I've had relative pitch my entire life and really just thought it was a half-ass version of perfect pitch until today. I didn't even know it had a name, lol.
It's wonderful to see your talented children! By the way, a friend of mine with perfect pitch lost it - actually it was "misplaced" by a semitone lower at the age of 70. In the begininng she thought that her piano went out of tune but then she listened to the radio and she heard music of which she knew the tonality a semitone lower. So what she does now? She listens to a tone and say she recognizes as C#. Knowing her problem she makes the correction and she answers D. Wonderful job you do Rick! Thank you so much!
wow listening to your boy describe the detuned piano as a mixture of 2 notes is so fascinating! Ive never thought about it like that before (I dont have perfect pitch) but I assumed that people with perfect pitch would just hear an 'out of tune' note, but he hears 2 different notes mixed together - liked a mixture of red and blue or something to make a new color. I love these videos - I'd love more!! It still seems like magic to me - that someone could have perfect pitch. Its like being able to look at a color and say the pantone number. Where does it come from!?! :)
Wow actually this was a very informative video. Thank you very much for the demonstration. What I really like about the videos is that you have addressed many interesting points like some people have good pitch memory or levelling up your relative pitch level to a point where you cannot tell the difference between perfect pitch and relative pitch. Now I think I can claim that I actually have a very good level of relative pitch rather than claiming that I have perfect pitch because I can tell relatively fast what all the white and black keys on a piano are within the middle octaves of the piano whereas when you get to the far ends of the piano that it becomes really difficult to tell.
I'm really floored by this video Rick, have always assumed anyone with perfect has relative...cause if they hear you play C and they know it, then you play an E , they know it's an E, then you play G, they know that's a G, how could they NOT know that's major?? I've always been blown away by folks with perfect pitch, but to have perfect and not relative, might just blow me away even more!!??
omg rick you have literally made my day! i thought that what i had was perfect pitch and i was confused because i couldn't do what your son does, but i'm just like your daughter, i can easily mimic every sound or note i hear, so that means i have relative pitch..awesome!
I lived with William Howell who was a national banjo champion. I was trying to learn the song Southern Steel by Steve Morse. I worked on it for a couple of weeks and I could not get it.William just sat and listened . He never touched his banjo once. Then we went to a party where everybody wanted him to play. He took out his gold plated banjo and ripped off Southern Steel note for note! Atferwards he laughed and smiled at me and asked me where that came from. Now I think that when he started to play,he did not really know what he was going to play.But,he had been listening to these notes every day for 2 weeks and he remembered them and he just played them. So that is what perfect pitch is. I have several friends that have perfect pitch and they are incredible players.I am not sure if I have it or not,but I am close. I can hear a song in the car and go home and pick up the guitar and play it the first time.But I also worked in a big music shop where there were five guitarists and we used to sit down to jam and we discovered that there were micro variations in our tuning. We did not hear tones exactly the same like a automatic tuner. The short story it is a natural gift. The Beatles had it pretty much,that is what made them the Beatles. And do not forget George Martin. It is nice to have.
haven't watched this yet, but the answer, from someone plagued by perfect pitch which has gone haywire in old age, the answer has to be relative pitch. my comment on another of your videos: "why would anyone want perfect pitch? i was blessed (?) with this (discovered when at a very young age i declared someone's piano out of tune, ("but granny, i played a C & a Bb came out!") and later when i started piano lessons & was accused of cheating in aural tests. it's only good for showing off at parties! i couldn't sight read on Bb pianos, which meant some jobs weren't available to me. as a middle-aged adult, i took up trumpet (Bb here in GB) & clarinet. i had to conciously transpose everything at first, but as time went on, i thought i was becoming really good at this. now, as an old person, going back to the piano, and starting to go to concerts again, i realise that my perfect pitch has gone wrong, i assumed, because of playing Bb instruments. concerts are a nightmare, as i can no longer tell what key the music is in, and if i lose concentration & rely on my pitch only (as i always used to when memorising) i play wrong notes. if my pitch recognition had gone completely, i could have learnt to be good at relative pitch (which i didn't ever need before). it's an absolute NIGHTMARE. i had hoped when i stopped playing Bb instruments, which i blamed, that my pitch would readjust. perhaps it won't. so can someone tell me how to lose all sense of pitch recognition please! incidentally, 1. almost no music was played in my house when i was a child, and none at all when i was a baby. 2. at secondary school, a fellow student, a non-musician from a non-musical family was accidentally discovered to have perfect pitch ........
Those "perfect pitch" musicians also had relative pitch though. Without translating the perfect pitch to relative pitch, perfect pitch is near useless. I knew guys in college that had perfect pitch and didn't know B-D-F-A made a half diminished chord.
Exactly. Music is about a lot more than individual notes. Perfect pitch doesn't give you the instant ability to "understand" music. It just helps you with pitch recognition.
Stop all useless bla bla about one absolute perfect pitch! Please! Nothing in the real life is perfect and all is relatif. Let talk about good musicians instead!
Haywood Giles you might be confusing relative pitch and knowledge of music theory. A relative pitch person can hear a diminished chord and say oh that's a diminished Someone with perfect pitch can say oh that's B D and F. If they have no music knowledge they don't know what chord it is. But with extensive music theory knowledge. They can use the knowledge perfect pitch gives them then use music theory to figure what kind of chord it is.
Greatest wealth of information I’ve ever seen or heard on TH-cam. It doesn’t confirm my feelings about Perfect pitch. I use to envy those with such ability then I realize that relative pitch is more practical in my opinion. As a guitarist when I tune the instrument without a tuning machine I can not tell whether or not I’m in concert key and I can still play regardless. With perfect pitch it would be painful to the ear especially if one is a microtone away from the actual pitch. Also It seems to me that one with with perfect pitch does not have to practice sightsinging cuz they can already hear the notes.
I've been working on my relative pitch. I get results. It seems the longest lasting results come from songs you listened to as a child. Learn them today. See what intervals you were listening to back then. You can still learn them. Also your melody lines. The ones you like to play naturally. See what intervals you're playing. I think it's possible to really improve your relative pitch with a bit of dedication. In solfège "do" shifts for the different keys. You can still get your understanding of intervals to improve. Not really learn the note names much. That's hit and miss.
What I find most interesting is that having perfect pitch is not mutually exclusive with having musical talent. Granted, my 'evidence' is purely anecdotal, but I've known a handful of people who I would place in this category.
