Perfect Pitch
- Thread starter Elmo89m
- Start date
Buy $100 worth of real music cds, and a $40 tuner, and listen a lot. That's probably what those discs are, just practice exercises, and silly new-age stuff like "A440 looks blue. When you see blue, you know it's A."
If you listen to A440 for five minutes a day, you will never forget it. The trick then is to hear it in your head, and be able to recognize intervals.
If you listen to A440 for five minutes a day, you will never forget it. The trick then is to hear it in your head, and be able to recognize intervals.
invisiblenemies
New member
Niimo said:
I like his curly hair & purple shirt.
Wait. That might be the Instant Shredder ad.
I'd like to meet the imaginary "Linda" in that Perfect Pitch ad - G#, Eb - how does she do it?
mshilarious
Banned
I bought that course back when it was on tape. It does work, but I got bored after a while and stopped the exercises. Some of the concepts were influential on me, but I can't identify C and D and F# anymore (that was as far as I got 
)
)
brighterstatic
New member
I read an article once on what the author refered to as "relative perfect pitch" where he suggested you memorize moments in famous works that illustraites the pitch you are looking for, such as the Jaws theme or something and use that as a jumping off point for identifying "pitches."
I have always assumed those lessons are just a variation on that idea, though I could be wrong. It is probably better to spend $140 dollars on theory lessons, pitch identification will come (while probably not perfect pitch) with practice and time.
I have always assumed those lessons are just a variation on that idea, though I could be wrong. It is probably better to spend $140 dollars on theory lessons, pitch identification will come (while probably not perfect pitch) with practice and time.
mshilarious
Banned
Zaphod B said:
Well, if you don't learn, then you fail freshman music theory.
My friend used that system, and now he can pick out about any tone and call it out by name. He recorded the song Vienna by The Fray about 1 month after using those cd's and he engineered a masterful recording. That song just got put out by Sony-Epic and is released world wide.
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Codmate
New member
Some people are born with an aptitude for PP - but it can be developed.
You don't need any fancy courses though.
Just play notes on your guitar and try and remember how they sound.
The easiest way to start is to try and hear the 'beating' of every note.
Through this study we learn that pitch is also an expression of rhythm in a weird way.
When I want to try and pitch something I think of a song with an obvious use of that note/chord. I think Ziggy Stardust opens with a big 'G' chord for instance. The riff from 'Smoke On The Water' also starts on a 'G'.
Also try and learn how different intervals sound. Become familiar with every interval in the diatonic scale. I also use music I already know to remember intervals. For instance 'Song For My Father' by Horace Silver starts off with a bass riff that just alternates between a root and 5th.
People born with an aptitude for this stuff certainly don't have the monopoly though. It *can* be learned happily
You don't need any fancy courses though.
Just play notes on your guitar and try and remember how they sound.
The easiest way to start is to try and hear the 'beating' of every note.
Through this study we learn that pitch is also an expression of rhythm in a weird way.
When I want to try and pitch something I think of a song with an obvious use of that note/chord. I think Ziggy Stardust opens with a big 'G' chord for instance. The riff from 'Smoke On The Water' also starts on a 'G'.
Also try and learn how different intervals sound. Become familiar with every interval in the diatonic scale. I also use music I already know to remember intervals. For instance 'Song For My Father' by Horace Silver starts off with a bass riff that just alternates between a root and 5th.
People born with an aptitude for this stuff certainly don't have the monopoly though. It *can* be learned happily
punkin
Univalve & Avatar Speaks
We did that exersize in "Ear Training" class in college. It's just listening to intervals. You can train yourself to know a couple anchor tones and hear intervals...nothing special...just a lot of listening. Singing them back is part of the deal too. Instrumentalists often struggle with this while singers tend to do much better.
