We Review: Perfect Pitch &
Relative Pitch Courses
Is it possible to obtain Perfect Pitch and recognize
every note you hear?
Can you learn Relative Pitch and immensely boost
your musical skills?
While preparing this
review we were surprised to see that the answer to both questions is
an unequivocal Yes! Although some absolute
pitch and relative courses are ineffective, others are true gems which
can make a huge difference in your musical perception. Keep on
reading, and we'll tell you all about Perfect Pitch, Genetics, which
of the courses available are worth their salt, and which are
ineffective hoaxes.
Following is an
explanation of Perfect Pitch, Relative Pitch, Genetics and
Learning. If you want to skip it
and jump to our Test Conclusions,
Click Here.
What are
Perfect Pitch, Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch?
Basically speaking,
Perfect Pitch (also called Absolute Pitch) is the ability to
recognize the pitch of a musical tone accurately and
instantaneously, without having external reference. Relative
pitch is a more limited version of this ability - and enables
you to recognize the pitch of the tone with the "clue" of
comparing it to another tone.
Let's say you hear
somebody play a note on the piano (or guitar, or flute, or drum,
or any other instrument). If you can easily recognize that note
correctly as B-flat (or some other note), chances are you have
Perfect Pitch. Now let's say you don't have perfect pitch - you
hear a note, you are told it is B-flat (or some other note),
then another note is played. If you can easily recognize the new
note, with the help of knowing what the first note was, chances
are you have Relative Pitch.
But Perfect Pitch and
Relative Pitch are much more than party tricks. They are
probably the most important advantage a musician can have for
playing, singing and composing. Musicians possessing these
skills climb much higher, succeed much more, than those without.
Consider the following facts[1,2]:
-
Although a rarity
among regular population, in symphony orchestras 20%-40% of
the musicians possess Perfect Pitch, even more posses
relative pitch. Among top level
performers, this is as high as 85%.
-
Perfect Pitch can
greatly assist sight reading, singing and performing
accuracy and significantly increase tonal memory.
-
Perfect Pitch
also enables you to recognize and emulate the tones from
sources other than musical instruments (such as train horns,
chimes, mower engines, etc.).
-
Simply put, music
is based on hearing, and thus your performing accuracy is
directly dependant on your hearing accuracy.
As an example of
what Perfect Pitch enables you to do, consider Jimi Hendrix:
When he started learning guitar he couldn't afford a tuning
fork, so he went to the local music store, ran his fingers over
the open strings, then went home and tuned his guitar up. Even
more impressive, as a sideman early in his career, he could
learn a new band's entire repertoire in an hour or two by just
hearing the songs once!
Seems like Perfect
Pitch is the greatest thing for musicians since sliced bread.
Why then, doesn't every musician learn to possess it?
This is an
explanation of Perfect Pitch, Relative Pitch, Genetics and
Learning. If you want to skip it
and jump to our Test Conclusions,
Click Here.
Perfect
Pitch, Genetics and Learning
Regarding Relative Pitch - everybody agrees this ability can be
learned. However, can Perfect Pitch too be learned ?
A
recent research performed by University of California tried
checking whether Perfect Pitch has a genetic aspect. Since
"natural" perfect pitch is mostly "all or nothing", the
assumption is that there might be a gene or group of genes
behind this ability. At this stage of research,
is seems that
musical training may be partially responsible for the ability,
and so far no responsible genes have been found.
Fact is, most people
with absolute pitch can't really explain how they obtain it.
They "just have it", or have developed it at a young age. Here's
a typical example[4]:
Q: How did
you develop it?
A: I don't know. I don't remember ever not having it.
What this means that
teaching Perfect Pitch is not straightforward - it is very much
an art. In fact, most Absolute Pitch courses are difficult to
use, and are not very effective. And because of this, many
musicians believe Perfect Pitch cannot be taught at all - either
you have it, or you don't! This is obviously mistaken, as in so
many documented cases people do learn to possess Perfect Pitch[3]:
People I've met
who can identify pitch seem to fall into two categories. One
consists of people like me who have just always had the
ability. The other category consists of people who have
consciously acquired the ability at a later age.
Our own tests
also proved beyond doubt that Perfect Pitch can be learned,
providing you use the right courses.
There are several courses trying to teach perfect pitch.
However, as this can very much be an evasive art, not all courses succeed.
Some are "Hit or Miss" in which certain students
can obtain the ability, but most won't benefit much from the
course. From assessing a choice pick of perfect pitch courses, two courses stood out as the only viable methods
we know of
truly obtaining perfect pitch. Not surprisingly, these
courses also excel in teaching relative pitch.
The two leading courses are:
(click to read reviews)
These courses can safely lead you towards possessing Perfect
Pitch/Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch. We consider Perfect
Pitch a the single most important technical advantage a musician
can have. Click Next below to read our detailed
hands-on reviews of these courses, or just jump straight to our
test conclusions.
Wondering whether
our reviews are biased? Read our
disclosure.
Next: Test Winner
- Pure Pitch Method >>
Or: Click Here
for Test Conclusions
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References:
[1] Wikipedia.org - Absolute Pitch
[2] perfectpitchpeople.com
[3]
reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN2743451120070827
[4] dfan.org/pitch.html
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review.
We consider earning our visitors' trust of uttermost importance
and the only way we know to do this is by providing you with useful and truthful data,
so we are completely open and honest about every product we review.
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and truth, and we're certain you'll feel the same reading them.
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