Subject: Re: any examples of acquired absolute pitch? From: Arturo Camacho <acamacho@xxxxxxxx> Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:57:27 -0400 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Anthony, Check http://www.perfectpitch.com. They claim that many people have acquired perfect pitch with their method and cite two studies in which its effectiveness has been confirmed: (1) Rush, M. A. An experimental investigation of the effectiveness of training on absolute pitch in adult musicians, The Ohio State University. (2) Nering, Marguerite Elaine. A study to determine the effectiveness of the David Lucas Burge technique for development of Perfect Pitch, The University of Calgary. I tried the method about 15 years ago and got to hear what they described: a maximum in smoothness at C and a maximum in sharpness at F# (those were not their exact words, but what I remember I perceived). However, I was not as consistent as recommended (I was too busy to practice everyday) and after a while my performance actually started to decrease. I gave up at about 1/4 of the course. Arturo > Hi, i've found some interesting comments on absolute pitch on this > mailing list and was wondering if anyone has heard of any examples of > people who have acquired absolute pitch somehow during their later lives, > ie not in early childhood development. > > There is a clear trend between absolute pitch (AP) and autism, and many > autistic savants with musical talents (which tend to be more in terms of > music reproduction ability than creative composition) that have been > examined also have AP. There are numerous examples of people who have > acquired special abilities such as those exhibited by autistic savants as > a result of injury or other non-developmental processes. I haven't however > heard of any examples of people who have acquired AP later in life, it > would be very useful if anyone knows of any examples. > > There are suggestions that AP development is an independent process that > is present in autistic and non-autistic people, and that presence of AP is > pre-requisite for development of special musical abilities for savants. > This model would suggest that cases of later-life AP > development would be unlikely, however if there are any examples of people > developing AP later in life for example through brain injury, similar to > how savant-like special abilities have been shown to be developed > (essentially spontaneously), it would be very useful. > > > > > thanks > > Anthony > > > > > > > a couple of references: > > ** <http://www.brams.umontreal.ca/plab/publications/article/32>Absolute > pitch in autism: a case study, L Mottron, I Peretz, S Belleville, N Rouleau > - Neurocase, 1999 > > > Musical savants: exceptional skill in the mentally retarded, Miller L K, > Lawrence Erlbaum, 1989: 266 > > > Absolute pitch in blind musicians, Roy H. Hamilton, Alvaro Pascual-Leone > and Gottfried Schlaug, NeuroReport Vol 15 No 5, 9 April 2004 > > > > > -- > Leuconoe, don't ask — it's dangerous to know — what end the gods will > give me or you. Don't play with Babylonian fortune-telling either. Better > just deal with whatever comes your way. Whether you'll see several more > winters or whether the last one Jupiter gives you is the one even now > pelting the rocks on the shore with the waves of the Tyrrhenian sea — be > smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long hopes to a short period. Even > as we speak, envious time is running away from us. Seize the day, trusting > little in the future. > > -- __________________________________________________ Arturo Camacho, PhD Alumni Computer and Information Science and Engineering University of Florida Web page: www.cise.ufl.edu/~acamacho __________________________________________________