Re: On "learned" A/P, lattice / grid

[Martin Braun <nombraun@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Kevin, Leon, and others,

> > I did not consider this AP, but (later) rather as 'instrumental /  body 
> > pitch'. In testing in-coming ear-training students over a  period of 
> > about 15 years, my first question to string players was:  "Name this 
> > note." The usual response was, "I don't have perfect  pitch." I would ask 
> > the student to 'pretend hold' their violin or  bass, and to bow the note 
> > as I played it on the piano. Almost all  (!) could tell me the name of 
> > the note from this 'positioning' of  their body. As with my experience 
> > with a number of other  instrumentalists, it is as if the pitch were 
> > "learned" by their body.

Of course this is AP. What else could it be? These observations definitely 
reveal a memory of absolute pitch values in the brain. An appropriate term 
would be "subconscious AP", or "precognitive AP". All data that we have 
indicate that this is a universal trait. So you might like to say that you 
have AP, but non-verbal AP.

We are currently seeing a u-turn in our understanding of AP. Memory of 
chroma appears to be a general trait, and music theory might once wake up to 
the fact that it has been missing half of its job. Pitch combinations do not 
just work through intervals, but through chroma and intervals. Well, chroma 
has always been on the dark side of the moon. That's why music theory did 
not get at it. The good thing is that good composers and musicians of all 
times, and irrespective of verbal AP, have made use of chroma memory - 
subconsciously.

Martin

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Martin Braun
Neuroscience of Music
S-671 95 Klässbol
Sweden
web site: http://w1.570.telia.com/~u57011259/index.htm