From: kent@netcom.com (Kent Crispin)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Absolute pitch [long]
Date: 5 Sep 92 02:10:31 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1992Aug24.164331.18352@ms.uky.edu> aash@ms.uky.edu (aash) writes:
>
>i think this is a brain hemisphere thing.   that's why some
>are able to learn it and some not as easily.  i don't really have
>a dominant hemiphere that i know of, but when i was studying
>physics and calculus for finals week (all that left brain stuff)
>i couldn't carry a tune worth anything!  after decompressing
>for a week or so, and deliberly NOT thinking about physics
>and calculus, and concentrating on music, i got it back, but
>i've noticed it comes and goes.  maybe that right brain is
>really cranking those nights when you are ON, and not when
>you aren't?  the people i know with perfect pitch seem to
>be very right brained anyway..
>
>aash
>-- 
>aash@{ms.uky.edu|ukma.bitnet|ukpr}    "the only thing i ever really wanted to
>{backbone|rutgers|uunet}!ukma!aash     say was wrong, was wrong, was wrong."

That is a really interesting observation.  I happened to find a very
interesting article in the journal "Music Perception":  "Perception of
Musical Intervals by Perfect Pitch Possessors", by Ken'ichi
Miyazaki.  He actually calls it "Absolute Pitch"  Let me quote a few
paragraphs:

Absolute pitch (AP) has been treated with some sort of honor because
people with AP have a remarkable ability to name the musical pitch
of a tone presented alone, with no tonal context available.  This ability has
been believed to be confined to only a very few talented people.  Some
investigators extensively studied the performance of AP possessors 
(Petran, 1932), and others made many efforts to confirm whether AP could be 
acquired through extensive training, using primarily adult subjects
(Brady, 1970; Cuddy, 1968,1970); Wedell, 1934).  The principal purpose
of such efforts was to resolve the long-standing nature versus nurture issue 
for AP.  Unfortunately, most of the efforts were unsuccessful, and this
failure led many investigators to believe that AP is inherited (Bachem,
1937; Revesz, 1913). [Not clear how articles written in 1937 and 1913
could be influenced by studies done in 1970...]

However, the failure of adults to acquire AP does not mean that the view that
AP is learned should be completely rejected.  Instead, a surprisingly
large number of AP possessors are found among music students who had
received training in piano playing at a very early age (Miyazaki, 1988,
1989).  This finding suggests that AP is acquired primarily through
repeated exposure to musical tones at a young age, possibly 3 to 5 years.
This may be interpreted as providing strong evidence for the early
learning theory on AP (Schuter-Dyson & Gabriel, 1981; Sergeant, 1969).
Today many more music students have AP than had been believed, at least
in situations where children are commonly given music lessons on
keyboard instruments starting at a very young age.

On the other hand, relatively few studies have approached AP from the
perceptual or cognitive standpoint ina  general sense.  Little is known
about how AP listeners really process musical pitch information in music
perception.  If AP is not rare among musicians, it is important, not only
from a scientific point of view but also for music instruction, to know
how AP possessors perceive musical pitch and to what extend AP influences
their musical information processing.

A series of experiments on pitch identification with AP listeners as
subjects demonstrated several aspects of AP (Miyazaki, 1988, 1989, 1990).
The AP listeners were indeed almost perfect in identifying single tones
presented in isolation without any reference, demonstrating a remarkable
ability to perceive *pitch classes* [italics] directly.  By contrast,
listeners lacking AP could not perceive pitch classes at all in the absence of
tonal context and made inconsistent responses on the imprecise basis of
*pitch height* [italics] .  Another important finding obtained from AP
subjects was that the accuracy and speed of identification were not
equal among the 12 pitch classes;  the diatonic tones in the C major
scale were identified more accurately and rapidly, with the notes C and
G being identified most accurately and rapidly, while nondiatonic tones
were identified less successfully.  Differential accessibility among pitch
classes may be related to the process of acquiring AP during the early 
stages of piano lessons. (Miyazaki, 1990)

In any case the accuracy and speed of AP possessors in identifying musical
pitches are indeed greatly admired by most persons who lack AP.  However,
is AP really valuable to musicians (beyond a usefulness as a sort of
human tuning-fork)?  As often mentioned, AP may indeed be helpful
when one is sight-reading an extremely difficult musical passage or
undergoing a music dictation test.  However, the strategy of using AP
in this way is a sort of trick and is less appropriate from a musical
standpoint.  As a matter of fact, some investigators pointed out problems
that AP possessors might face in musical activities and express a relatively
negative view on the advantages of AP in music (see, e.g. Ward&Burns, 1982).

[end of quote]

The article goes on to talk about some disadvantages of AP ,then
presents the results of AP possessors on relative pitch tests when the
reference tones were out of tune.  The study isn't conclusive about
how AP might actually be a handicap, but it is interesting.


-- 
Kent Crispin			"No reason to get excited",
kent@netcom.netcom.com		the thief he kindly spoke...
Newsgroups: alt.guitar