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Sforzi
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: May 23, 2008
Posts: 51
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 Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:09 am Post subject: Aspergers and Perfect (or absolute) Pitch |
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Here's a definition. <-
I have it. Do any of you other musicians have it too?
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AS? d+ s+:+ a--- c+ p+ t--- f S+ p-- e+ h+ r+ n+ i+ P+ m M+++
Me: Undiagnosed Aspie.
Neurodiversity score: 137 of 200
AQ: 41
... just so you know. |
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schleppenheimer
Phoenix
Joined: Sep 01, 2006
Posts: 1174
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:13 am Post subject: |
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I'm fairly sure that my younger son has it.
Kris |
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Griff7272
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Aug 17, 2007
Posts: 36
Location: north Mississippi
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:55 am Post subject: |
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"Absolute pitch is an act of cognition, needing memory of the frequency, a label for the frequency (such as "B-flat"), and exposure to the range of sound encompassed by that categorical label"
That sentence there summed it up for me. I can tune my guitar by ear just because I remember what each string is supposed to sound like. |
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Nico
I'm Miss World
Joined: Sep 29, 2006
Posts: 1877
Location: Cheshire, UK
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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I have perfect pitch.
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Controversy begins only where acceptance ends. |
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sinsboldly
Free Range Aspie
Joined: Nov 22, 2006
Age: 59
Posts: 13253
Location: Oregon, USA
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:37 pm Post subject: Re: Aspergers and Perfect (or absolute) Pitch |
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I have it. I also have an excellent voice for singing and talking. I make my money as a speaker, and it is my signature - people never forget the voice. I attribute my vocal success with my perfect pitch.
But having perfect pitch is a burden, too, as a child I heinously insulted my mother by wailing when she wanted to sing me to sleep or sing with my brother and I. I, of course, did not understand that I hurt her feelings, I just knew that her singing made my hair stand up on the back of my neck and was actually painful to me. Off key or harsh sounds fry my nerves. Does anyone relate?
Merle |
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ThatRedHairedGrrl
Phoenix
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 798
Location: Walking through a shopping mall listening to Half Japanese on headphones
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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I don't, and my 'cello teacher doesn't (she's a classically trained violinist, primarily, and she still has to tune her stringed instruments from a tuned piano), but her old 'cello teacher, who's also the luthier from whom I got my 'cello, does. And he gets irritated by out-of-tune stuff - though probably not as badly affected as you, sinsboldly - and I've heard of other musicians with it who actually feel nauseated on hearing music that's not spot-on. So perhaps it's a mixed blessing.
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Sunfell
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Jun 04, 2008
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I have absolute pitch- it's both a blessing and a curse. Certain voices drive me nuts.
Off-key kills me- which is why I tend to avoid amateur music venues or open-mike places. Even a guitar tuned a few cents off grates on me. I am not a musician. |
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EvilKimEvil
zoo-music girl
Joined: Sep 27, 2007
Posts: 3041
Location: highway to hell
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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My mom has it, and I have reason to believe she has AS too (she's probably a more obvious aspie than I am).
It would be interesting if they were genetically linked. |
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ford_prefects_kid
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 18, 2008
Posts: 573
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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I have relative pitch. It seems to be more common even among trained musicians than absolute pitch. My sense of intonation is very good- I can pick out the slightest discrepancy between intervals, which made tuning by ear easy and singing or playing in a group so the chord was perfectly tuned to itself easy as well.
I can't always pick a "C" out of thin air, but I am driven nuts by ensembles not being perfectly tuned to eachother moreso than many people with perfect pitch.
Relative pitch can be helpful in an ensemble...you might remember the orchestra tradition of the concertmaster giving an "A" on his violin, and then having the string sections begin to adjust all 4 of their strings in relation to the given pitch, followed by the winds and brass. (you might remember the unique sound of a full tuning orchestra as a precurser to many old bugs bunny cartoons)
For a few reasons that I won't go into on here, violinists often prefer to set the pitch of their A-string at 441 cycles/second, instead of the 440 mark. The higher placement is noticeable, but doesn't really seem "out of tune," and it's important for all the instrumentalists to be used to adjusting accordingly.
Also, as a singer, you have to be able to adjust to whatever piano is accompanying you so the chords don't sound off.
(P.S. ...I think it might be genetic, but not aspie.) |
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Aalto
Phoenix
Joined: May 04, 2008
Age: 18
Posts: 520
Location: W. Yorks, UK
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Nico wrote: | | I have perfect pitch. |
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EvilKimEvil
zoo-music girl
Joined: Sep 27, 2007
Posts: 3041
Location: highway to hell
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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All my music teachers told me that perfect pitch is thought to be genetic - it tends to run in families. It is rare, even among professional musicians. And it is basically something you're either born with or don't have (although you can come close with a good deal of effort).
Relative pitch, of course, can be learned by almost anyone. And it can be improved through practice. |
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hadapurpura
Phoenix
Joined: May 29, 2005
Posts: 594
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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| I think I have perfect pitch, I don't really know for sure. |
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Hector
Frankie Teardrop
Joined: Mar 11, 2008
Age: 23
Posts: 2016
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| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| EvilKimEvil wrote: | All my music teachers told me that perfect pitch is thought to be genetic - it tends to run in families. It is rare, even among professional musicians. And it is basically something you're either born with or don't have (although you can come close with a good deal of effort).
Relative pitch, of course, can be learned by almost anyone. And it can be improved through practice. |
In the mother's side of my family there are five people who make music and only one of them has perfect pitch. So I guess some family members can have it but not others?
As for me, I'm not even a musician. So I'm not sure. |
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UncleBeer
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 19, 2004
Posts: 901
Location: temporarily trapped in Holland
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| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:19 am Post subject: |
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| EvilKimEvil wrote: | | All my music teachers told me that perfect pitch is thought to be genetic - it tends to run in families. It is rare, even among professional musicians. And it is basically something you're either born with or don't have |
How could that be? Why would the western 12-tone tuning system be baked into our genes, and why only the currently favored "equal tempered" system, which is nothing more than a poor compromise of some of the earlier tuning systems (Just tuning, Pythagorean, etc...)?
I think it has more to do with memory. |
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ThatRedHairedGrrl
Phoenix
Joined: May 11, 2008
Posts: 798
Location: Walking through a shopping mall listening to Half Japanese on headphones
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| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject: |
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I looked into this a while back, and researchers tend to think one of the following:
a) it's genetic, and only people in certain families have it
b) it's learned, and anyone can develop it (this view tends to be confined to people selling systems to help you develop it!)
c) we're all born with an ability to recognize pitch, but only those who are trained in classical music from an early age retain the ability and learn to match it with our Western musical system - so in other words, we might be born knowing the sound of, say, B flat, but only if our parents are interested in teaching us music will we later learn to identify it by name.
There's a lot of research but the jury's still out on this, apparently. I'd be interested to see whether, as you point out, UncleBeer, people with perfect pitch brought up in (say) India, with its raga system, have a different take on things.
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