Category: Jam Session
Hi All, I was just wondering if any of you out there have perfect pitch. I know that's a pretty common blindie thing for some odd reason. Someone told me it happens a lot when people are in incubators, but I dunno if this is true. Anyway I have it. I mean, I don't have it as great as some people, but i can hum a note on command, and if someone's dialing a phone, I can tell what number it is. And I can make up harmonies. But sometimes it takes me awhile to tell when something is sharp and flat. I can usually tell, even if it's slight, because I've been singing and around music for so long, but I know people who have better perfect pitch than me. But whatever. Being in a chorus nad having it is really helpful, especially since I can't read braille music. And it spooks people out when I go, "Who's number is 972-1927?" Lol. It's fun... So anyone got perfect pitch, and if so, got any fun stories about it?
Caitlin
Yeah I have PP, and so do my brother and sister who are also blind. My only current theory is that it is a skill we develop to adapt to learning music. We have all three taken music lessons, and needed to memorize music to participate in band, orchestra and chorus. I think some blind people develop this skill for this purpose. I have no other logical explanation.
Wow that's awesome Blink! Are you siblings on the zone? And just out of curiosity, what is yoru guys' condition? I agree with your theory--it's kind of our way of reading music without reading it.
Caitlin
Hmm, this is funny. I lost my sight at the age of 5 and I do not have perfect pitch, despite me being in bands for years, learning classical piano for 7 years and writing clasical compositions and pop songs (never said they were any good mind you :) well, the classical stuff was crap I do admit, some of my op songs, I think, are pretty good, but of course I'm a bit subjective).
Anyways, I can tell if something's sharp or flat and I can tell harmonies and I thnk I can tell phone numbers being dialed but I cannot, for the life of me, hum a note on demand or tell what note it is if I have no context, so I guess my relative pitch is pretty much perfect but perfect pitch I don't have at all. :)
<grin>
I wonder what the explanation is.
A blind girl that went to my college had perfect pitch, I tried throwing the weirdest notes and combinations at her, she always got them right, very impressive.
cheers
-B
I also have this and its come in handy when I'm teaching the piano or guitar to blind /vi children at 1st many of them are surprised when i say "ok who's deliberately messing around on a particular note" they don't realise i can tell just by listening .
smile
I have completely perfect pitch and I've had it ever since I knew what a piano was. It used to shock epople when I was 5 years old and could identify any note on command. I can't do the phone number trick but can identify any note in music.
Not sure if I have perfect pitch, but I always just had a good sense of it and a good ear for music. This was long before I even tried learning piano. Must ahve noticed it at four or five years old when I heard a song on a record and part of it was recorded at a slightly different pitch than the rest of the song. I could tell, when I was at school concerts, when people were playing or singing off-key.
I don't think there's a perfect anything really, but I do happen to have excellent pitch. I can hum a note on command and can tell what notes numbers on a phone play, but can't tell the difference because some like 2 and 5 sound the same. I freaked out a camp counselor when I told her and she's like "OK, gimme an F" "hmmmmm" "Wow! OK, a B?" "hmmmmmm" and so on, hehe. I got an A in ear training in college and felt like i shouldn't have been in the class because most of my time was spent helping others out. I sucked once at guitar tuning when I had a cold because everything was blocked up, so sickness in the body definitely changes how good one's ear and pitch are. Oh, I was almost going to post, but I remembered another funny perfect pitch story! I told my ex-bro-in-law that I had perfect pitch and could recognize that his saw was buzzing an e flat! So he rang the doorbell and goes "what tones are those?" and called up my sister's cell phone and said "what tones are those ringing?" and I told him correctly, lol!
...Oh My Gosh MELODICA, you don't say! Then Yes! you did say *smile* I guess if there is a term I may be given to use here it would be, hmm now, unperfectly-pitched-pitch, UPP in other terms. Doorbells, Cell phones, ... is that the tv commericial ringing or the micro wave buzzer going off..?? What? phone did you say, ... the One upstairs and on What? line... NO NO NO, the downstairs phone, well, where? is it... it's cord is missing... ! *smile* ...CG here
My brother is on here as python_74. My brother and sister both have Lebers Congenital Amaurosis, and I have PHPV. That's what substantiates my theory since I was adopted: the only common denominator between the three of us is that we grew up in the same household. My parents used to play the Suzuki tapes when we were young, and as you know, the Suzuki method focuses on learning music by ear. I have no other explanation why three kids from the same family with different genes all have perfect pitch.
