Perfect Pitch

Absolute pitch, more commonly known as perfect pitch, is a phenomenon that occurs to just a few people. Perfect pitch gives a person the ability to identify any given note immediately without having to “figure it out”. Much like in the way we can identify colors immediately, perfect pitch functions similarly to those who have the ability. Here are a couple of other facts about perfect pitch.

1. Only 1 in every 10,000 people have perfect pitch.

2. Perfect pitch can be taught, but is very hard to learn if you do not have the innate ability. It requires a lot of practice and consistency. Most people develop this ability during their infancy/toddler years, unbeknownst to them.

3. Those who come from a pitch-based language background (such as Chinese or Vietnamese) tend to have a better chance of having perfect pitch.

4. Similarly, those who have been blind from birth also have a higher chance of having perfect pitch.

5. Perfect pitch does not inherently make you a better musician/nor does it mean that you posses a more musical mind. While those who do study music and have perfect pitch will most likely do better on dictation assignments (listening to music and writing down exactly what you hear) it does not necessarily indicate a stronger potential at becoming proficient at an instrument.

6. For those who do not have perfect pitch, you can learn relative pitch. This is the ability to recognize other pitches and intervals based off of one given pitch. Relative pitch is a very learnable and useful tool; some have even argued that relative pitch is a less binding and a more helpful skill to have than perfect pitch!