Subject: Re: any examples of acquired absolute pitch? From: Susan Allen <susie@xxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:15:42 -0700 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Hi, I find it amazing that you all talk about absolute or perfect pitch in regard to Western tuning systems! Why are Western systems 'perfect' or 'absolute'? These tuning systems are constructed, like the Bible, on thousands of inputs and are not related to any 'one thing' except their own outcome! viz Stuart Isacoff "Temperament" which documents the history of how we arrived at our "perfect" systems!! They are not 'perfect' and they represent nothing except imperialistic notions...how could pitch be perfect in Iran? in Thailand? in Indonesia? in Africa? Susan Allen Susan Allen PhD Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Instructor of Harp & Improvisation The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts California Institute of the Arts Valencia, CA 91355 USA phone 661-753-4200 http://music.calarts.edu/~susie On Apr 18, 2008, at 10:57 PM, Arturo Camacho wrote: > Anthony, > > Check http://www.perfectpitch.com. They claim that many people have > acquired perfect pitch with their method and cite two studies in > which its > effectiveness has been confirmed: > > (1) Rush, M. A. An experimental investigation of the effectiveness of > training on absolute pitch in adult musicians, The Ohio State > University. > > (2) Nering, Marguerite Elaine. A study to determine the > effectiveness of > the David Lucas Burge technique for development of Perfect Pitch, The > University of Calgary. > > I tried the method about 15 years ago and got to hear what they > described: > a maximum in smoothness at C and a maximum in sharpness at F# > (those were > not their exact words, but what I remember I perceived). However, I > was > not as consistent as recommended (I was too busy to practice > everyday) and > after a while my performance actually started to decrease. I gave > up at > about 1/4 of the course. > > Arturo > >> Hi, i've found some interesting comments on absolute pitch on this >> mailing list and was wondering if anyone has heard of any examples of >> people who have acquired absolute pitch somehow during their later >> lives, >> ie not in early childhood development. >> >> There is a clear trend between absolute pitch (AP) and autism, and >> many >> autistic savants with musical talents (which tend to be more in >> terms of >> music reproduction ability than creative composition) that have been >> examined also have AP. There are numerous examples of people who have >> acquired special abilities such as those exhibited by autistic >> savants as >> a result of injury or other non-developmental processes. I haven't >> however >> heard of any examples of people who have acquired AP later in >> life, it >> would be very useful if anyone knows of any examples. >> >> There are suggestions that AP development is an independent >> process that >> is present in autistic and non-autistic people, and that presence >> of AP is >> pre-requisite for development of special musical abilities for >> savants. >> This model would suggest that cases of later-life AP >> development would be unlikely, however if there are any examples >> of people >> developing AP later in life for example through brain injury, >> similar to >> how savant-like special abilities have been shown to be developed >> (essentially spontaneously), it would be very useful. >> >> >> >> >> thanks >> >> Anthony >> >> >> >> >> >> >> a couple of references: >> >> ** <http://www.brams.umontreal.ca/plab/publications/article/ >> 32>Absolute >> pitch in autism: a case study, L Mottron, I Peretz, S Belleville, >> N Rouleau >> - Neurocase, 1999 >> >> >> Musical savants: exceptional skill in the mentally retarded, >> Miller L K, >> Lawrence Erlbaum, 1989: 266 >> >> >> Absolute pitch in blind musicians, Roy H. Hamilton, Alvaro Pascual- >> Leone >> and Gottfried Schlaug, NeuroReport Vol 15 No 5, 9 April 2004 >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Leuconoe, don't ask — it's dangerous to know — what end the gods will >> give me or you. Don't play with Babylonian fortune-telling either. >> Better >> just deal with whatever comes your way. Whether you'll see several >> more >> winters or whether the last one Jupiter gives you is the one even now >> pelting the rocks on the shore with the waves of the Tyrrhenian >> sea — be >> smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long hopes to a short >> period. Even >> as we speak, envious time is running away from us. Seize the day, >> trusting >> little in the future. >> >> > > > -- > __________________________________________________ > > Arturo Camacho, PhD > Alumni > Computer and Information Science and Engineering > University of Florida > > Web page: www.cise.ufl.edu/~acamacho > __________________________________________________