Recently, I got into a conversation (again) about one of the most contentious and divided musical subjects, "Perfect Pitch", and felt that it merited a mention here.

 

Where it’s no secret that I can pick out notes and name them, frequently I’m asked to demonstrate this skill and “prove it” far more than I’m asked how it works with a view to devising an approach which would serve to effectively develop it. There are courses available which can assist in the development of perfect pitch but frequently these courses are misunderstood as the “answer” to the perfect pitch “question”. Some people seem to want these courses to actually supply the skill of perfect pitch for them, and don’t often realise that these courses only actually provide means by which an end may be met. Often, these courses are criticised but in truth, there is nothing really “wrong” with any of them. They all point people in the direction that they want to go, but don’t always clearly explain that developing perfect pitch is no different from learning any other skill. Some people don’t have the patience or the discipline to dedicate sufficient time to the development of this skill, and cruelly interpret this situation as a matter of being “fooled”, and declare “These perfect pitch courses just don’t work”.

 

Where there a lot of quite amusing definitions of perfect pitch, like “the ability to hit a skip with a clarinet at 50 yards” (and other such variations), how perfect pitch has been defined (seriously) is a varied mixture of ideas. Essentially, perfect pitch is an ability which can be identified as “a level on which one perceives musical notes”, and I would go on to define perfect pitch as: “The ability to recognise and recall notes, independent of their relativity to other notes”.

 

This frequently leads to a lot of “What about this? What about that? What about melodic movement and relative pitch? What about recognising intervals and notes placed within chords? What about chord movement? What about notes on different instruments? What about notes in different registers? Etc although these questions are almost always regarding the context within which these notes appear. This introduces the idea of “levels” on which perfect pitch can work. As people begin to develop perfect pitch, they develop the ability to recognise notes in certain circumstances but not others. This is sometimes where people actually “stop listening”, and consider that they have gone as far as they can go with perfect pitch but the ability to recognise notes in almost all circumstances can be developed.

 

Developing Perfect Pitch

 

The underpinning principle on which perfect pitch works for me is that the notes actually sound different from each other. This is independent of their relative position to other notes. I believe that how these notes sound different from each other to me (whilst not a secret) wouldn’t actually be of any practical use for anyone who wishes to develop this skill, This is because throughout history, musicians who have had this skill have offered very different interpretations and descriptions of what they hear when they are recognising or recalling notes. Each person seems to develop this skill in their own way. To develop this skill, you will need to listen for these differences. Frequently at this point I’m asked: “What am I listening for?” (Not in the sense “Why are we listening?”, but in the sense “What, within this sound, am I trying to develop the ability to detect?”). At this stage I frequently make the analogy with sight. If you ask someone to look for something, they may ask “What am I looking for?”, but even if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it doesn’t compromise your ability to see it when it appears. For now, this analogy with sight is the best expression of “the way in which you have to listen to develop perfect pitch” that I can find.

 

Where perfect pitch can be developed, some people who have not developed this skill within a timeframe that they have set for themselves will often take a very strange view of perfect pitch, and will criticise those who don't share it. This is one reason I avoid talking about it so much. I frequently ask; “how long did it take you to learn a few simple chords?” However long that may have been, I usually find out that they wanted to develop the entire skill of perfect pitch in less time! Realistically, that’s just not going to happen.

 

Nik Harrison