Perfect or absolute pitch is a band geeks wet dream. In high schools all over America, choir students, saxophone players, and guitarists cry themselves to sleep and wish they were able to distinguish and produce notes on command without a reference note. Some will kill to whistle a perfect C.

It may notperfect pitch may be related to how people learn language, specifically tonal language.

Five years ago researchers led by Diana Deutsch of the University of California at San Diego found that native speakers of Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese frequently [use perfect pitch] during ordinary speech. In these so-called tonal languages, changing pitch can completely alter the meaning of words. For example, the Mandarin word "ma" means "mother" when the vowel is a constant high pitch, but means "hemp" when pronounced with a rising pitch. Until now, it was not known whether this precision in linguistic pitch transferred to musical tones. []

To address this question, Deutsch and her colleagues compared 115 advanced music students from Rochester, New York, with 88 students from Beijing. In results to be presented at the meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in San Diego on November 17, the scientists found that the Mandarin speakers were much more likely to have absolute pitch than were English speakers who had started musical training at the same age. For example, 60 percent of Beijing students who had begun studying music between the ages of four and five years old passed a test for absolute pitch, whereas only 14 percent of the American students did. In both groups, students who started their musical instruction later were less likely to have absolute pitch, and none of the Rochester students that began training after their eighth birthday had the ability

Deutsch believes that learning perfect pitch is like learning a second language in cultures that rely on variable tonesEnglish speakers learn pitch like a first language.

Dr_Zoidberg

Raymore, MO

June 2004

NOV 13, 2004 01:09 AM

I guess I am in that 14 percent. I passed the perfect pitch test in piano class my freshman year at college.

[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 3:09AM]

Dane_valek

Tucson, AZ

September 2004

NOV 13, 2004 01:52 AM

I am jealous, my friend has perfect pitch... And he plays drums.... wtf?!

Obdurate

Los Angeles, CA

October 2004

NOV 13, 2004 03:03 AM

Well well well. The debate is unending. I work at a guitar store, and we had an article posted regarding this subject. Tone deafness may be caused by brain abnormality" Jamie Talan, Newsday "Tone deafness is called AMUSIA... and is linked to the right auditory cortex, the part of the brain that processes pitch perception." It goes on to say that 4% of the world's population suffers from this congenital brain abnormality - you can be born with it or aquire it through trauma. It also says that the auditory complexes in the right and left sides of the brain have different structures and functions unlike most regions which are symmetrical. FYI the left contains more white matter an attribute that is thought to have evolved to handle rapid-fire human speech. The right is slower to process information, yet is more accurate - hence the direct link to pitch perception. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!! The good news is that even if you don't have perfect pitch you probably don't have amusia. The bad news is, even if you don't have amusia you still might have drain bramage. You can improve your pitch through this simple method: tuning forks. If you strike the fork, (never on a hard surface - use your knee) and place it while it resonates between your teeth, letting the tone resonate through the cavities in your head. (Listening through the inner ear is also more accurate) Guaranteed to improve your pitch. Get a fork in each key and viola!

[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 11:30AM]

s5

San Francisco, CA

OLD SKOOL

NOV 13, 2004 03:42 AM

it appears that you have this part reversed, no?

Deutsch believes that learning perfect pitch is like learning a second language in cultures that rely on variable tonesEnglish speakers learn pitch like a first language.