...I came into having UPP, in a manner of speaking, and this a persoanl thot, when back Springtime of 2000 I experienced a bout with inflammation of the nerves like between the ear and like under the nose area.. A like inner tube inside my like facial cheek area became filled with fluid and placed so much pressure on nerves that they, the nerves like all shot to pieces. My left side of face affected and this to include my hearing, my vision, and one-half my mouth ... paralized. I like a TOTAL mess and bedridden for the most part for almost an entire year... I have basically recouped and numbness is still felt... SIGN LANGUAGE can be a blessing to use when during the worst of my ordeal I was hardly able to speak for being so numb in my mouth. Verbally Speaking at all would tire me to the point I would HAVE to go to bed and rest several hours just to get relief from the pain I was in. I remember so often the phone ringing and hearing my youngest son to the person calling, I am sorry but my mamma can't come to the phone right now, she needs her rest... Connie here...
I can't tell what numbers are being dialed on a phone, nor can I identify a note just yet, but i can hum a note on comand. You have to be one of the best singers to get in to the choir i'm in, and like one hundred people try out. So I must have pretty good pitch...
Woot Alison! Lol! Well I love having perfect pitch, it's fun, I just wish there were ways i oculd somehow sharpen it. Because i can do a note on command and identify notes and dialing numbers and stuff, but i can't do chords very well, unless they're really simple, and I can't immeedietly tell when things are sharp and flat, if they're just a little off. If it's pretty off, I can tell right away. Hard to explain. Anyway, I have Lebers too, yay! Hehe. So that's interesting Blink. I did some researchh on Perfect pitch, and did you know there's a course to learn it? I wonder if it works ... www.perfectpitch.com. It sounded interesting. But also expensive. Lol.
Caitlin
Yeah there's an ear training course offered by the Guitar by Ear guy, expensive as well.
well... never had read this topic since I didn'[t know what it was about. Well I don't want to seem trusted in myself but this is the trueth. As a children, when I was 3 years old, I started with piano lessons. (almost everyone I know knows how to play piano, how, why do we blind have the same thing? why all of us learn piano? curious) I helped my brother to get sounds by hearing. So, I was telling him like what chords and what tones, and he was with his hand twisted, writing everything down. I also took a course in the Colombian national univercity for like one and a half year. I can barely tell dialing phone tones, but a note, or a chord can pretty much identify it. Oh yes, there is a program that is excellent (hmm, err, I have it cracked) which name is hear master, which educates the hearing avilities. It has all kinds of scales, chords and armonies and teaches you what scale is what. Expensive if you buy it though, but I think its worth buying it although the company is not producing anything anymore and it seems like it got suspended.
The thingy on perfectpitch.com sounds like it'd work. I'd buy it, if I was sure it would help me brush up on my perfect pitch, but I think it's more likely to teach it, which will be useless to me.
Caitlin
I have it. I can do notes on command. I can name cords as they play. I can harminize, and tel every number on the phone. I can also ajust pitch on casette players. See as you know not every cassette player has the same speed. Most times, unless you play the cassette on the recorded it was recorded on, it won't be the same w speed. Who else goes nuts when they hear there favorite top40 station play every song at least +40 cents above normal pitch, or even worse, some do it +65 cents! I normally avoid those CHR's that are not absolute pitch. also it seems some cd's have been masterd at +20 cents higher pitch. Some not, but some are. IT drives me nuts. John
hmm tried to post on this topic ages ago but didn't seem to get through. .. anyway I have perfect pitch! .. I often tease my best bud here bout it because she has always been way way more music than I, and she don't got it Lol .. she's always askin me what notes are what, etc. :)
Hey, I too have perfect pitch! I guess it's a common thing for most of us, but I know of a lot of sighted people who also have it (i.e. my brother) lol! I never used to be able to identify numbers on a phone by sound before, until a few years ago. As for the music thing, I've always been that way, but it's improved a lot, and I can pick out exactly what note someone is playing, singing, etc.
Heheh JH, I've noticed that radio off pitch thing too, not CD's though, and yes, about tape players, that used to drive me bonkers when I was little. I used to put them on fourtracks, so I could adjust the speed. Lol. And RD that's cool yuou have it, and HH too hehehe. Yay!
Caitlin
yeahyeahyeah in the PP clan! hahaha .. and yes, if i'm talking on the phone to someone and they accidently, or purposely press a digit, I will announce the number they pressed, just to be cool! and they're like "how did you know?" hahaha
I do that. One time I was talking to my friend and she dialed, and I was all, "Seven? Well, I just don't know, I think--" and then I hit another numb,erk llol it was funny!
Caitlin
Seems like more girls have it then guys. I hear guys don't get it as much because of genetics? I anounce numbers when they are pressed on purpis or by accident too. John