Rick, thank you for putting in all the time and energy in to making all these videos about perfect and relative pitch. Really love all your videos about this subject beacause you have a analytic look on the subject. A lot of people who put their hard time and energy in music get (sorry for saying it this way) butthurt about perfect pitch, because it gives them the feeling that it makes them lesser of a musician, or that they have fewer knowalage then others of music ( this is just an assumption and not targeted against anyone). This is not the case, everyone is unique in behaviour and feeling. In the end perfect pitch doesnt have to make you a great or better musician( as you stated in more of your other videos), it just gives better knowledge of whats going on. Passion and vision makes a great musician, knowelage is the tool to make people achieve great music and grow further.
I think it is very fascinating that your son is interpreting 3 frequencies (2 tones and a 3rd in the background) when you de-tuned your keyboard frequency. So KooL!!!
I just understood how i hear music...and i'm 49... i have been told i had it but didnt know exactly how it works.... its really great listening to music cuz every time i can listen to a different melody in the same song just by concentrating a little.
Oh and my mother told me once that at the age of 2, i was singning in perfect pitch harmony to whatever was playing on the radio...even if i had never heard the tune...and still do! I just know what note is coming up next. This annoyes my guitarist like hell! Lol
Ok my English is very bad but...Im waching your videos each day and learning a lot from you and this things with Dylan are so...wonderfulll...he is little genius with great teacher and this videos makes me verry happy and motivate me :)
This was excellent and totally addressed an issue that I commented on regarding a previous video. I also feel that with great pitch memory and intonation, plus "perfect relative pitch" (an expression I was glad to hear you use), it is possible to develop what at least looks like (sounds like) perfect pitch. For all practical purposes, this is what is necessary. Music is, after all, about relationships between notes, so it's the intervals that are important, not the names of notes. The names just make it easier to talk about with instrumentalists if you happen to be a singer (I am). But unless one is in a symphony that's been stranded on a desert island without a tuning fork (or set of bells) and no rescue in sight, I can't think of many instances in life where perfect pitch would be super-useful. I thought it was interesting when Dylan said it didn't bother him when the piano was detuned. He was asked if it bothered him that the piano was "out of tune" and he said No. I think that was the wrong way to phrase the question. A piano that's detuned to a different Hz for A, is still tuned to itself and the intervals and note relationships are therefore still the same. So the piano was not "out of tune" it had been "detuned" which is not the same thing at all! My point is, I find it difficult to believe that it doesn't bother Dylan, who has both perfect and relative pitch, if a singer or player is veering off pitch and going flat or sharp within whatever tuning system has been established. It should bother him! It bothers the hell outta me, with only my "perfect" relative pitch, but it even bothers people who aren't particularly musical themselves. This is why singers get booed off talent shows for being tone deaf. Because it sounds like crap. I'd like for the question to be put to Dylan differently to clarify the difference between his experience of a detuned instrument and someone actually playing out of tune. I would think the latter would be very unpleasant for him to listen to, if he is musical rather than someone who just has an odd gift.
+Diana Trimble Dylan's 9 and doesn't care either way if singers sing in tune or out of tune. He only thinks about pitches when someone asks him. As a pitch gets lower or higher he hears more of a blend between the 2 notes if he thinks about it. Other than that he just listens to and enjoys music like any of us with relative pitch
I may be wrong, but maybe some people associate someone who has perfect pitch as being a musical prodigy and for others (myself included), it may be a means to help them to achieve musical fluency. Thank you Mr. Beato for the videos.
Thanks Rick, very interesting and helpful video. You're doing a great set of deeds in sharing your music knowledge. My teenaged daughter is learning a lot from your videos.
I keep watching your videos and love them. I do want you to talk about the "Grey area" that is "pitch memory." It is a concept we don't talk about near enough.
All pitch is relative: are you identifying notes relative to A=440, C=256, A=442, A=415 or .... You gloss over this but IMO it is fundamental to the issue. When I was a kid, we had a piano tuned a quarter tone low and a gramophone (turntable) that ran 6% fast: I had 3 separate pitches, all "perfect", one for piano music, one for orchestral, and the other (A=440) for organ & choir!!!
Thank You! My God for years I've been confused! Your video about this subject (cute kids!) Has helped me. 56yrs old. Terrible at song figuring. Solid at Improve and music school no problems. I can cold sing most notes(little flat/little sharp although).intervals also commonsensical. But because no perfect pitch I'm limited. NOW I KNOW WHY...thank you thank your kids!😁🎸👍
It wasn't until I was older, in my teens (and had been studying piano for about 7 or 8 years) that I learned about relative pitch, and that I had it. Always did. Which is why I could pick out and re-create melodies (play by ear) when I was a little kid, even before I started piano (then trumpet, drums ... and more recently --late in life-- guitar). I wish my parents, who both played instruments, had realised this so I could have done some early ear training. Maybe music teachers were not as aware or attuned to this type of talent when I was a kid. But I can read and sing music from a sheet I've never seen before (usually close to, sometime on, the actual pitch), and if I have a reference tone I can sing it on pitch and in the correct key. Which is good fun, and very useful, especially for a-capella stuff.
Alyssa Arellano not everyone. Only if each note has 1 colour. I have sound to color synesthesia but if you play a C I might hear red one day, and then yellow the next. Today I hear green. If people hear JUST yellow with every G and just blue with every B, then yes they would have perfect pitch.
Jeez, Rick - you make me feel like a bad father! I hung up the guitar for 15 years when I was changing diapers. Your kids are awesome! I shared this video with my first guitar instructor.
I can pick something I ear and play it in the trumpet, even without knowing wich notes they are, and even doing that, I should know the notes by the positions, but my brain is so concentred in earing and transform that into automatic movement of my fingers, its amazing, and yes I miss some notes and sometimes the music its harder or easier to pick, but just by earing I get it right at 2 or 3 attempt.
Wouldn't you agree that "having perfect pitch" is just an acute form of "having a great pitch memory"? Or do you think there's something substantially different between the two concepts/talents/skills?
great question. I think it is "similar" but I think the difference is that if a child "learns" it at a young age he will not forget about it. It most likely gets learned and imprinted in a different brain area then the area we use for pitch memory.
You may be right. Let's say just this then: if it's not true, at least it seems to "work" in most usual cirucmstances.. Incindentally, Rick did say (in this video or another one) that perfect pitch could be lost when you're over 50 or 60.
