Hi,

I just made a csd file that allows you to test whether you have absolute 
pitch. It plays a note for 2 seconds, during which you should guess what 
note it is, and 1 second later it prints what the note was. The note is 
then also repeated so you can train it.

I used an organ as the instrument, just because it has a nice sound. The 
code for testing whether you have absolute pitch is in a UDO called 
random_pitch, so you can easily use another instrument (preferably an 
instrument that is constant in frequency, of course).

You can specify in the UDO how many notes are allowed. I started with 3, 
and after some time I was able to distinguish them nine out of ten 
times. But since I recognized these notes shortly after each other, this 
is rather relative pitch, not absolute pitch.

I hope you like it.

-- 
  Mark
  _________________________________________
  When you get lemons, you make lemonade.
  When you get hardware, you make software.

Mark Van Peteghem wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I just made a csd file that allows you to test whether you have absolute 
> pitch. It plays a note for 2 seconds, during which you should guess what 
> note it is, and 1 second later it prints what the note was. The note is 
> then also repeated so you can train it.
> 
> I used an organ as the instrument, just because it has a nice sound. The 
> code for testing whether you have absolute pitch is in a UDO called 
> random_pitch, so you can easily use another instrument (preferably an 
> instrument that is constant in frequency, of course).
> 
> You can specify in the UDO how many notes are allowed. I started with 3, 
> and after some time I was able to distinguish them nine out of ten 
> times. But since I recognized these notes shortly after each other, this 
> is rather relative pitch, not absolute pitch.

>From what I understand, one either has perfect pitch, or doesn't.  I
haven't heard of a person learning perfect pitch.  They say that it is
much like discerning color with the eye.  I have no trouble identifying
blue, but a color-blind person would not be able to learn how to do this.

I used to think that if I payed attention to what various pitches sounded
like that I could somehow sharpen my ability to identify random pitches,
but after watching how effortlessly people with perfect pitch can identify
pitches, I have come to the conclusion that they are making use of information
that is not available to me.  I have never come across a person who could
only come close (within a whole step, say) to perfect pitch.

I suppose that the extra information might be there in my brain, if I could
only tap into it.

> From what I understand, one either has perfect pitch, or doesn't.  I

And from what I've read it's about 1 in every 10,000 people who have i
this talent with higher numbers among those who speak tonal languages. I
do know people with excellent relative pitch, my relative pitch however is
pretty poor, less relative pitch, more irritating itch, I just can't seem
to get it. It's a very interesting subject. Oliver Sacks discusses it in
detail in his new book Musicophilia.

Rory.



> haven't heard of a person learning perfect pitch.  They say that it is
> much like discerning color with the eye.  I have no trouble identifying
> blue, but a color-blind person would not be able to learn how to do this.
>
> I used to think that if I payed attention to what various pitches sounded
> like that I could somehow sharpen my ability to identify random pitches,
> but after watching how effortlessly people with perfect pitch can identify
> pitches, I have come to the conclusion that they are making use of
> information
> that is not available to me.  I have never come across a person who could
> only come close (within a whole step, say) to perfect pitch.
>
> I suppose that the extra information might be there in my brain, if I
> could
> only tap into it.
>
>
>
>
> Send bugs reports to this list.
> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body "unsubscribe
> csound"
>

Rory Walsh wrote:
>> From what I understand, one either has perfect pitch, or doesn't.  I
>>     
>
> And from what I've read it's about 1 in every 10,000 people who have i
> this talent with higher numbers among those who speak tonal languages. I
> do know people with excellent relative pitch, my relative pitch however is
> pretty poor, less relative pitch, more irritating itch, I just can't seem
> to get it. It's a very interesting subject. Oliver Sacks discusses it in
> detail in his new book Musicophilia.
I have a friend here who has absolute pitch. He's one of the most 
sought-after guitarists for the local classic rock bands, mainly due to 
his ability to play someone else's solos with great accuracy, and also 
for his vocal mimicing (he can sound just like Billy Gibbons or Jim 
Morrison or Robert Plant et al). However, his improvising skills are 
minimal at best, and he's done little to expand his total musical 
knowledge.

Perfect pitch is of course no guarantee of any other musical ability. I 
studied solfege with the Modus Vetus and Modus Novus methods, and IIRC 
the intro to Modus Novus stated that absolute pitch might even be a 
hindrance for that method of study (i.e. non-tonal ear-training).

Rory, you just have to keep practicing. ;-)  Have you tried working with 
the Solfege program ?

    http://www.solfege.org/

Best,

dp

I have, but not intensively. To be honest I don't really have too strong a
desire to work at it. I feel like it may take some of the fun out of
playing, on the other hand I'm sure the people I play might have a
different opinion!

Rory.





