Analogies for Perfect Pitch
The issue of perfect pitch and how it is learned is a controversial one. There are questions concerning whether it is usually learned at a young age of if an infant is simply born with the ability. Most agree, it is learned at a very young age. Some believe that the correct training and discipline can allow a student to develop perfect pitch in adulthood. Others disagree, even though there exists growing evidence it is possible. See more at: perfect pitch training.
Perfect pitch is associated with some analogies, which try to enlighten our understanding of the experience and help people to develop the ability. The color analogy is the most prevalent. The analogy of colors is one of the most popular. The experience of listening to the notes differs for people with perfect pitch. Each individual note has its own character, which sets it apart, this is distinct from its pitch. Each note is able to be recalled or identified due to this unique character. The analogy with colors is that each note has a “pitch color”, so the spectrum of frequency that we hear is divided into “pitch colors”, rather like the spectrum of light we see is perceived as colors. This describes the experience of perfect pitch quite well. There is a slight flaw, though, when it comes to taking this analogy any further. The retina of the eye features three types of cone, which are used to see color. One for green, one red, and one for intensity. The brain interprets the signals. It determines blue from the red and green subtracted from the total. Color is part of all seeing people’s experience and is an integral part of the biology of the eye. The cones in some retinas are not as good as the majority of people and so they are considered to be color blind. Frequency receptors in the ear exist, but they are not split into sections for each note. There is no similar biological apparatus in the ear to account for perfect pitch so the analogy falls down. For more information, see perfect pitch software.
Another analogy is that the notes of perfect pitch are learned in the same way as the phonemes in language The short sounds of language are called phonemes. For example, the sound of one letter in a word. One could call these phonemes the notes if a sentence is compared to a melody. But for a phoneme to be, it must have a frame of time. It takes a certain length of time and variance of sound over that time for a phoneme to take shape. Time is not relied upon for perfect pitch. A certain note will sound like that note and be recognized as such for as long as it is played.
Perfect pitch recognition is rather like harmonic spectrum recognition. The frequency dimension is more important than time. The ability to hear different instruments and recognize them is one example. A flute sounds like a flute because of the harmonic spectrum it produces. Another example is the ability to identify a particular person’s voice. One can always recognize a mothers’ voice, no matter what she is saying or even, what mood she is in. Without thinking about it, one can recognize a voice instantly. This ability is actually quite amazing, when one thinks about it. There are some other character traits within the sounds, though, which is the one flaw with the analogy. The other cues in the way a person speaks, or the non-tonal noises an instrument makes. These may also help the recognition in some cases. However, it is the most apt analogy. See more at: what is perfect pitch?