14jemima That is probably because, the human ear loses its quality & ability to hear higher frequencies with age going on - regarding the overtone series, I guess, that the neural frameworks need the layers of frequencies, especially the higher ones in the ots to clearly identify the pitch
Amazing!! Didn't know what this is called(perfect/relative pitch). But I could pick chord sounds, majors, minors since my childhood. All the music theory came later. Now the missing part is perfect pitch.. which as per what you say I may never be able to acquire.. I am an adult and a very old one :) Btw, although i can recognize minor and major chords, I don't like it when ppl say minor chords are sad. It's all about the whole context in which they are played. A very good romantic ballad using a minor chord in progression may not sound half as good if the minor chord is replaced with its major counterpart.. I feel minor chords bring in some strong emotions.. even goosebumps on some songs..
A friend's dad is 83 years old and still has his perfect pitch. He can name any note on the piano, or make the tone of the named note, dead on. I never quizzed him on chords. Not sure if he knows the names of the chords.
Hey your G and C were pretty accurate. I played the notes on my guitar while you sang them. I have been trying to tune my guitar for years by starting out with humming the low E to start out and then tune the rest from there. I am always a half step down in my head from what an E in reality though. No matter how many years go by I still can't get that E a half step up in my head. That's why I use a clip on tuner.
I've always had something to the effect of "in the ballpark" pitch. I can get it *some of the timeI*, but after that relative pitch kicks in and I've got it. Its good enough for me
I wish people would use Chariots of Fire for the interval of a perfect 4th, because it uses the scale degrees 1 then 4, not 5 and 8 (here comes the bride). I hear the degrees of the scale rather than the intervals between notes.
Have perfect pitch but fading somewhat(72 yrs). One problem situation some yrs ago - choir director/accompanist transposed a piece we were working on and drove me “nuts” because of the difference between ears and eyes.
Rick, I believe Lennon has it too, whats most, if Dylan has it that keen, Lennon too. She doesn't even strive to get the tones, what she lacks of is the language to name whats in her mind. Train her you must! (although, I want to train my daughter also, because she has very good ear, but it is not her passion, which is ballet)....
Even more important than Perfect Pitch is Perfect Kids, which you've obviously got, Rick. Yay! Perfect Kids are a lot more common than Perfect Relatives. Perfect Kids should be the instructors to all us Imperfect Adults. lol
My daughter and I have perfect pitch. My piano teacher discovered mine when he tried to do some ear training with me and I came in exactly half a tone flat on everything he played. He called my mom and asked her to play an A on our home piano. Bingo! Our piano was half a tone flat... I don;t know if I still have that at the ripe age of 53, but I always have what I call my natural inner sound, where I can name notes on any song relative to my inner pitch. So I think I have a reasonable combination of relative pitch wired on to of what is, for better and for worse, a perfect pitch. Now my daughter also has a perfect pitch, but is completely unable to hear a relative pitch. So she is able to reproduce any song, especially when played distorted or off-key -- perfectly. But she is not able to sing in tune, unless she hears others singing in tune. She can sing in a choir but not harmonize solo. For me, learning to play the guitar has been a challenge, because the pitch of each note has a variation when I strum that string makes it sound off key. But I'm good with many other instruments. This ability is quite remarkable, and maddening at the same time, for both of us, in different ways!
I think relative pitch doesn't always necessarily lie on, or go through interval recognition. Relative pitch can also be the ability to identify a pitch in reference to another, to know, once and for all, how any pitch sounds relative to any other. "I've just heard an F sharp. What I hear now is a C because that's how a C relates to an F sharp". See what I mean? No need to know it's called a tritone. I've recently realized I was able to identify pithces without going through the step of identifying the interva firstl (and, if I remember well, that"s how I did when I was a child). It's a little bit quicker. And that doesn't mean I have perfect pitch.
This is a really really great channel. Very unique. Perfect for my subscription list haha. Saw your channel after your Apple rant, then your response to the ageist comments. You seem like a sensible and smart dude. Keep up the good work! Now off to your "Why do people hate Jazz" video - the question i often ask myself (see? you have a great set of videos) haha.
I have a question for anyone who has some knowledge on perfect pitch. I've got a friend who has no trouble naming a note when it's played to him ( without a reference note), but struggles (and usually fails) to sing a given note. By that I mean, when we ask him to sing a g# he doesn't get it right most of the time, but if we were to play it he would know what note it was easily. Is this a form of perfect pitch?
Great video! And I agree with your conclusions about relative and perfect pitch. Perfect pitch is important amazing, but relative pitch is the meat and potatoes! Relative pitch makes music flow, perfect pitch gives it glow! Great demonstration of pitch memory by the way!
Having had (a number of years of) training as a violinist I always wondered if I had perfect pitch or not. While I can (or could at least) recognize and "name" notes, I could not differentiate in what octave they where. Nor am I able to read notes, never have properly without in-depth study because I'm very dyslectic. So reading the timing of the notes I could, but knowing what "note" it was on the bar I just couldn't. Always used a quasi translation to string and position which bugged on of my two teachers so much I had to quite my training for sanity sake. It's funny though, I remember and recall music perfectly and could learn a piece by hearing a example very quickly. Humans with quirks and music, isn't it splendid! :-D
Addendum to comment on other video: Yes, pitch memory has been good for me. It's how I told the girl next to me the soprano sang a D. No idea how it works, but it does. Color, too. My wife quite disputing me when I'd tell her the mat to put in front of the kitchen sink is a match, for example. It's not perfect, but I remember colors quite well. Can't explain that either.
This is extremely interesting! I have pretty good relative pitch and very decent pitch memory although not for all pitches and not all the time... sometimes I can remember them so easily, at other times I fall within a tone or tone and a half away. But I had always fantasied that I was slowly "acquiring" perfect pitch. But seeing what Dylan can do, plus your very clear explanations, made me realize the truth. This is a fascinating subject, thank you for making this videos, Rick!
Hi Rick! I have watched many of your videos and this one definitely impressed me. So really amazing kids you have there! :). I’m always SO impressed with your ability to hear chords and play songs with such ease. It has always been a major struggle for me and has frustrated me my entire life of playing guitar. Do you feel that my lack of chord recognition could be a direct link to my lack of relative/perfect pitch? I remember a theory instructor in college that could break down every note when hearing chords, but I was never able to successfully reach that level of proficiency, even with much listening and attempted practice. Maybe it must be a natural gift that allows this phenomenon and something that can’t be obtained, even with practice?? Anyways… thank you so very much for your videos and I would greatly appreciate any tips on how I could improve my “hearing” of chords and music in general so that I may hopefully struggle less when learning songs and attempting to figure out chord progressions.
