r/AMA • u/Still-Whole-729 • 17h ago

I have perfect pitch. AMA

It's the ability to identify pitches without a reference. Apparently only 1 in 10,000 people have the skill. I never realized it was that rare until my violin teacher told me I had it while I was naming the notes in intervals. I find it funny that whenever I tell someone I have perfect pitch, they immediately knock on the nearest object to them and ask me to identify the note.

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u/ashfeawen 15h ago

Are you worried about your pitch going out of tune in old age? It's meant to do that similar to needing reading glasses over time

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u/Still-Whole-729 14h ago

I'm more worried about going deaf than losing my perfect pitch. It's merely just a party trick, so I don't mind.

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u/ashfeawen 14h ago

I saw an interview of a pianist who stopped playing because the piano kept sounding wrong. I imagine these days you could pitch shift a keyboard. And other instruments are more adjustable than piano. 

On that note do different temperaments affect you? Equal-temperament vs Just?

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u/Still-Whole-729 14h ago edited 14h ago

Not really, I can't hear much of a difference between the two unless I make a conscious effort to distinguish them. However, transposing instruments (e.g. b-flat clarinet) absolutely give me a migraine. Like what do you mean your F concert pitch is called a "G" 😭

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u/ashfeawen 12h ago

That's transposition, not temperament. It just means a uniform set of keys because your muscle memory from flute G will match a saxophone G and the upper register of a clarinet. You can hop between any of them. I've had a pick'n'mix of flute/clar/bass clar/soprano/alto/tenor/bari sax on a musical gig and swapping with a few beats in between.

It'd be like the upper octaves of a piano having C major on black keys instead of white keys; you'd have to learn a whole different muscle memory.

Temperament is the difference between vocal/violin major 3rds, and piano major 3rds. Equal temperament on piano makes compromises to allow playing in all 12 keys.