In Let's Play Music, you'll come out singing on pitch with Echo Ed and identifying intervals like a charm. What's better than perfect pitch? A friend like Echo Ed!
Perfect Pitch Doesn't Matter
"I wish I had perfect pitch"
I
can’t tell you how many times in my teaching career students have come to me
telling me stories of friends that have “perfect pitch.” They’ll tell me some story of an amazing
musical feat and add the disclaimer “but he has perfect pitch.” “I wish I had it,” I’ll often hear them
say. “Then everything would be so much
easier.”
But
I’ll tell you a secret: it doesn’t matter.
That’s right—perfect pitch makes absolutely no difference to your skills
as a musician.
Why perfect pitch doesn't matter
I
often illustrate this point to my students with this example: I sing
for them the Star-Spangled Banner in
some key that I pick out of the air, then I ask them to name that song.
Normally, they look at me as if I’m a fool
for thinking this is a challenging question, before answering “The
Star-Spangled Banner, of course.” Then I
present them with another challenge. I
say “OK, now name THIS song:” Then, choosing a different key, I sing the
Star-Spangled Banner again at a different pitch level. “Now, what song
was that?” I ask them. Even more confused, they answer “Um…The
Star-Spangled Banner?...” “How do you
know?” I ask.
And
here’s where their theory about the magic of perfect pitch crumbles. Because when they think about it, they
realize that they recognize this song because of the intervals, the rhythm, and
the harmony the melody outlines. And the
point of this illustration is this:
Music is not about the frequency—vibrations per second, or which note is
a C or an A—of the notes we hear, it’s about the RELATIONSHIP between the notes
we hear. We recognize any song based on
the relationship of the pitch and rhythm to each other, not the frequency of
those notes.
What you think of as "perfect pitch" is actually...
In
fact, we should really make a distinction between two facets of this
idea. “Perfect pitch” is really a misnomer. Actually, there are two
different phenomena
that have to do with hearing pitch perfectly.
The one that people usually refer to when they say “perfect pitch” is
more accurately called “absolute pitch,” meaning that a person can hear
and
recognize frequency as a note name. And
there are people who do hear music in this way.
They can pick out a B-flat or an F-sharp when they hear them, or know an
F minor chord when they hear it because they know the frequencies of the
notes
F, A-flat, and C.
The
much more important way to perfect your impression of pitch is a phenomenon
called “perfect relative pitch.” This
simply means that given any note, the listener can find an exact interval from
it—for instance, being able to sing a perfect 5th or a perfectly
in-tune minor triad if given the fundamental note. Any musician can, and must, work on and
perfect this skill.
While
it may seem that those with absolute pitch have an easier path in their ear
training and their musical skills overall, this is certainly not the case. In my college years, I had a friend who was
an excellent violinist in our orchestra and had absolute pitch. I remember one concert in which she had an
extended violin solo and had worked very hard on it, but to her misfortune, the
orchestra had tuned very sharp that night.
As a result, every single note of her solo was flat, and she, along with
the audience, cringed through every moment of it. She knew it was out of tune and sounding
dreadful, but because her mind was so attuned to the absolute frequency of
notes, she could not play in tune with an orchestra that was playing
sharp. In this case, her supposed gift
for absolute pitch worked very much against her.
Absolute Pitch is a disadvantage
Even
in a more fixed setting, like in an ear training class, where absolute pitch
might seem a tremendous advantage, it can work against those who have it. Because while it might seem that being able
to sing or sight read relying on one’s absolute knowledge of frequency, this
can actually be a way to cheat oneself of a true understanding of musical
function. Often, those who have been
able to lean on knowledge of frequency find themselves bewildered and lost once
music classes progress to the ideas of function and harmonic
relationships. (This is why, in my Ear
Training classes—including the Ear Training course in Musivu—I often have
students write and read in a different key than I’m playing, or sing in a
different key than is written. This
ensures that any students with absolute pitch are understanding function as a
product of scale degree and not cheating themselves by relying on frequency.)
I often find my students mythologizing the
idea of “perfect pitch”—believing that the perhaps 3% of the population who have
it are immeasurably blessed while they who do not are simply doomed to be
second-rate musicians. And this is
simply false. Those who have absolute
pitch simply hear music a bit differently that the rest of us—like myself—who
do not. Listening for scale degree as it
relates to the key center, listening for the bass line, listening for the
function and quality of the harmony—all the things we work on in the Musivu Ear
Training courses—these are the important things, and the areas on which you
should spend your time and energy improving.
“Perfect
pitch” is not always an advantage, and it’s not always a disadvantage—it’s just
different.
What's better than perfect pitch
What
to know what’s a hundred times more valuable?
The self-discipline and willingness to work hard to be the musician you
want to be. Knowing a B-flat or an A
when you hear one will never compare to the value of that.
Dr. Kris Maloy has written and produced popular music, arranged music for jazz orchestras and
small and large ensembles, and had his original compositions performed at many
venues including Carnegie Hall. He has
performed as a saxophonist, pianist, and singer, and has taught music at 5
institutions of higher learning in the U.S. as well as many private
students. He is the founder of and
instructor at Musivu, the Music Virtual University.
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