> Rory Walsh wrote:
>>> From what I understand, one either has perfect pitch, or doesn't.  I
>>>
>>
>> And from what I've read it's about 1 in every 10,000 people who have i
>> this talent with higher numbers among those who speak tonal languages. I
>> do know people with excellent relative pitch, my relative pitch however
>> is
>> pretty poor, less relative pitch, more irritating itch, I just can't
>> seem
>> to get it. It's a very interesting subject. Oliver Sacks discusses it in
>> detail in his new book Musicophilia.
> I have a friend here who has absolute pitch. He's one of the most
> sought-after guitarists for the local classic rock bands, mainly due to
> his ability to play someone else's solos with great accuracy, and also
> for his vocal mimicing (he can sound just like Billy Gibbons or Jim
> Morrison or Robert Plant et al). However, his improvising skills are
> minimal at best, and he's done little to expand his total musical
> knowledge.
>
> Perfect pitch is of course no guarantee of any other musical ability. I
> studied solfege with the Modus Vetus and Modus Novus methods, and IIRC
> the intro to Modus Novus stated that absolute pitch might even be a
> hindrance for that method of study (i.e. non-tonal ear-training).
>
> Rory, you just have to keep practicing. ;-)  Have you tried working with
> the Solfege program ?
>
>     http://www.solfege.org/
>
> Best,
>
> dp
>
>
>
> Send bugs reports to this list.
> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body "unsubscribe
> csound"
>

Tobiah schreef:
> Mark Van Peteghem wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I just made a csd file that allows you to test whether you have 
>> absolute pitch. It plays a note for 2 seconds, during which you 
>> should guess what note it is, and 1 second later it prints what the 
>> note was. The note is then also repeated so you can train it.
>>
>> I used an organ as the instrument, just because it has a nice sound. 
>> The code for testing whether you have absolute pitch is in a UDO 
>> called random_pitch, so you can easily use another instrument 
>> (preferably an instrument that is constant in frequency, of course).
>>
>> You can specify in the UDO how many notes are allowed. I started with 
>> 3, and after some time I was able to distinguish them nine out of ten 
>> times. But since I recognized these notes shortly after each other, 
>> this is rather relative pitch, not absolute pitch.
> From what I understand, one either has perfect pitch, or doesn't.  I
> haven't heard of a person learning perfect pitch.  They say that it is
> much like discerning color with the eye.  I have no trouble identifying
> blue, but a color-blind person would not be able to learn how to do this.
>
> I used to think that if I payed attention to what various pitches sounded
> like that I could somehow sharpen my ability to identify random pitches,
> but after watching how effortlessly people with perfect pitch can 
> identify
> pitches, I have come to the conclusion that they are making use of 
> information
> that is not available to me.  I have never come across a person who could
> only come close (within a whole step, say) to perfect pitch.
>
> I suppose that the extra information might be there in my brain, if I 
> could
> only tap into it.

I'm not sure if my csd file can help people to improve in recognizing 
pitches. But it allows you to test it on your own (you don't need 
someone else to play a random note on an instrument), or at least give 
you a feel of how difficult it is. And I find it fun to try it.

-- 
  Mark
  _________________________________________
  When you get lemons, you make lemonade.
  When you get hardware, you make software.

I usually just sing crappy 80's rock until i find one in that's close & then
work it out from there


rory walsh wrote:
> 
> I have, but not intensively. To be honest I don't really have too strong a
> desire to work at it. I feel like it may take some of the fun out of
> playing, on the other hand I'm sure the people I play might have a
> different opinion!
> 
> Rory.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Rory Walsh wrote:
>>>> From what I understand, one either has perfect pitch, or doesn't.  I
>>>>
>>>
>>> And from what I've read it's about 1 in every 10,000 people who have i
>>> this talent with higher numbers among those who speak tonal languages. I
>>> do know people with excellent relative pitch, my relative pitch however
>>> is
>>> pretty poor, less relative pitch, more irritating itch, I just can't
>>> seem
>>> to get it. It's a very interesting subject. Oliver Sacks discusses it in
>>> detail in his new book Musicophilia.
>> I have a friend here who has absolute pitch. He's one of the most
>> sought-after guitarists for the local classic rock bands, mainly due to
>> his ability to play someone else's solos with great accuracy, and also
>> for his vocal mimicing (he can sound just like Billy Gibbons or Jim
>> Morrison or Robert Plant et al). However, his improvising skills are
>> minimal at best, and he's done little to expand his total musical
>> knowledge.
>>
>> Perfect pitch is of course no guarantee of any other musical ability. I
>> studied solfege with the Modus Vetus and Modus Novus methods, and IIRC
>> the intro to Modus Novus stated that absolute pitch might even be a
>> hindrance for that method of study (i.e. non-tonal ear-training).
>>
>> Rory, you just have to keep practicing. ;-)  Have you tried working with
>> the Solfege program ?
>>
>>     http://www.solfege.org/
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> dp
>>
>>
>>
>> Send bugs reports to this list.
>> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body "unsubscribe
>> csound"
>>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Send bugs reports to this list.
> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body "unsubscribe
> csound"
> 
> 

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