Perfect Pitch vs Relative Pitch: Which Is More Important?
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- Perfect Pitch vs Relative Pitch: Which Is More Important? This is a very big question that I get asked every single day by many of you. In this episode we explore the benefits and importance of each ability including demonstrations of each skill by my children Dylan and Lennon. Your comments on the subject are of course welcomed and invited.
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Dylan = Perfect Pitch
Lennon = Relative Pitch
Me= Sounds like a keyboard,
but i can't be sure...
Cheers
Would like this but i cant your at 69 likes.... *nice*
😩😩😂😂😂 same
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that's classic 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Me = plinky rectangle?
I've had relative pitch my entire life and really just thought it was a half-ass version of perfect pitch until today. I didn't even know it had a name, lol.
half ass xDD love it
lmao you and me both 😂
Ahaha same 😂 I just found out today 😂
Wish I did.
Same here
Relative pitch + Memorize the notes = perfect pitch in 144p version XD
SAZIZ MUSIC 😭😭 was thinking just that
Yes
SAZIZ MUSIC I have this. I can remember the beginning of pieces I play and get the note from that
@@bigblubub4266 Lol I have that but only for like half of notes
@@bigblubub4266 Discount perfect pitch, but if it works....
Perfect pitch is a nice party trick, but real magic lies within the melodies and chord progressions~
For that, you need relative pitch.
And for singing ☺
True. And the party trick analogy has been used many times by seasoned musicians to highlight how overrated perfect pitch is compared to relative pitch.
No, you just need music theory.
@@itsmeGeorgina Perfect pitch is useful when singing a note that you're holding as the first note without needing a reference.
@@souviksen7497 No, the "party trick" labeling of perfect pitch has been used countless times by jealous people who wish they had perfect pitch. As an analogy using example numbers, relative pitch is identifying two notes as X and Y but knowing that Y-X=5; but perfect pitch is identifying X as 3 and Y as 8 and recognizing 8-3=5. You obtain more information with perfect pitch than with relative pitch. This allows you to compose pieces in your head without a reference note, and as pointed out by "donny bravo," without being forced into the confines of music theory.
I can do one thing here....
Minor = Sad
Major = Happy
I can identify the chordal tones.
can't anyone?
Fapasaurus Rex Not really. You have to have an ear for music.
Nope not really lol, everyone in my class can do this with pretty much no teaching.
Michael Williams Dude, i don't intend to put you down, but thats actually the easiest things to identify lol
Michael Williams how u do dis???
I've always had perfect pitch....and would be able to do exactly what Dylan did. I would identify complex chords----but I'd hear them as a collection of individual notes. But some people do lose perfect pitch with age. Oliver Sacks described that in one of his books....where one of his subjects found that their pitch shifted 1 1/4 tones. I'm in my 70's now....and that's what happened to me as of 10 years ago. I will mistake a G and call it an A or a Bb. I was very dependent on my perfect pitch....and haven't developed great relative pitch. Now I need to develop that....and its a challenge. I wish I had developed it as a kid. The two types of pitches----perfect and relative---are totally independent. If you have perfect pitch, you still need to develop relative pitch.
This is the most valuable piece of information right here.
Jazz Day Peterborough tnx for the valuable info
Very interesting!
At what age did you know you had perfect pitch?
Well if you have perfect pitch like Dylan you still can do what Lennon does, no? I have relative pitch ...but I also believe on cue I can sing an A, but I do use a reference note from a song, that I know has the A. Richard Carpenter has perfect pitch as I believe the late Leon Russell and Glen Campbell had as well.
You have pretty amazing pitch memory for someone who doesn't have perfect pitch
I think its training and getting used to certain sounds.
I play guitar since 11 years now, and I can identify all major chords by sound blindly, also powerchords (even the difference between the same chords played on the low E string or the A string). The trouble comes with single notes, thats where I normally get lost. In most cases I am either one full or a half step above it (its always above, never too low)....
I have no perfect pitch, not even relative pitch, but I am used to the sound of the chords so much.
you play E minor, it would just make plrrrrr in my brain and like yeah thats that chords used in that part of that song.... etc. you know. E is one of the examples where you could play it as single notes one after another and I could still identify it, because I am also used to not only strum it, but also play it as a picking pattern....
JayBee Jones can you identify them on instruments other than guitar?
@@TheJayBee1990 You have true pitch
You can do a lot with ear training. From 7-17 I played a lot of ensemble music (brass) and sang in choirs a lot too. By the time I was around 15 I could sing a C just by imagining it on the piano. Then I could get any other pitch I needed from that. It didn’t always work perfectly, but it was reasonably solid. I can’t do that any more, though I can still get intervals fairly easily. Relative pitch is fun, but takes work.
@@anonymouse4003 no, i think he has really well-trained relative pitch
This kid has a very big and a bright future ahead of him. So talented.
