Can You Learn Perfect Pitch?

Is Perfect Pitch Necessary?

Frankly speaking: No! Most of the many musicians I have met during my time in the music game, have survived very successfully without it. They are all respected professionals in many styles of music.

But if you're aspiring to become a member of the Chicago Symphony orchestra, well you either already have it or you should definitively start looking for lessons to perfect your pitch.

What is Perfect (Absolute) Pitch (pp)?

It is the ability to identify or re-create a note or sound, musical or otherwise, without any external reference (according to Wikipedia). This can be done verbally (singing) or with an instrument.

People with this wonderful ability can do any of the following in varying degrees without any given pitch reference:

Name individual pitches (e.g. Bb, F#/Gb) when played on instrumentsHear the key of a musical piece just by listeningDistinguish all the notes of a given chord and name themSing a given pitch with accuracyName the pitch of any everyday noise (ie the whistle of a boiling kettle)

Can You Learn Perfect Pitch?

This is the big question. Some experts say yes and others are not so sure.

How much time have you got to spend? How musically gifted are you? How do you like to learn?

These are questions you need to ask yourself if you want to have attain absolute pitch. There are no guarantees you'll be successful.

If you're an auditory learner you probably have a better chance than if you absorb information visually or kinesthetically (feeling or touch).

The Pros & Cons Of Perfect Pitch

Pros:

Apart from being able to pull some neat party tricks like naming the pitch of a squeaking door, it is of course a tremendous assistant into the inner sanctum of music. By that I mean truly understanding how music works and hearing it on quite a different level.

Cons:

How could there be negatives about something so special? Well, there are. Some of the very few musicians I know who have pp, tell me that it is frequently a pain in the ear.

Think about it: Every time you are teaching or playing with somebody who is out of tune, you'll be tempted to want to leave the room. My solution: Develop relative pitch instead.

Conclusion

Perfect Pitch is not a myth but it is also not necessary to flourish as a musician. It depends largely on your musical aspirations whether you should start taking lessons to learn it.

Unless you're striving extremely high where you'll be sharing the clouds with other so-gifted individuals, I recommend that you invest your time in relative pitch training. A much more attainable goal for us mere mortals.

Look for perfect pitch ear training software, listen to ear training tips and look at musical examples of how to become a better musician, all handy and free on one website: http://www.eartraining-online.com/.

View the original article here