I just recently found out I have perfect pitch and it takes me a little longer to identify the more than what his children demonstrated especially the boy I’m not sure how he does it so quickly but I’ll figure it out. However I have a feeling that some of this is scripted.
I take back what I said, I actually asked my mom about playing unpredictable classical music for me when I was really young. The only difference is that she didn’t teach me the note names but I figured it out and I’m way faster now.
So if you tune your piano to 432hz ("scientific" A) and play an A for Dylan he's gonna hear it as A+Ab? That would show that perfect pitch is tied the standard he grew up with. So absolute pitch is not absolute after all?
If someone plays a piece with that tuning standard, he'll be able to tell which notes are which. If you're playing the notes out of nowhere, it's unlikely he'll be able to tell what frequency it is tuned to. If he is told it's shifted in one direction or the other, he will likely be able to adjust to it with little difficulty..
it is like when you hear an accent .. you speak the language but you know it is different when a foreigner does .. perfect pitch people like have no problem with that as well....
I don´t have perfect pitch, I have what my teacher used to call "training ear", I cannot name notes but I have a very fine tunning ear, if something is wrong with pitch, I can get it very fast without a reference. For the last 10 years I've being doing vinyl and 78' transfers and one of the most difficult thing, even for professional audio engineers is set the correct speed on turntables or tape. I can hear inmediatly when the Vienna Philharmonic is playing above or below A=443Hz or when the Berliner Philharmonic tuned nearly A=445 before Karajan era. In fact I found that in a 1956 recording of Nutcracket Suite by Fritz Lehmann, each piece was in different pitch!. And that was because the tape machine DGG was using at that time suffering from changes in speed each time they press "PLAY".
Is relative pitch also the reason that I'm able to sing harmoniezing vocals (I don't know the exact term, not a native speaker) for nearly every song I listen to? And maybe also the reason why I'm very good at solfege, without practising? I'm sure I don't have perfect pitch though.
Rick, your videos are brilliant, thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom so freely. How were you able to help your son recognize relative pitch having absolute pitch? My son is the kid that solos with an orchestra and says "the cello's are flat, the flutes sharp."
I love music, especially jazz. I certainly don't have perfect pitch. sometimes I might have OK relative pitch but not always. I think I'll just keep playing music and not worry what any of this means.
I’ve never really studied music, so i never knew my relative pitch was as good as it is. I guess I’ve just listened so deeply to some of my favorite music that i could pick apart almost every instrument and section in my head. I could play a lot of songs almost perfectly in my head after hearing them once or twice.
My piano teacher was big on ear training. I can tell one note is higher than another. I can tell a minor chord is sorta different than a major chord. Play a chord and I don't hear individual notes. Ask me the interval and I have no idea. This was after 3 years of lessons. Tell me what notes need to be played and I will practice until I can play said notes at the required tempo. Anything past that go talk to someone else.
This might be a dumb question... Is "pitch memory" different than relative pitch as well as perfect pitch? ("Pitch memory" was mentioned around 11:40 in the video.) Thanks!
What issues do perfect pitch people have with distinguishing between Equal temperament and Just intonation? Do they prefer one over the other as being "in tune?"
I don’t know if I have perfect pitch. I knew what you were singing at first was a G instantly. I find myself relating it to songs I memorized sometimes, not all the time though. Like I’ll think “oh that’s an Eb5 because that’s what Welcome To Paradise by Green Day starts with” but a lot of times I can just think of the note instantly.
That's great Rick, but what does one had to do to develop their relative pitch and what are the limitations? Do you have a video on developing relative pitch?
Dylan = Perfect Pitch
Lennon = Relative Pitch
Me= Sounds like a keyboard,
but i can't be sure...
Cheers
Would like this but i cant your at 69 likes.... *nice*
😩😩😂😂😂 same
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that's classic 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Me = plinky rectangle?
Relative pitch + Memorize the notes = perfect pitch in 144p version XD
SAZIZ MUSIC 😭😭 was thinking just that
Yes
SAZIZ MUSIC I have this. I can remember the beginning of pieces I play and get the note from that
@@bigblubub4266 Lol I have that but only for like half of notes
@@bigblubub4266 Discount perfect pitch, but if it works....
This kid has a very big and a bright future ahead of him. So talented.
I've had relative pitch my entire life and really just thought it was a half-ass version of perfect pitch until today. I didn't even know it had a name, lol.
half ass xDD love it
lmao you and me both 😂
Ahaha same 😂 I just found out today 😂
Wish I did.
Same here
It's wonderful to see your talented children! By the way, a friend of mine with perfect pitch lost it - actually it was "misplaced" by a semitone lower at the age of 70. In the begininng she thought that her piano went out of tune but then she listened to the radio and she heard music of which she knew the tonality a semitone lower. So what she does now? She listens to a tone and say she recognizes as C#. Knowing her problem she makes the correction and she answers D. Wonderful job you do Rick! Thank you so much!
I love how you can say fascinating to something your son says
wow listening to your boy describe the detuned piano as a mixture of 2 notes is so fascinating! Ive never thought about it like that before (I dont have perfect pitch) but I assumed that people with perfect pitch would just hear an 'out of tune' note, but he hears 2 different notes mixed together - liked a mixture of red and blue or something to make a new color. I love these videos - I'd love more!! It still seems like magic to me - that someone could have perfect pitch. Its like being able to look at a color and say the pantone number. Where does it come from!?! :)
The kid is SCARY accurate! BOTH of them! Congratulations, Rick. Many Blessings on you and your Family.
John Lennon and Bob Dylan, how wonderful
Rick ain't slick lol
It's actually like Vladimir Lenin
Wow actually this was a very informative video. Thank you very much for the demonstration. What I really like about the videos is that you have addressed many interesting points like some people have good pitch memory or levelling up your relative pitch level to a point where you cannot tell the difference between perfect pitch and relative pitch. Now I think I can claim that I actually have a very good level of relative pitch rather than claiming that I have perfect pitch because I can tell relatively fast what all the white and black keys on a piano are within the middle octaves of the piano whereas when you get to the far ends of the piano that it becomes really difficult to tell.