I may not have perfect pitch but I have Pitch Perfect on DVD :-)
Good one
uff
Uff
But good one
🤣🤣
Oh wow! I just found myself singing out the chord tones as you played. I'm so pleased, my ears were so bad but I've been doing your "7 days to better ears" training everyday for 3 months and folks it really works!
mazz sitima but thata not 7 days :S
+Sparky Flash lel
Can you have perfect pitch and not know it because you have no idea what the names of the notes are?
Kamizi yeah, possible but you probably would understand if someone is a little off in lets say singing and you would feel disgusted
Try to recreate the first note of your favorite song. Check what note you were singing with a tuner. Check if you were in fact singing the right note. If you were: congratulations. You probably have perfect pitch?
wait that's it? this explains so many things
that can be relative pitch with good pitch memory.
relative pitch
get relative pitch
get tinnitus
perfect pitch
lmfao
Genius
This level of intelligence is beyond measure
My tinnitus is intermittent in pitch so I need autotune.....
Johan Hansson HAHAHAH
The legend says that Charlie Parker practiced between 10 and 15 h / day when he was a kid.
He had relative pitch though.
As did Coltrane and Wagner. And they did just fine I reckon!
"they had relative pitch though" thank your for the shaming
I love that you included Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Oscar Peterson in “The greatest composers/musicians that ever lived” ❤️
Hi Rick, Sibelius apparently had a perfect pitch as he described seeing tones in colors from the child.
He self trained with an out of the 'perfect tune' piano at home as a child. At some point the piano was tuned to a perfect pitch,
which shocked his foundations and he changed to violin. As he describes the color landscape was destroyed
and he could not touch the piano after the tune was changed.
Markku Immonen what you’re describing is synesthesia.
Creativity through resistance 😊
That's interesting. I have friend which also sees music as colors... Don't ask me how it works, haha.
Didn,t know that about Sibelius but i know Scriabin definitely saw colour in sounds and chords.
That sounds like such a major trauma!
Would have loved to hear Dylan sing the neighboring notes to the detuned piano
Well done, Rick!
Very interesting and of course adorable when you bring in your very talented children.
Bravo!
Confessions: I have read Yo-Yo Ma as Yo Mama.
You've got such great kids. Reflective of what a great father you are. Well done.
Damn Rick, you not only have two of the cutest kids on earth, but sharp and very talented. Dylan's abilities are staggering. And Lennon being able to instantly identify an interval without knowing the notes...I hope they stay with it and allow music to carry them forward.
I just noticed the word “note” is an anagram of the word “tone”. How have I never noticed that?
Because you actually have a life
It's wonderful to see your talented children! By the way, a friend of mine with perfect pitch lost it - actually it was "misplaced" by a semitone lower at the age of 70. In the begininng she thought that her piano went out of tune but then she listened to the radio and she heard music of which she knew the tonality a semitone lower. So what she does now? She listens to a tone and say she recognizes as C#. Knowing her problem she makes the correction and she answers D. Wonderful job you do Rick! Thank you so much!
Thank you Rick. Big respect for how you enrich your kids with the gift of music -- I wasn't brought up in a musical household but I am trying to get my son Elliot (I'm using his youtube account) involved as much as possible. You have been a huge inspiration to me. Best, James.
omg rick you have literally made my day! i thought that what i had was perfect pitch and i was confused because i couldn't do what your son does, but i'm just like your daughter, i can easily mimic every sound or note i hear, so that means i have relative pitch..awesome!
Wow actually this was a very informative video. Thank you very much for the demonstration. What I really like about the videos is that you have addressed many interesting points like some people have good pitch memory or levelling up your relative pitch level to a point where you cannot tell the difference between perfect pitch and relative pitch. Now I think I can claim that I actually have a very good level of relative pitch rather than claiming that I have perfect pitch because I can tell relatively fast what all the white and black keys on a piano are within the middle octaves of the piano whereas when you get to the far ends of the piano that it becomes really difficult to tell.
my concert choir in high school was able to blow people away at festivals because we could start a capella songs without a reference note from a pitch pipe or piano. our bass section leader had perfect pitch and could just quietly hum the bass starting note and the entire 80 voice choir could build the opening chord from it. it was awesome, and in 20 years of a music career, i've never met anyone else who had true absolute pitch.
Ugh! Reminds me of my high school choir days. I was the one who had perfect pitch and was immediately and continually used as the pitch pipe. I wanted to die, being a very shy teenage girl. I should have kept it secret.
This is the best video I've seen about this theme, **just for the kids**. They're lovely!Congrats, Rick!
Rich, you are blessed! Two adorable kids! Great to see that you named them after great names in music history. I guess you know that Brian Wilson also named a son Dylan!
This. Video. Is. So. Freakin. Fascinating.
