absolute pitch

[Diana Deutsch <ddeutsch@xxxxxxxx>]

Title: absolute pitch

Dear Annemarie et al,

Here's a recent article that suggests a framework for absolute pitch.

Regards,

Diana Deutsch

> Annemarie Seither-Preisler
> wrote:
> > The findings
> > by Saffran appear to be very revealing in this respect, showing that
> > young infants at the age of 8 months, unlike adults, primarily rely on
> > absolute pitch cues.
> >  
> > Saffran, J. R. &
> > Griepentrog, G. J. Absolute pitch in infant auditory learning:
> > evidence for developmental reorganization. Dev Psychol 37, 74-85
> > (2001).
> > Saffran, J. R. Musical
> > Learning and Language Development. Ann NY Acad Sci 999, 397-401
> > (2003).
> >  
> > In summary, these results
> > suggest that absolute pitch is a primary perceptual mode that is
> > heavily superseded by relative pitch (probably in the course of
> > language acquisition).  Early musical training or learning a
> > tonal language like Thai or Japanese may help to prevent this edging
> > out-process, with the consequence that certain subjects retain the
> > ability to perceive absolute pitch throughout life. Verbal
> > categorizations of notes may be helpful in this respect, but it would
> > be misleading to take them for the main underlying cause.
>
>

--

Diana Deutsch
Department of Psychology                          
University of California, San Diego            
La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

858-453-1558 (tel)
858-453-4763 (fax)

http://www-psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch
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Attachment: Deutsch_et_al_AP.pdf
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