I'm really floored by this video Rick, have always assumed anyone with perfect has relative...cause if they hear you play C and they know it, then you play an E , they know it's an E, then you play G, they know that's a G, how could they NOT know that's major?? I've always been blown away by folks with perfect pitch, but to have perfect and not relative, might just blow me away even more!!??
omg rick you have literally made my day! i thought that what i had was perfect pitch and i was confused because i couldn't do what your son does, but i'm just like your daughter, i can easily mimic every sound or note i hear, so that means i have relative pitch..awesome!
I lived with William Howell who was a national banjo champion. I was trying to learn the song Southern Steel by Steve Morse. I worked on it for a couple of weeks and I could not get it.William just sat and listened . He never touched his banjo once. Then we went to a party where everybody wanted him to play. He took out his gold plated banjo and ripped off Southern Steel note for note! Atferwards he laughed and smiled at me and asked me where that came from. Now I think that when he started to play,he did not really know what he was going to play.But,he had been listening to these notes every day for 2 weeks and he remembered them and he just played them. So that is what perfect pitch is. I have several friends that have perfect pitch and they are incredible players.I am not sure if I have it or not,but I am close. I can hear a song in the car and go home and pick up the guitar and play it the first time.But I also worked in a big music shop where there were five guitarists and we used to sit down to jam and we discovered that there were micro variations in our tuning. We did not hear tones exactly the same like a automatic tuner. The short story it is a natural gift. The Beatles had it pretty much,that is what made them the Beatles. And do not forget George Martin. It is nice to have.
haven't watched this yet, but the answer, from someone plagued by perfect pitch which has gone haywire in old age, the answer has to be relative pitch.
my comment on another of your videos:
"why would anyone want perfect pitch? i was blessed (?) with this
(discovered when at a very young age i declared someone's piano out of
tune, ("but granny, i played a C & a Bb came out!") and later when i
started piano lessons & was accused of cheating in aural tests.
it's only good for showing off at parties! i couldn't sight read on Bb
pianos, which meant some jobs weren't available to me. as a middle-aged
adult, i took up trumpet (Bb here in GB) & clarinet. i had to
conciously transpose everything at first, but as time went on, i thought
i was becoming really good at this. now, as an old person, going back
to the piano, and starting to go to concerts again, i realise that my
perfect pitch has gone wrong, i assumed, because of playing Bb
instruments. concerts are a nightmare, as i can no longer tell what key
the music is in, and if i lose concentration & rely on my pitch
only (as i always used to when memorising) i play wrong notes. if my
pitch recognition had gone completely, i could have learnt to be good at
relative pitch (which i didn't ever need before). it's an absolute
NIGHTMARE. i had hoped when i stopped playing Bb instruments, which i
blamed, that my pitch would readjust. perhaps it won't. so can
someone tell me how to lose all sense of pitch recognition please!
incidentally, 1. almost no music was played in my house when i was a
child, and none at all when i was a baby.
2. at secondary school, a fellow student, a non-musician from a
non-musical family was accidentally discovered to have perfect pitch
........
Those "perfect pitch" musicians also had relative pitch though. Without translating the perfect pitch to relative pitch, perfect pitch is near useless. I knew guys in college that had perfect pitch and didn't know B-D-F-A made a half diminished chord.
Exactly. Music is about a lot more than individual notes. Perfect pitch doesn't give you the instant ability to "understand" music. It just helps you with pitch recognition.
Stop all useless bla bla about one absolute perfect pitch! Please! Nothing in the real life is perfect and all is relatif. Let talk about good musicians instead!
yeah, but that's not only because he has perfect pitch. he probably plays a lot and practices, etc
Haywood Giles you might be confusing relative pitch and knowledge of music theory.
A relative pitch person can hear a diminished chord and say oh that's a diminished
Someone with perfect pitch can say oh that's B D and F. If they have no music knowledge they don't know what chord it is. But with extensive music theory knowledge. They can use the knowledge perfect pitch gives them then use music theory to figure what kind of chord it is.
What a stupid comment.
Greatest wealth of information I’ve ever seen or heard on TH-cam. It doesn’t confirm my feelings about Perfect pitch. I use to envy those with such ability then I realize that relative pitch is more practical in my opinion. As a guitarist when I tune the instrument without a tuning machine I can not tell whether or not I’m in concert key and I can still play regardless. With perfect pitch it would be painful to the ear especially if one is a microtone away from the actual pitch. Also It seems to me that one with with perfect pitch does not have to practice sightsinging cuz they can already hear the notes.
I've been working on my relative pitch. I get results. It seems the longest lasting results come from songs you listened to as a child. Learn them today. See what intervals you were listening to back then. You can still learn them. Also your melody lines. The ones you like to play naturally. See what intervals you're playing. I think it's possible to really improve your relative pitch with a bit of dedication. In solfège "do" shifts for the different keys. You can still get your understanding of intervals to improve. Not really learn the note names much. That's hit and miss.
it was a G lol
wasn’t it kind of flat
The 2nd time, yeah. The first time it was pretty spot on. (From what I remember this was the case, but I don’t feel like rewinding).
Ddude121 it was a bit sharp
@@McOuroborosBurger the first time it was almost spot on, the second time it was like something between G and F#
it starts with a F# and then goes to a G
This. Video. Is. So. Freakin. Fascinating.
This is the best video I've seen about this theme, **just for the kids**. They're lovely!Congrats, Rick!
What I find most interesting is that having perfect pitch is not mutually exclusive with having musical talent. Granted, my 'evidence' is purely anecdotal, but I've known a handful of people who I would place in this category.
Dylan's ear is really outstanding. Does he strive for a music career? Conservatory should be a piece of cake for him.
Rick, thank you for putting in all the time and energy in to making all these videos about perfect and relative pitch. Really love all your videos about this subject beacause you have a analytic look on the subject.
A lot of people who put their hard time and energy in music get (sorry for saying it this way) butthurt about perfect pitch, because it gives them the feeling that it makes them lesser of a musician, or that they have fewer knowalage then others of music ( this is just an assumption and not targeted against anyone).
This is not the case, everyone is unique in behaviour and feeling.
In the end perfect pitch doesnt have to make you a great or better musician( as you stated in more of your other videos), it just gives better knowledge of whats going on.
Passion and vision makes a great musician, knowelage is the tool to make people achieve great music and grow further.
