How many of us have perfect pitch?

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I got nine out of ten on the first test, but I think I may have clicked on the wrong button by accident. So, my pitch is officially "very good", but not perfect.

Full marks on the second test.

Oh. I forgot to fill in B3.

More tests from Scientist - sweet!

I can't remember the names of musical notes (that after being a trained musician since I was a young child), but give me one point of reference and I can figure it out.

Scored 10/10 on both tests. But since I can't say, "that is a C above middle C," I guess I don't have perfect pitch.

Z

Yep, I definitely have it. It makes reading music for transposing instruments (like the French horn) very difficult. I actually had to invent a way to read that was similar to reading a different clef.

Interestingly, something like 1 in 20 autistic people are believed to have perfect pitch.

Here's a far more rigorous test: http://perfectpitch.ucsf.edu/study/. Note you have to fill out a survey before you can take the test, but it's a very interesting test. It supposedly "corrects" for semi-tone deviations with age.

The cutoff value for AP1 (their "rigorous" definition of perfect pitch) is 24; I scored a 32.

With age, I've noticed that I'm much more able to "turn off" perfect pitch (or at least let it slide a little). I can tune my fiddle up a half step, for instance, and essentially forget that I'm tuned up. Tuning it down a half-step, however, is much more of a challenge.

I recognise when a note is correct or not, but I can't name them. If I learnt the names of all the notes, I probably could.

i utterly failed at the test [not one note correct] because i just couldn't respond within the 3 seconds or so they gave to ID each note correctly. i'm just too damned slow.

I don't have perfect pitch, but I have excellent relative pitch. And if something is slightly out of tune, I can instantly tell and play/sing it back with the correct pitch.

My dad, who I believe also has AS, does have perfect pitch.

As far as I know. Yes. Shame I can't read music though. Usually, when I create a "tune" I hum it, and match the hum with the keys.

Yes, I have perfect pitch. I am sure you are all absolutely thrilled to know that.

I don't know about perfect pitch, but at the very least, I have pretty good relative pitch. I only discovered music two years ago - I actually find it to be one of the only things I'm good at (I think...). I wasn't born in a musical family, so that's why I got into it so late, but I'd like to say I progress pretty fast with it.

While at first I used tablature a lot, nowadays most music I learn is by ear. I'm not an expert at it, but I find it easier and easier the more I do it. Chords are slightly annoying, but the main problem with those are voicings. Figuring those out is hard!

I can typically tell when stuff is out of key, though I've recently been studying how certain out-of-key stuff ends up sounding pretty well... for example, writing something in D major, Bb major and C major are out-of-key and yet they sound pretty nice when used right. I don't quite understand it yet, but I'll get there. ^^

So I took the two tests (that Scientist posted). I got 10/10 on both tests. That actually... surprised me. Did I do it right? Is it cheating if you heard the notes in songs before (which you already know the notes to) and then marked that? For example, the first piano note in this one Dream Theater song I know is a "D", and since I recall hearing that note, when I heard it here I recognized it. Is that cheating?
Also, I played with intervals, figuring out some of the notes by comparing them to other notes. For example, one sounded a semitone above that earlier "D", so I mark it "D#". Surely that's cheating? Also, I spent like 10 minutes in total on those tests, so... :S

I don't know if I have perfect pitch, but apparently I have a perfect relative pitch (ha). I still think that as I practice more and more (than just two years...) I'll have some form of perfect pitch.

Last edited by Dnuos on 31 Jul 2010, 3:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Back when I was in music school, I was close to having perfect pitch. I had perfect relative pitch and was starting to get different notes memorized as far as specifically knowing what was an F or an E or a Bb. But I'm way out of practice with all that. My relative pitch is still pretty strong but perfect isn't anywhere near where it should be....yet somehow I can normally tune a guitar by ear and get it pretty close to in tune.

I have perfect pitch. Mostly because of my many years of choir in high school during which our teacher drilled us to memorize middle C. So from there I can usually hum up or down to said pitch and figure out what it is (while being maybe a little flat)

It's interesting how we all do this differently. For me, it's absolutely instantaneous. I never memorized one note and did any sort of calculation. As long as I can remember, I simply was able to recognize a particular pitch. Even before I learned the note names or intervals, I was able to detect the difference.

I have whatever the opposite of perfect pitch would be ...

does that mean tone-deafness? just curious...
when i was young, i had very acute perfect pitch and could identify unseen notes played on a piano or other instrument with alacrity, but in my old age all that seems far long gone now.

I have an excellent musical memory, however I never learned to read music so I had to listen to the files first, but then got 10/10 on both tests matching from memory (not referencing any on the page during the test). I can also tune guitar, cello, banjo, and bass by ear. I should probably learn to read music sometime