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For many years it was assumed that perfect pitch was an inborn talent and not learnable. This has become a debatable issue.
Perfect pitch, or absolute pitch, is the rare ability to name or reproduce any pitch (note or tone) just by hearing it, much like one can recognize red or blue just by seeing it. Perfect pitch differs from relative pitch, which is the ability to recognize musical intervals. Many musicians have developed relative pitch, but few have perfect pitch.
“Nature or nurture” debate
Many scientists agree that genetic predisposition plays a major part in the ability to develop natural perfect pitch. People with the talent have certain brain structures in common and it often runs in families.
But there is also an environmental argument; some believe that if one doesn’t have early musical training, or is not around music at an early age, he or she won’t develop absolute pitch. Many believe that a combination of genetic and environmental factors is necessary for one to achieve the ability.
Can it be learned at a later age?
CDs and software programs are available that teach “ear training” to attain perfect pitch. My research shows the course that consistently gets favorable reviews is Perfect Pitch Ear Training Supercourse, by David Lucas Burge, originally written in 1981. Burge was apparently the first to challenge the idea that perfect pitch is not a learnable skill.
There are other methods on the market. Some instruct you to play a note over and over for days at a time, and try to “look inside the note” to see if it reminds you of a color, mood, person, etc. Others say that repetition teaches your brain to learn individual pitch frequencies.
The bottom line
There is conflicting information about whether or not perfect pitch can be taught. Some staunchly believe it is a rare gift attained naturally at an early age by a lucky few. Others insist that it can be learned by utilizing certain methods, particularly the one devised by David Lucas Burge.
Another train of thought, one that I agree with, is that some learning methods can indeed improve pitch recognition and recall but this ability is not the same as “natural” perfect pitch. Some studies have shown that “learned” absolute pitch is soon forgotten unless it is practiced frequently. I would suggest this definition of terms: “Pitch recognition” is a learnable skill; “perfect pitch” is a naturally inherited talent.
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