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I can close my eyes, play a random note on the piano, and i can identify what it is. Does this mean i have perfect pitch?

Blue Sun

Well seems like you have perfect pitch. I do not particularly think I have, as I do not seem to need it, I just play by ear and if it sounds right then that's it.

Incidentally I'm the same guy as 'Alanjazz' but due to some clitch in PC technology I lost all identity, had to make a restart.

Alan

Having perfect pitch isn't all that important. What is important is the ability to hear intervals.

Best, John

This has been discussed before. There's some confusion here as to the difference between perfect pitch, and relative pitch. To have perfect pitch you would need to be a computer, like the ETD's tuners use to tune a piano. The human ear cannot recognize the difference in pitch between A-440, and A-440.2, or A-440.5. If you could, you would have perfect pitch.
The human ear can recognize the pitch A-440 being played, and can even recognize the difference in pitch between A-440 and A-442. This is relative pitch. You can recognize the pitch A-440, and if you hear A-442, you can tell the A is now a bit more sharp, but you cannot say how much. If you could you would have perfect pitch.
Sorry guys, very few people have ever have been documented with perfect pitch ability, and the vast majority of people who think they do, only have relative pitch.

I also tune pianos without the aid of another piano or whatever device people use to aid them, purely by ear. So i'm pretty sure i have absolute pitch, my dad also has this ability, so i suppose it could be genetic.

Aural tuning has nothing to do with perfect, or absolute pitch. Tuning requires using a reference pitch, usually A-440, and being able to set a temperament by discriminating beat rates to produce a harmonious tuning within the guidelines of each pianos particular inharmonicity constants.
Then being able to set a pleaisng amount of stretch to the high treble and low bass of the piano.

I agree this thread is rather abstract. I can tell when a note is needing tuning. I can certainly tell when it is played out of harmony or out of tune for the music as written.

Then again playing by ear purely as a musician as I do without being taught anything means you know what each key sounds like. This has to be stored in the brain somewhere. For when you have done it long enough ( many years) you achieve the ability to just play the instrument. The sound is what matters and on single notes one mistake is heard immediately or even as you press the key .....but too late , at which time you double up quickly to overcome the mistake by playing the correct note. Usually the next semitone.

In jazz those errors are soon forgotten and some jazz, unfortunately, uses discordant sounds to help the abstract effect --- don't they guys ?)

I think tuners are fantastic and my Steinway had one of the best in England, he had to be, due to the poor acoustics of the room for one thing!

Alan

If you have perfect pitch then translating it to relative pitch is a cerebral skill and should be a very easy and small step to make.

However, developing absolute pitch without perfect pitch can seem impossible for some, but in theory should be doable for anyone.

I thought perfect pitch meant a great piano presentation resulting in a sale!!!!!!!!!!

So I guess if the phenomenon known as “perfect pitch” does in fact exist, then it's reasonable to assume that the phenomenon known as “tone deafness’ also exists. I never really believed anyone was really tone deaf – with the exception of someone that is totally deaf. Hmm… I’ll have to give this further thought. Hmm… Okay I did, and I’m still a little baffled – and besides all this thinking is giving me a migraine.

John

That was just plum silly. :rolleyes:

John

You can read a further discussion on this topic on the 'Piano Forum.

I think in total this is a waste of time as few people can explain what they are mentally capable of. Me included. I just know I can follow along to a recording of a piece of piano or other music and get it correct on my piano which is to A 440 being brand new and tuned 3 times in a year. This is with my mental/subconscious understanding of sounds and tone of a piano keyboard. That is a 'absolute' fact!

Alan