I think it is very fascinating that your son is interpreting 3 frequencies (2 tones and a 3rd in the background) when you de-tuned your keyboard frequency. So KooL!!!
I just understood how i hear music...and i'm 49... i have been told i had it but didnt know exactly how it works.... its really great listening to music cuz every time i can listen to a different melody in the same song just by concentrating a little.
Oh and my mother told me once that at the age of 2, i was singning in perfect pitch harmony to whatever was playing on the radio...even if i had never heard the tune...and still do! I just know what note is coming up next. This annoyes my guitarist like hell! Lol
Ok my English is very bad but...Im waching your videos each day and learning a lot from you and this things with Dylan are so...wonderfulll...he is little genius with great teacher and this videos makes me verry happy and motivate me :)
Hhahahah ok, thanks for support :)
This was excellent and totally addressed an issue that I commented on regarding a previous video. I also feel that with great pitch memory and intonation, plus "perfect relative pitch" (an expression I was glad to hear you use), it is possible to develop what at least looks like (sounds like) perfect pitch. For all practical purposes, this is what is necessary. Music is, after all, about relationships between notes, so it's the intervals that are important, not the names of notes. The names just make it easier to talk about with instrumentalists if you happen to be a singer (I am). But unless one is in a symphony that's been stranded on a desert island without a tuning fork (or set of bells) and no rescue in sight, I can't think of many instances in life where perfect pitch would be super-useful.
I thought it was interesting when Dylan said it didn't bother him when the piano was detuned. He was asked if it bothered him that the piano was "out of tune" and he said No. I think that was the wrong way to phrase the question. A piano that's detuned to a different Hz for A, is still tuned to itself and the intervals and note relationships are therefore still the same. So the piano was not "out of tune" it had been "detuned" which is not the same thing at all!
My point is, I find it difficult to believe that it doesn't bother Dylan, who has both perfect and relative pitch, if a singer or player is veering off pitch and going flat or sharp within whatever tuning system has been established. It should bother him! It bothers the hell outta me, with only my "perfect" relative pitch, but it even bothers people who aren't particularly musical themselves. This is why singers get booed off talent shows for being tone deaf. Because it sounds like crap.
I'd like for the question to be put to Dylan differently to clarify the difference between his experience of a detuned instrument and someone actually playing out of tune. I would think the latter would be very unpleasant for him to listen to, if he is musical rather than someone who just has an odd gift.
+Diana Trimble Dylan's 9 and doesn't care either way if singers sing in tune or out of tune. He only thinks about pitches when someone asks him. As a pitch gets lower or higher he hears more of a blend between the 2 notes if he thinks about it. Other than that he just listens to and enjoys music like any of us with relative pitch
I may be wrong, but maybe some people associate someone who has perfect pitch as being a musical prodigy and for others (myself included), it may be a means to help them to achieve musical fluency. Thank you Mr. Beato for the videos.
Thanks Rick, very interesting and helpful video. You're doing a great set of deeds in sharing your music knowledge. My teenaged daughter is learning a lot from your videos.
I keep watching your videos and love them. I do want you to talk about the "Grey area" that is "pitch memory." It is a concept we don't talk about near enough.
Rainboy,.... that's almost Twilight Zone stuff,..... amazing 👊👍
So much fun to see that children can learn so easyly. And it's such a shame that this little bright flames will be extinguished by the schoolsystem.
Put it like this: trying to “develop” perfect pitch is analogous to trying to “improve” your foot size.
All pitch is relative: are you identifying notes relative to A=440, C=256, A=442, A=415 or .... You gloss over this but IMO it is fundamental to the issue. When I was a kid, we had a piano tuned a quarter tone low and a gramophone (turntable) that ran 6% fast: I had 3 separate pitches, all "perfect", one for piano music, one for orchestral, and the other (A=440) for organ & choir!!!
Lennon is super lovely.
Thank You! My God for years I've been confused! Your video about this subject (cute kids!) Has helped me. 56yrs old. Terrible at song figuring. Solid at Improve and music school no problems. I can cold sing most notes(little flat/little sharp although).intervals also commonsensical. But because no perfect pitch I'm limited. NOW I KNOW WHY...thank you thank your kids!😁🎸👍
It wasn't until I was older, in my teens (and had been studying piano for about 7 or 8 years) that I learned about relative pitch, and that I had it. Always did. Which is why I could pick out and re-create melodies (play by ear) when I was a little kid, even before I started piano (then trumpet, drums ... and more recently --late in life-- guitar). I wish my parents, who both played instruments, had realised this so I could have done some early ear training. Maybe music teachers were not as aware or attuned to this type of talent when I was a kid. But I can read and sing music from a sheet I've never seen before (usually close to, sometime on, the actual pitch), and if I have a reference tone I can sing it on pitch and in the correct key. Which is good fun, and very useful, especially for a-capella stuff.
So does that mean that people with chromesthesia (sound-to-color synesthesia) have perfect pitch?
Alyssa Arellano interesting question.
yes
There is a brown note!
Alyssa Arellano not everyone. Only if each note has 1 colour. I have sound to color synesthesia but if you play a C I might hear red one day, and then yellow the next. Today I hear green. If people hear JUST yellow with every G and just blue with every B, then yes they would have perfect pitch.
I have sound-to-color synesthesia and I definitely do not have perfect pitch!
Jeez, Rick - you make me feel like a bad father! I hung up the guitar for 15 years when I was changing diapers. Your kids are awesome! I shared this video with my first guitar instructor.
I can pick something I ear and play it in the trumpet, even without knowing wich notes they are, and even doing that, I should know the notes by the positions, but my brain is so concentred in earing and transform that into automatic movement of my fingers, its amazing, and yes I miss some notes and sometimes the music its harder or easier to pick, but just by earing I get it right at 2 or 3 attempt.
excellent tutorial!
Cool how you got the notes right at the beginning
Wouldn't you agree that "having perfect pitch" is just an acute form of "having a great pitch memory"? Or do you think there's something substantially different between the two concepts/talents/skills?
great question. I think it is "similar" but I think the difference is that if a child "learns" it at a young age he will not forget about it. It most likely gets learned and imprinted in a different brain area then the area we use for pitch memory.
I may be wrong but I think I would define perfect pitch as pitch memory that never has to be refreshed.
You may be right. Let's say just this then: if it's not true, at least it seems to "work" in most usual cirucmstances..
