===DifferentLooksAtPerfectPitch===

=Different Looks at Absolute (Perfect) Pitch=

May 10, 2009
The readings on perfect pitch (Bachem and Brady) presented in class gave us quite a bit of useful insight into the controversial ability of Absolute Pitch. What I found out from class discussions and readings is that Absolute pitch is not a skill that has a cut-and-dry definition, but rather, it can be defined in degrees (or some could say, not defined at all). Bachem and Brady show that there are a variety of acquired skills that can resemble aspects of AP, although

Researchers like Geza Revesz have added to Bachem and Brady's breakdown of AP (Link to his writing below). He believes that //tone quality// and //tone height// are two distinctly separate characteristics that people use to determine a pitch. Those with genuine absolute pitch utilize //tone quality// while the ungifted rely on //tone height//. AP people, despite the height of the pitch, can hear an A-ness or a C-ness to different pitches. Although Revesz adds slightly to the discussion that has taken place in class, Mark Schmuckler helps to explore a question that has ambiently pervaded my classroom thoughts from the time the class began to talk on this subject: Can absolute pitch (or something along the lines of) occur in people without musical training? [|Revesz, Geza. "About Two Kinds of Absolute Hearing"]

At first this seems like a silly question to ask. How can pitch be determined by someone who cannot identify notes? It would seem that the determination of pitch would require some sort of scale to discriminate pitches. However, Mark Schmuckler states in his introductory paragraph that psychoacoustical tests have determined that people outside of the professionally (and even marginally) trained musical world are able to identify the correct pitch of a dial tone, as well as determine whether or not a television show's theme song has been altered by 1 or 2 semitones. [|Schmuckler, Mark. "Absolute Pitch Memory in Non-AP posessors"]

Another test produced by researchers Schmuckler cited, Ernst Terhardt and Manfred Seewann, showed that both AP subjects and non-AP subjects utilize "absolute pitch information" in pitch determination, though in two different ways. When given a musical piece to listen to (some J.S. Bach), both AP and non-AP listeners were able to determine pitch transpositions, however apparently, by two different modes: single pitch determination for AP listeners and the "feeling" of several pitches played together by non-AP listeners. This goes hand-in-hand with Revesz' finding that tone quality is the instrument of the former and tone height the latter. [|Terhardt and Manfred Seewann Aural Key Identification and Its Relationship to AP]

It is also been found that absolute pitch does not develop only because of music training or consistent exposure to music (as Bachem had inferred). AP can also develop from exposure to tonal types of language. Diana Deutsch of UCSD states that her research has shown that the incidence of AP is prevalent in individuals of Asian descent, especially speakers of tonal languages (like Vietnamese). She says that a test conducted on Vietnamese subjects showed their ability to judge pitches within 1.1 semitones. She attributes this ability to the need for tonality in Vietnamese words to express different words with the same sounds. [|Deutsch, Diana. "The Enigma of Absolute Pitch"]

However, Robert Zatorre would say that data does not always point to exposure to tonal language for the reason Asian persons have a higher incidence of AP. Instead, Zatorre states that AP may have a genetic explanation. Cultures that are quite separate from each other (Korean, Chinese, Japanese) and without tonal languages (Korean, Japanese) still have this high incidence of AP; these results have suprisingly been reported from Asian subjects that speak English only. He goes on to explain the way the brain processes pitch information through its numerous organ departments (I will spare that explanation). Although Zatorre's article is neuroscientific in nature, this provides new and interesting questions to ask within musical psychoacoustics, especially in terms of defining how to conduct unbiased studies with a variety of culture and/or ethnic backgrounds. [|Zatorre, Robert. "Absolute pitch: a model for understanding the influence of genes and development on neural and cognitive function"]

The study of absolute pitch is quite vast; no student should believe that human knowledge of AP could be summarized within Bachem and Brady's research. It is not just of interest to psychoacousticians, but to psychological, neuroscientific and medical researchers. Talking about absolute pitch is not only a matter of decided if it exists or not, or if someone has it, but a matter of exploring how human evolution has adapted the mind to differentiate different sounds within the world.