Subject: Absolute pitch discussion ... confusion From: Kevin Austin <kevin.austin@xxxxxxxx> Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 11:32:42 -0400 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Hmmm ... so here is where I get lost ... my reading was that absolute pitch was also octave equivalent, so my experience is that the mechanisms for AP and reference pitch are not the same. I have seen that some people with 'reference pitch' based upon a specific instrument (chroma) do not have it for other instruments. I met a violinist who had AP down to G below middle C (the lowest string on the violin). He also had an impossible time with pitch centroid instruments such as timpani. Kevin Sorry not to be able to provide references ... I have dreadful memory for words and such. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 15:37:57 +0200 >From: Martin Braun <nombraun@xxxxxxxx> >Subject: Re: Absolute pitch discussion > >Hi Kevin and list: > >your descriptions of various absolute pitch (AP) observations were clear = >and easy to understand. Don't worry about not having used the "correct" >scientific terms. As yet there aren't any established terms for the two >things you described. We are also missing any systematic research on them. > > > ....... There are a number of musicians who lodge a reference note in > > their mind (such as the violinist who can sing A, D, G and E in the octave > > of the violin strings) > > ................. > > In my experience with people 17 to 77, AP cannot be taught or trained. > > Reference pitch can be. > >What you called "reference pitch" was called "AP for a single tone" by Ward >and Burns (1982) and Ward (1999) in two influential reviews on AP.