IronFlippy
Dedicated To My Member
Yea, I can do relative pitch because of my sight singing class. I can also recognize chord structure, etc. Perfect pitch can also be aquired, although it'll take a longer time. I can sing certain notes, because I play sax and have to set my embouchure a certain way to get different notes out properly, so I have to know ahead of time what the note is supposed to sound like and then match it with my mouth. Kind of hard to explain. I'm sure it's even more common with brass players. I suppose you just have to have a certain train of thought, and stick to it for a while and you'll obtain better pitch.
Bassman Brad
New member
Well, I think I've told this story on this board before, but it's been awhile. So, here goes. (Sorry in advance for the long post, but it's a long story.)
Back in about 1980, when I was a Jazz Music major, we had a music theory professor who was all about the concept of training people to have perfect pitch. Of course, we had to learn relative pitch, too (as is the case in most music theory classes - and as has been mentioned already). But this guy wanted everybody to leave his class with perfect pitch. There would be a grade assigned at the end of the class, and it would be strictly pass or fail, and it counted for quite a bit of your grade, too. He would test you by giving you a piece sheet music to sing, and you had to sing it in key.
I promptly figured out that it would be a process of simply "memorizing" a particular note, and then using the "interval training" that we had learned to find the starting pitch of the song. So, I set out to find a "reference pitch" that I could use. Well, I discovered pretty quickly that the entire campus was lit by florescent lights, and they all hummed. Since most "120 volt" circuits actually deliver a wee bit LESS than 120 volts, it turns out that the pitch that they actually produce is almost a perfect B flat. So, the first thing I tried was to simply cue myself off of the florescent lights in his office, when I would go to see him for our weekly meetings, and derive my reference pitch from that. It worked fine for awhile. Then one day, I showed up at his office and he had turned the florescent lights OFF, and had switched on an incandescent lamp in the room. Uh oh. BUSTED!!!! Needless to say, I wasn't anywhere near close to the correct pitch on that particular day, and he was clearly onto my little scheme.
Time for plan B. I had a little electronic tuner at home that I used for tuning guitars. In those days, you didn't have the tuners like today, where you simply plug your guitar into and it would read the pitch and tell you if you were sharp or flat. This particular tuner was just a devise that produced an annoying electronic buzz, at whatever pitch you had it set to. You would then tune your guitar to match the pitch. Every night, before I would go to bed, I would set it to my reference pitch (an "A" or whatever - I don't remember which reference pitch I actually chose), stick it under my pillow, and listen to that annoying "eeehhhh" sound for a few minutes before I dropped off to sleep.
The next time I went to meet with the professor, I pictured that "eeeehhhhh" sound in my head, calculated the relative interval from my reference pitch, and started to sing the song. And I nailed it! And I did so the next time, and the time after that. Everything was going well. Unfortunately, one day I showed up for our weekly meeting and started to sing the song, and found out that I was way, way off. Like a fourth or something. Not even close. And I couldn't figure out what happened, either. I could CLEARLY hear my "reference tone" in my head. But somehow, when I made the calculation in my head and started to sing the song, I was nowhere NEAR the correct pitch.
When I went home, I pulled out the tuner and checked the pitch against a keyboard that I had at the house (a Farfisa organ). The TUNER was not on pitch! I discovered that the battery had went almost completely dead, and the pitch of the tuner dropped dramatically as the battery went down. I replaced the battery, checked the pitch, and everything was back on track. In fact, I was able to re-memorize my reference pitch, get the passing grade at the end of the class, and everything was all good. Of course, I never bothered to continue to refresh that "reference tone" in my head. And today, I couldn't listen to something and tell you what key it is in. But I've noticed that, when I sing a song that I've heard on the radio, or whatever, it's always in the correct original key, so I'm obviously still REMEMBERING the actual pitches that I've heard. I know that I could relearn a reference note if I could find any reason to do so. But I can't honestly see why that would be of any value to me, so I don't bother with it.
Bottom line, if you want to teach yourself perfect pitch, you certainly don't need a $140 CD program, you just need a cheap electronic tuner -- and remember to keep your batteries fresh!!!