Incindentally, Rick did say (in this video or another one) that perfect pitch could be lost when you're over 50 or 60.
14jemima That is probably because, the human ear loses its quality & ability to hear higher frequencies with age going on - regarding the overtone series, I guess, that the neural frameworks need the layers of frequencies, especially the higher ones in the ots to clearly identify the pitch
Actually there's a physical difference in the brain.
These kids are so adorable❤
Pitch black- I was just about to watch it.
Amazing!!
Didn't know what this is called(perfect/relative pitch). But I could pick chord sounds, majors, minors since my childhood. All the music theory came later. Now the missing part is perfect pitch.. which as per what you say I may never be able to acquire.. I am an adult and a very old one :)
Btw, although i can recognize minor and major chords, I don't like it when ppl say minor chords are sad. It's all about the whole context in which they are played. A very good romantic ballad using a minor chord in progression may not sound half as good if the minor chord is replaced with its major counterpart..
I feel minor chords bring in some strong emotions.. even goosebumps on some songs..
A friend's dad is 83 years old and still has his perfect pitch. He can name any note on the piano, or make the tone of the named note, dead on. I never quizzed him on chords. Not sure if he knows the names of the chords.
Great training Prof.
4:55 when dylan says "the A is the note you're actually playing" the look on Rick's face is GOLD
Hey your G and C were pretty accurate. I played the notes on my guitar while you sang them. I have been trying to tune my guitar for years by starting out with humming the low E to start out and then tune the rest from there. I am always a half step down in my head from what an E in reality though. No matter how many years go by I still can't get that E a half step up in my head. That's why I use a clip on tuner.
I've always had something to the effect of "in the ballpark" pitch. I can get it *some of the timeI*, but after that relative pitch kicks in and I've got it. Its good enough for me
I wish people would use Chariots of Fire for the interval of a perfect 4th, because it uses the scale degrees 1 then 4, not 5 and 8 (here comes the bride). I hear the degrees of the scale rather than the intervals between notes.
Have perfect pitch but fading somewhat(72 yrs). One problem situation some yrs ago - choir director/accompanist transposed a piece we were working on and drove me “nuts” because of the difference between ears and eyes.
Why do i get teary eyed watching this kid’s talent huhuhuhu hahahahah you got some skills there kiddo
Rick, I believe Lennon has it too, whats most, if Dylan has it that keen, Lennon too. She doesn't even strive to get the tones, what she lacks of is the language to name whats in her mind. Train her you must! (although, I want to train my daughter also, because she has very good ear, but it is not her passion, which is ballet)....
Oh now I know why I can hum a song I never heard right away like I had wrote it! Great video!!!
Even more important than Perfect Pitch is Perfect Kids, which you've obviously got, Rick. Yay! Perfect Kids are a lot more common than Perfect Relatives. Perfect Kids should be the instructors to all us Imperfect Adults. lol
My daughter and I have perfect pitch. My piano teacher discovered mine when he tried to do some ear training with me and I came in exactly half a tone flat on everything he played. He called my mom and asked her to play an A on our home piano. Bingo! Our piano was half a tone flat... I don;t know if I still have that at the ripe age of 53, but I always have what I call my natural inner sound, where I can name notes on any song relative to my inner pitch. So I think I have a reasonable combination of relative pitch wired on to of what is, for better and for worse, a perfect pitch. Now my daughter also has a perfect pitch, but is completely unable to hear a relative pitch. So she is able to reproduce any song, especially when played distorted or off-key -- perfectly. But she is not able to sing in tune, unless she hears others singing in tune. She can sing in a choir but not harmonize solo. For me, learning to play the guitar has been a challenge, because the pitch of each note has a variation when I strum that string makes it sound off key. But I'm good with many other instruments. This ability is quite remarkable, and maddening at the same time, for both of us, in different ways!
Dylan is my hero.
Good video. The future seems obvious for Dylan....
I think relative pitch doesn't always necessarily lie on, or go through interval recognition. Relative pitch can also be the ability to identify a pitch in reference to another, to know, once and for all, how any pitch sounds relative to any other. "I've just heard an F sharp. What I hear now is a C because that's how a C relates to an F sharp". See what I mean? No need to know it's called a tritone. I've recently realized I was able to identify pithces without going through the step of identifying the interva firstl (and, if I remember well, that"s how I did when I was a child). It's a little bit quicker. And that doesn't mean I have perfect pitch.
This is a really really great channel. Very unique. Perfect for my subscription list haha. Saw your channel after your Apple rant, then your response to the ageist comments. You seem like a sensible and smart dude. Keep up the good work! Now off to your "Why do people hate Jazz" video - the question i often ask myself (see? you have a great set of videos) haha.
Welcome!
I have a question for anyone who has some knowledge on perfect pitch. I've got a friend who has no trouble naming a note when it's played to him ( without a reference note), but struggles (and usually fails) to sing a given note. By that I mean, when we ask him to sing a g# he doesn't get it right most of the time, but if we were to play it he would know what note it was easily. Is this a form of perfect pitch?
According to wikihow there is active AP and passive AP. Passive AP can distinguish notes but can't sing them, only active AP can.
the kids are adorbs!
If you don't have absolute pitch, you need relative pitch. Or just press the right keys on the piano.
That’s interesting I could always sing the notes when told to sing it but I never know what the notes are. I guess I have relative pitch
ok, this is out of this world!
Great video! And I agree with your conclusions about relative and perfect pitch. Perfect pitch is important amazing, but relative pitch is the meat and potatoes! Relative pitch makes music flow, perfect pitch gives it glow! Great demonstration of pitch memory by the way!
Having had (a number of years of) training as a violinist I always wondered if I had perfect pitch or not. While I can (or could at least) recognize and "name" notes, I could not differentiate in what octave they where. Nor am I able to read notes, never have properly without in-depth study because I'm very dyslectic. So reading the timing of the notes I could, but knowing what "note" it was on the bar I just couldn't. Always used a quasi translation to string and position which bugged on of my two teachers so much I had to quite my training for sanity sake. It's funny though, I remember and recall music perfectly and could learn a piece by hearing a example very quickly. Humans with quirks and music, isn't it splendid! :-D
Thank you !
What a cool Dad!!!!
You lose perfect pitch over time?!!! Nooooooooo only 50 years of my life will have my beautiful gift no no no no!
