rather good, and those with perfect pitch are rae and unusual animals. and those of us who've got pretty good relative pitch or can pitch an A, it's not necessarily some amazing talent: for me, I'm sure it has an awful lot to do with the fact I've been playing music for very nearly 20 years and have been tuning to an A for that entire time. It sticks in your brain after a while, you know.....

Thank you for your very sensible comments Sarah! I often have a tendency to compare myself (unfavourably) to others, and totally discount any achievements of my own. I've only been singing for two years! If this thread is still going in 18 yrs time, then hopefully I'll be posting a very different message!



Amber
x

I hate singing and these blooming aural tests are driving me crazy. I just can't remember anything.

QUOTE (Amber @ Jan 10 2005, 07:34 PM)

Thank you for your very sensible comments Sarah! I often have a tendency to compare myself (unfavourably) to others, and totally discount any achievements of my own. I've only been singing for two years! If this thread is still going in 18 yrs time, then hopefully I'll be posting a very different message! Amber x

Blimey, Amber! In which case... wow! no, you have no reason at all to feel inadequate!

I think we all... OK, well not all, but many of us... do that. I know I do! About half an hour after getting my better-than-I'd-ever-imagined flute result I was looking at the mark sheet and going "Mmmm, I should have done better in my sight-reading..." It's easier said than done, I know, and this is the pot calling the kettle black (LOL) but... that's a seriously fab achievement and you deserve to be very very proud

(lol, I was tempted to put "velly velly ploud". I'm weird. Sorry)

QUOTE (nicki_flute @ Jan 10 2005, 07:35 PM)

I hate singing and these blooming aural tests are driving me crazy. I just can't remember anything.

i as the chairperson of the club known as ' the we hate aural club!' give permission for you to join!!

members so far- meee!! Helen, Nicki!

QUOTE (Amber @ Jan 10 2005, 05:26 PM)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  Having read all these posts I am feeling really inadequate compared to you all.   I have such a long way to go with all this. Amber x

Oh no, purleeeze....come on, now. What's so dismaying about this kind of question is that it matters not one hoot whether you have perfect pitch or not. But people start worrying about it. Hopefully not seriously!

There are loads of people out there who have perf pitch but aren't the least musical but they can pitch the exact note a song starts on even if they've never even seen a sheet of music.

And there are millions of people who play and / or love music who don't have this dubious "gift". People sing songs and play and never bother about ohhh, now, is that such-and-such interval? and am I singing a D-double-sharp or is it an F flat? Unless someone is tone deaf, they can usually adjust their intonation to a prevaling pitch without training and certainly can with it.

im tone deaf

Doesn't make me feel any better though when I am doing some aural tests in my exam....my aurals are nearly always the worst thing, and I never pass them well (Ok - a 100% at Grade 2 was an exception)

well done for grade 2!at least u pass them which is more than can be said for me!

must dash, got practice to do! ciao

After I've been working on a song for a while I can start off singing it (unaccompanied I mean) and it's the right notes. But that's not the same as someone asking me to, say, sing an F sharp. There again I'm just contradicting myself here. I can sing the B flat below middle C because that's the starting note for "Somewhere". And the C above middle C because that's the start of "Far from the home I love". And so on. So I can do that sort of pitching thing. But that's not perfect pitch is it? I'm feeling confused now.



Amber
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