Re: Absolute pitch discussion

[Henkjan Honing <honing@xxxxxx>]

Although I have to be modest in my claims, not being an expert in  
pitch, I find AP actually not such a special phenomenon. Although we  
could agree in dividing the phenomenon in degrees, or levels of  
preciseness on a more continuous scale, in the end we have to also  
see that Relative Pitch is far more special. While we might share AP  
with some animals, RP is far less common, arguably making AP in  
humans less special.

hh

On 8 Sep 2007, at 15:49, Martin Braun wrote:

> Dear Henkjan and list:
>
> > ..... Schellenberg and Trehub (2003) find support for a normal, not
> > bimodal, distribution once pitch-naming or reproduction  
> > requirements are
> > eliminated and familiar materials (such as soundtracks of tv
> > programs) are used.
>
> I agree that this paper reports very useful data, which support  
> earlier
> evidence for precognitive absolute pitch (AP) as a general human  
> trait.
> However the performance in memory of pitch level of popular TV  
> soundtracks
> was only slightly above chance level. This observation indicates  
> that the
> underlying memory substrate is not the same as in the AP skill of tone
> naming.
>
> We appear to have two different phenomena:
>
> A: A moderately precise memory for pitch that can be learned by  
> adults and
> that shows normal distribution of performance in a tested group.
>
> http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9280.03432
>
> AND
>
> B: A highly precise memory for pitch that cannot be learned by  
> adults and
> that shows bimodal (all-or-nothing) distribution of performance in  
> a tested
> group.
>
> http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0703868104v1
>
>
> Martin
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Martin Braun
> Neuroscience of Music
> S-671 95 Klässbol
> Sweden
> web site: http://w1.570.telia.com/~u57011259/index.htm


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Dr H. Honing
Universiteit van Amsterdam
http://www.hum.uva.nl/mmm/hh/

Music Matters: http://www.musiccognition.nl/blog

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