Hey Chris, Thanks for the kind words. Before I answer your questions I’d like to say. By Definition of “Perfect Pitch”, nobody is born with this ability. This is not a proven fact, but it makes sense to me. I think people who are said to be born with Perfect Pitch, pick up on the sound of notes at a very young age. Sort of like a child who learns numbers before the normal age, is often good with math and other similar fields when they grow up. Same with Perfect Pitch, you may have a gift in this area but you still need to learn the abilities that go with it, just like you need to learn how to add and subtract. But I do know that I did acquire a knack for music at a young age, and I’ve always had an ability to recognize tones very well. I also grew up around people who played guitar. So yeah, I do believe I was born with a very good sense of hearing. Now this brings me to your second question.

Actually, It doesn't matter if you acquire it or learn it. Perfect Pitch is the same ability in both cases. But the biggest factor in how strong your Perfect Pitch is; it's how good your hearing is. People who have really good hearing develop this easier and faster and they can hear the pitches better than say someone who doesn’t hear quite as good. This doesn’t mean that you can’t learn Perfect pitch; it just might take you a little longer cause your ear needs to open up more to these sounds. But if you are already pretty accomplished in music, you will probably learn the basic “perfect pitch” within a couple of months, even weeks. Basic perfect pitch is when you can hear the pitches very well, and you can name any tone by just hearing it. This is what I had when I started taking ear training, but then I realized there are other levels to this. Like just singing any note of the top of your head without reference, and being able to tell if a note is a little flat or a little sharp. But let me tell you, acquiring or learning it is very fulfilling. Cause when you learn it; you feel as though you have accomplished something that most people say is IMPOSSIBLE. It really trips you out. Now someone that has had it since they can remember doesn’t know any different, so they don’t appreciate it as much.

Now your last question, the answer is yeah, this is normal for anyone who has perfect pitch. Matter of Fact the first thing that they teach you in Ear Training in to play 2 and 3 note chords, and then sing each note to prove that you can hear them. And as you go on, “stump the idiot savant” is one of the lessons that you go though. It is very difficult to grasp for someone without Perfect pitch, cause all the tones are clashing and they are very dissonant. To you it was probably like me saying, “I'm going to count to 9, and I’ll leave out one number. Without referring to the keyboard, tell me what number I leave out?”. Then I go “!@#$^&*(“. This is what it sounds like to someone without perfect pitch. Now to whomever you are referring to, he was able to hear past the clashing sounds and the dissonance. And zoom deep into the sound and hear each note individually and see what was left out was the five. Pretty amazing huh? Well I hope I answered your questions thoroughly, especially the second one. If not, I think you get the idea. Thanx for writting, I wish you well with everything that you do. Take it easy man.

Rock,
mike

[Edited by noticingthemistake on 08-06-2002 at 10:33 PM]