Hi Paul, When I was a freelance fiddle player I would routinely tune my violin within 2 cents of A440 without referrence to a pitch source. I was not particularly exceptional in this regard--nor do I have *perfect pitch*. At 11:32 AM 12/13/1999 -0800, you wrote: >Brian Holden wrote: >> >> Many people over the years have claimed to me that they have perfect >> pitch. When I ask them to be more specific on this, they start to cool >> off. One person when asked what note I was playing on the piano went >> cold on the idea altogether. To me, having perfect pitch means being >> able to detect or aurally produce a note within a maybe a few beats, >> but no one has demonstrated to me that they can get that close. I >> would imagine that singers would be pretty accurate, but not perfect. >> Any comments? >> >> Brian Holden > >Brian, > >When customers tell me that they have perfect pitch, I say, "Oh." When >they ask me if I have perfect pitch, I say that it depends what they >mean. I tell them that no one has ever tuned any instrument effectively >one note at a time without reference to the other notes on that >instrument. I call it "pitch memory," and everyone has some degree of >it. Some individuals may be able to remember some notes to within 20 >cents or so, but even then it is a moving target depending on the >instrument, the temperament, the pitch standard, etc. Some singers and >musicians familiar with a given piece can usually come pretty close to >the starting note that they usually use. It's hard to expect more than >that. I'd take the whole thing with a grain of salt. > >Paul S. Larudee, RPT >Richmond, CA > > Regards, Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T. Tuner for the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts drose@dlcwest.com http://donrose.htmlplanet.com/ 3004 Grant Rd. REGINA, SK S4S 5G7 306-352-3620 or 1-888-29t-uner
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