Cornia The Rare Furcorn I felt attacked when he said that
It's not a gift, it's a punishment, unless you don't know what you're talking about!
Wait what will I do then
and that's why relative pitch is important
You lose it only if you don't practice or listen to music. You have to re-tune your brain after a while.
Relative pitch, explains why i can play piano music without notes then. Thanks for clearing meaning for us.
Great info from the maestro! Hey, that rhymed.
What rhymed?
Addendum to comment on other video: Yes, pitch memory has been good for me. It's how I told the girl next to me the soprano sang a D. No idea how it works, but it does. Color, too. My wife quite disputing me when I'd tell her the mat to put in front of the kitchen sink is a match, for example. It's not perfect, but I remember colors quite well. Can't explain that either.
Hey, you forgot Chopin, what about him?
Chopin's music is so inspiring
The chart was full ;). Can't fit _everyone_ on the board....
Luter Luter lmfao 😂
I was also looking for him!
Yessss
If Dylan can master songwriting the boy is going places.
He can proxduce. More music not niccerescrly buetifull ones
Hi Rick. How do you know that Stravinsky had relative pitch and Beethoven had perfect pitch?...
Smoke! or relative pitch
also very good for composing, but see my extra long comment!
I always thought that perfect pitch would grant you relative pitch….I only have the latter, and I’m def cool with it.
At last, a clear explanation!
Loool, everytime i hear G and C i know exactly what i hear.
This is extremely interesting! I have pretty good relative pitch and very decent pitch memory although not for all pitches and not all the time... sometimes I can remember them so easily, at other times I fall within a tone or tone and a half away. But I had always fantasied that I was slowly "acquiring" perfect pitch. But seeing what Dylan can do, plus your very clear explanations, made me realize the truth. This is a fascinating subject, thank you for making this videos, Rick!
Hi Rick! I have watched many of your videos and this one definitely impressed me. So really amazing kids you have there! :). I’m always SO impressed with your ability to hear chords and play songs with such ease. It has always been a major struggle for me and has frustrated me my entire life of playing guitar. Do you feel that my lack of chord recognition could be a direct link to my lack of relative/perfect pitch? I remember a theory instructor in college that could break down every note when hearing chords, but I was never able to successfully reach that level of proficiency, even with much listening and attempted practice. Maybe it must be a natural gift that allows this phenomenon and something that can’t be obtained, even with practice??
Anyways… thank you so very much for your videos and I would greatly appreciate any tips on how I could improve my “hearing” of chords and music in general so that I may hopefully struggle less when learning songs and attempting to figure out chord progressions.
Fantastic !
I just recently found out I have perfect pitch and it takes me a little longer to identify the more than what his children demonstrated especially the boy I’m not sure how he does it so quickly but I’ll figure it out. However I have a feeling that some of this is scripted.
I take back what I said, I actually asked my mom about playing unpredictable classical music for me when I was really young. The only difference is that she didn’t teach me the note names but I figured it out and I’m way faster now.
So if you tune your piano to 432hz ("scientific" A) and play an A for Dylan he's gonna hear it as A+Ab? That would show that perfect pitch is tied the standard he grew up with. So absolute pitch is not absolute after all?
If someone plays a piece with that tuning standard, he'll be able to tell which notes are which. If you're playing the notes out of nowhere, it's unlikely he'll be able to tell what frequency it is tuned to. If he is told it's shifted in one direction or the other, he will likely be able to adjust to it with little difficulty..
it is like when you hear an accent .. you speak the language but you know it is different when a foreigner does .. perfect pitch people like have no problem with that as well....
EVERYTHING relative...
I don´t have perfect pitch, I have what my teacher used to call "training ear", I cannot name notes but I have a very fine tunning ear, if something is wrong with pitch, I can get it very fast without a reference. For the last 10 years I've being doing vinyl and 78' transfers and one of the most difficult thing, even for professional audio engineers is set the correct speed on turntables or tape. I can hear inmediatly when the Vienna Philharmonic is playing above or below A=443Hz or when the Berliner Philharmonic tuned nearly A=445 before Karajan era. In fact I found that in a 1956 recording of Nutcracket Suite by Fritz Lehmann, each piece was in different pitch!. And that was because the tape machine DGG was using at that time suffering from changes in speed each time they press "PLAY".
Is relative pitch also the reason that I'm able to sing harmoniezing vocals (I don't know the exact term, not a native speaker) for nearly every song I listen to? And maybe also the reason why I'm very good at solfege, without practising? I'm sure I don't have perfect pitch though.
Mette yes. Relative pitch is essential to harmony.
Rick, your videos are brilliant, thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom so freely.
How were you able to help your son recognize relative pitch having absolute pitch?
My son is the kid that solos with an orchestra and says "the cello's are flat, the flutes sharp."
I love music, especially jazz. I certainly don't have perfect pitch. sometimes I might have OK relative pitch but not always. I think I'll just keep playing music and not worry what any of this means.
This is very interesting.
I’ve never really studied music, so i never knew my relative pitch was as good as it is. I guess I’ve just listened so deeply to some of my favorite music that i could pick apart almost every instrument and section in my head. I could play a lot of songs almost perfectly in my head after hearing them once or twice.
David Clinging dude I’m just sharing the experience i had with the video you don’t have to piss on it
My piano teacher was big on ear training. I can tell one note is higher than another. I can tell a minor chord is sorta different than a major chord. Play a chord and I don't hear individual notes. Ask me the interval and I have no idea. This was after 3 years of lessons. Tell me what notes need to be played and I will practice until I can play said notes at the required tempo. Anything past that go talk to someone else.
This might be a dumb question... Is "pitch memory" different than relative pitch as well as perfect pitch? ("Pitch memory" was mentioned around 11:40 in the video.) Thanks!
What issues do perfect pitch people have with distinguishing between Equal temperament and Just intonation? Do they prefer one over the other as being "in tune?"
I don’t know if I have perfect pitch.
I knew what you were singing at first was a G instantly. I find myself relating it to songs I memorized sometimes, not all the time though. Like I’ll think “oh that’s an Eb5 because that’s what Welcome To Paradise by Green Day starts with” but a lot of times I can just think of the note instantly.
Lydian chord is a new concept to me.
Lydian I know.
That's great Rick, but what does one had to do to develop their relative pitch and what are the limitations?
Do you have a video on developing relative pitch?
That is just so impressing!
Tks Rick your advices are precious