"perfect pitch"

[Tvak@AOL.COM]

<<I also have what people call "perfect pitch".  It's the biggest misnomer

in the world of music.  Nobody has perfect pitch. >>

<<"perfect", in terms of Hertz or fractions of a Hertz, or in terms of

cents?  Nah!>>

Dave, my "perfect pitch" seems very similar to yours.  No,  I can't stop a 
strobe singing an "A", either.  My vocal control is not that good.  It wavers 
up and down.  The pitch center is pretty close, but certainly not "perfect".  
I, of course, did not invent the term "perfect pitch", but I am guilty of 
using it, because that's the term in common use for the phenomenon of pitch 
memory.   Sorry you took objection to my use of the term.  I agree that 
"pitch recognition" or "pitch memory" is probably a more accurate term.

My point was that as good as my ear may be, I don't believe I hear music in 
my head in a tempered fashion, even after playing the piano nearly every day 
of my entire life.  In my head everything is perfectly in tune, no matter 
what key I may wander into. 

<<I really don't like the term "perfect pitch" because it implies that the

higher powers above somehow installed a crystal oscillator in some people's

brains before they were born>>

<<there's nothing in nature that makes a baby's brain have a calibrated pitch

source or measurement device. >>

Actually, some research I have read indicates that "perfect pitch" IS a 
genetic trait which can be passed down from generation to generation.  To 
develop this ability to recognize pitches without a reference the individual 
must be exposed to musical training by the age of 6, according to this 
article.  (Please don't ask me where I read that...I honestly don't 
remember---I think it was in the Chicago Tribune.)  This reverberates with my 
gut feelings on the subject, that it is something you are born with.  I did 
nothing to develop this ability.  I never practiced humming A's or tested 
myself as your grade school conductor tested your orchestra.  And I have to 
wonder: does every member of that grade school orchestra now have "perfect 
pitch"?  If not: why you, and not the others if it weren't due to some innate 
ability that you possessed and the others didn't?  If that's all it took to 
have "perfect pitch", (humming A's) then every musician would have it.

I'd be interested to know your opinions of those ads in music magazines which 
claim you can learn to have "perfect pitch", for only $49.99?  (I love the 
"enlightened" look on that guy's face, as he balances the tuning fork on his 
index finger!  Have you seen this ad?)  Has anyone out there had any success 
with this or any other similar program?

Interested to know,
Tom Sivak