Back in about 1980, when I was a Jazz Music major, we had a music theory professor who was all about the concept of training people to have perfect pitch. Of course, we had to learn relative pitch, too (as is the case in most music theory classes - and as has been mentioned already). But this guy wanted everybody to leave his class with perfect pitch. There would be a grade assigned at the end of the class, and it would be strictly pass or fail, and it counted for quite a bit of your grade, too. He would test you by giving you a piece sheet music to sing, and you had to sing it in key.
I promptly figured out that it would be a process of simply "memorizing" a particular note, and then using the "interval training" that we had learned to find the starting pitch of the song. So, I set out to find a "reference pitch" that I could use. Well, I discovered pretty quickly that the entire campus was lit by florescent lights, and they all hummed. Since most "120 volt" circuits actually deliver a wee bit LESS than 120 volts, it turns out that the pitch that they actually produce is almost a perfect B flat. So, the first thing I tried was to simply cue myself off of the florescent lights in his office, when I would go to see him for our weekly meetings, and derive my reference pitch from that. It worked fine for awhile. Then one day, I showed up at his office and he had turned the florescent lights OFF, and had switched on an incandescent lamp in the room. Uh oh. BUSTED!!!! Needless to say, I wasn't anywhere near close to the correct pitch on that particular day, and he was clearly onto my little scheme.
Time for plan B. I had a little electronic tuner at home that I used for tuning guitars. In those days, you didn't have the tuners like today, where you simply plug your guitar into and it would read the pitch and tell you if you were sharp or flat. This particular tuner was just a devise that produced an annoying electronic buzz, at whatever pitch you had it set to. You would then tune your guitar to match the pitch. Every night, before I would go to bed, I would set it to my reference pitch (an "A" or whatever - I don't remember which reference pitch I actually chose), stick it under my pillow, and listen to that annoying "eeehhhh" sound for a few minutes before I dropped off to sleep.
The next time I went to meet with the professor, I pictured that "eeeehhhhh" sound in my head, calculated the relative interval from my reference pitch, and started to sing the song. And I nailed it! And I did so the next time, and the time after that. Everything was going well. Unfortunately, one day I showed up for our weekly meeting and started to sing the song, and found out that I was way, way off. Like a fourth or something. Not even close. And I couldn't figure out what happened, either. I could CLEARLY hear my "reference tone" in my head. But somehow, when I made the calculation in my head and started to sing the song, I was nowhere NEAR the correct pitch.
When I went home, I pulled out the tuner and checked the pitch against a keyboard that I had at the house (a Farfisa organ). The TUNER was not on pitch! I discovered that the battery had went almost completely dead, and the pitch of the tuner dropped dramatically as the battery went down. I replaced the battery, checked the pitch, and everything was back on track. In fact, I was able to re-memorize my reference pitch, get the passing grade at the end of the class, and everything was all good. Of course, I never bothered to continue to refresh that "reference tone" in my head. And today, I couldn't listen to something and tell you what key it is in. But I've noticed that, when I sing a song that I've heard on the radio, or whatever, it's always in the correct original key, so I'm obviously still REMEMBERING the actual pitches that I've heard. I know that I could relearn a reference note if I could find any reason to do so. But I can't honestly see why that would be of any value to me, so I don't bother with it.
Bottom line, if you want to teach yourself perfect pitch, you certainly don't need a $140 CD program, you just need a cheap electronic tuner -- and remember to keep your batteries fresh!!!
Why do you want perfect pitch Elmo89m? Not that I discourage your endeavor...
Listen to music and learn to play what you hear.
I've been playing for ten years and when you continue to reproduce music as it's intended(or recorded), and I mean learn the correct inversions and melodies, most music will start to come together for you before you sing or pick up an instrument.
Most of the time I can even identify the alternate tunings groups will use based on the chord inversions they play.
Listen to music and learn to play what you hear.
I've been playing for ten years and when you continue to reproduce music as it's intended(or recorded), and I mean learn the correct inversions and melodies, most music will start to come together for you before you sing or pick up an instrument.
Most of the time I can even identify the alternate tunings groups will use based on the chord inversions they play.