Aripitch

I really didn't have piano lessons as a child. I loved to pick out melodies on the piano because I could find them instantly. After this, it evolved to playing things by ear to accompanying while people sing. As a teen, I began to arrange and compose, with no teacher, yet I always knew the key of my compositions and I could take dictation without using an instrument, not even for the starting pitch. I heard someone talk about perfect pitch and the way that he described it sounded like me, but he said that it was extremely rare and that no one usually has it - so I dismissed the thought. I used to practice the violin and I would repeat sections of music over and over until I felt that every note was "perfectly" in tune. Sometimes, my parents would have to tell me to stop because it was getting late in the evening! I did not understand my abilities - why did I know how to play pieces instantly by ear? Why was it that I could tell if pieces were being played in the correct key? Why did it irritate me when someone would sing something in the wrong key? It wasn't until I was 19 years old that someone told me that I had perfect pitch and explained what it was. After this, every thing that I thought about music made sense!

Perfect pitch does indeed help you to compose. Once you hear a piece in your mind, you will know exactly what key it is in. Every key has it's own identity and when it is transposed, it is the same piece, but it loses a little of the identity.

I think that perfect pitch can be developed, and I agree with the person that said that there must be at least a capacity for it to develop. I've seen some people who aren't even close when identifying notes and others who come within a half-step. I believe that those who can naturally identify a note within a half-step are probably the ones who have the capacity but never recognized it. I have perfect pitch. When I was younger, I did not know what it was. Although I learned to play the piano, arrange, compose, and take melodic dictation without a teacher, I did not know what was allowing me to do this. At the age of six, I would hear melodies and know what key it is in by finding the starting note on the piano. It was like something always drew my hands to the correct notes even though I did not know the names of all of the notes at this time. I was able to tell what key a song was in, but not by name. (For instance, a song in G major, in my head, would be "a song in the white key that has one black key at the end of the scale). :D I was uncomfortable when hearing a piece transposed and in aural skills classes where they transpose the melody to make it easier on others. I never understood why I finished dictation tests before the others or why they did not know the notes. There are many "idiosyncrasies" associated with perfect pitch and things that I did not understand about the way that I heard music until I was told that I had perfect pitch. Since then, I feel better about being a musician because at first, I thought that I was "weird" or that something was wrong with me. :ermm: During this time, I would sometimes confuse the semitones. However, ever since I've found out what perfect pitch is, I've found out how to use what I have and it has improve dramatically over the last two years and I've done nothing to make it improve except use it - which I wasn't doing much of at first, because I didn't know what it was. Now, I seldom make a mistake. :) If perfect pitch can improve - maybe it can be learned as well. Another tidbit: When I was a kid, I went to my friend's aural skills class in college to visit. At that time, the instructor gave a dictation test. After she played the melody once, I knew it already. I did not understand why they needed seven more playings of it in order to figure it out - and some of them still did not! I still did not think that I was any different from them or anyone else. :D

Usually, when that happens, I ignore the music in front of me if I know it well enough and sing the notes that those around me are singing - if those notes are not a quartertone too low. If I don't look at the music, I immediately recognize the "new" key that the choir is inadvertently singing. Otherwise, it will become confusing when the music says b minor and the choir chooses to sing in Bb minor! (This has happened recently). :D

I have perfect pitch. I think that I was born with it. As a young child, I did not know the names of the notes, but every note had a certain feeling. I was greatly uncomfortable when songs were transposed to another key but I couldn't explain this feeling. I did not learn until much later that this was perfect pitch. I would like to purchase the Burge CDs so that I can become better at it. I am correct about 99% of the time when naming notes, but I would like to be accurate at 'quartertones' at well and have the ability to measure notes in 'cents'. Will the Burge CDs help me to develop this accuracy, or will it confuse me - I've read the threads about the 'phantom' notes and I do not think that I will like this method. Has anyone used the Burge CDs in order to 'perfect' their "perfect pitch"?