On Friday 18 Jun 2004 15:19 pm, Larry Troxler wrote: > Not an answer (sorry), but I think that you're referring to > "relative" pitch - the ablitiy to identify intervals. Well, at least > that's what most musicians use to transcribe music. If someone knows > the instrument well, they can also fix the key based on the timbre of > the different notes. It is true that some musicians and non-musicians > have "perfect" pitch, the ability to identify an absolute pitch > without any context, but this isn't the ordinary way people do it, > and in fact I had a composition teacher once with perfect pitch who > said it was a curse. > A voice tutor I knew said the same, and would regularly have problems when the pianos in practice rooms were drifting off tune. Surely though, even 'perfect' pitch is relative, since if the scale were constructed diferently the relevant notes would change their absolute frequency. It's just that a person with perfect pitch is able to compare the perceived note to a remembered absolute, whereas with relative pitch a person needs to be 'tuned' first. Dylan -- "I see your Schwartz is as big as mine" ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? -Dark Helmet