I used to rely on both, when I was younger. Without knowing. But as I develop my musical abilities more and more, I tend to recreate the note directly, without any reference.
Thank you. You just explained everything I've been hearing in head musically for the past 40 years.
Your son seems like a sweet kid - What a wonderful gift you have helped him develop, the gift of music! Rock on brother!
John Lennon and Bob Dylan, how wonderful
Rick ain't slick lol
It's actually like Vladimir Lenin
wow listening to your boy describe the detuned piano as a mixture of 2 notes is so fascinating! Ive never thought about it like that before (I dont have perfect pitch) but I assumed that people with perfect pitch would just hear an 'out of tune' note, but he hears 2 different notes mixed together - liked a mixture of red and blue or something to make a new color. I love these videos - I'd love more!! It still seems like magic to me - that someone could have perfect pitch. Its like being able to look at a color and say the pantone number. Where does it come from!?! :)
❤❤🎼🎵Your kids are amazing. I love that they are trained in recognizing and using their gifts. Great job, Rick!
The kid is SCARY accurate! BOTH of them! Congratulations, Rick. Many Blessings on you and your Family.
Fascinating. I wish he'd say more about "pitch memory" since this is what enables you to follow harmonic progression even if you only have relative pitch.
I haven't come across "pitch memory" specifically before but I guess, with relative pitch I, like many others, must have a good ear for notes moving - harmonic progressions, & coming back to the right place. I've always improvised a lot without knowing the key/s but have done it long enough to just go with whatever is being played, even up to a point, quite "free" stuff. I started as a kid just by playing along with the radio, including classical music & don't have much trouble working out chord sequences in most songs, also just from memory. More complex stuff I can do but it takes more time & careful listening, although many popular songs are not often complex. I just don't know what the keys are (other than by looking at guitar fret positions) but now kind of "know" where the music is going minor/major etc. In a nutshell, I can sound like a jazz player but in reality I'm a very poor one!
Very interesting, thank you! A major advantage of PP is an ability to very quickly chord out the songs, even if the chords are atonal or the progression is unfamiliar, while most people with only relative pitch, including myself, when asked to chord the song out, can only hear the memorized patterns. I can confidently hear only the tonic, the dominant 7th, the second dominant, and several others. I don't hear the individual notes, sometimes I can't even sing the root note of the chord, but I recognize them by their "flavor", the specific feeling, like the "instability" of the dominant 7th. A very high level of relative pitch can compensate it, too, I suppose =)
“A major..” unintentional pun
what is an atonal chord?
oh wow i just googled it, i didnt know this is a thing to do ahaha, awesome, ima gunna try this in the next track i write, cheers for that, see if i cant get some results :)
For me, I have really really good relative pitch, (I can identify half the notes without a reference) and when it comes to chords, I can hear all the notes in a chord, but for some individual notes it takes me a couple guesses to get right.
I used to think the same. But if you play complex diatonic or altered chords over and over again pitch memory kicks in and you'll be able to recognize them. For example I know what an augmented 5th sounds like. How do I differentiate between a dominant 7#5 and a major 7#5? The latter is more dissonant sounding. The key here is to recognize the #5 in the chord. Same thing with a 7b9 and 7#9 note. I can here the 11th in a major and minor chord as well. It's all because of pitch memory, playing those chords repeatedly.
Fascinating study! Incredible children with such skill AND gifts! I wish I could go back to school and actually study music theory. Thank u Rick for all you do.
Greatest wealth of information I’ve ever seen or heard on CZcams. It doesn’t confirm my feelings about Perfect pitch. I use to envy those with such ability then I realize that relative pitch is more practical in my opinion. As a guitarist when I tune the instrument without a tuning machine I can not tell whether or not I’m in concert key and I can still play regardless. With perfect pitch it would be painful to the ear especially if one is a microtone away from the actual pitch. Also It seems to me that one with with perfect pitch does not have to practice sightsinging cuz they can already hear the notes.
In 7th grade I was the only one in my class that scored 100% on a relative pitch test which makes me think I had perfect pitch as a kid but it was never developed because I didn't have parents to guide me. In school orchestra I never read a note of music. I memorized each piece by listening to the other bass players then just played it back. One teacher was pretty amazed when he gave me an individual lesson.
That is similar to my experience; As a kid in school recorder groups I just remembered the tunes & played along. The teacher never noticed & I never had lessons. I never knew if I was playing an A or Bb & still don't.
Wow, very nice. I just hope your kids don't hate music when they become adults as it's often the case with those who were exposed to it so early.
Phil Shary While that is a valid concern, the way he treats his kids shows us he probably makes it fun for them, or doesn’t force them too much.
As someone who has delved into theory for the past few years, music has became very "textbook".
That's why I don't take violin anymore. Three years and I'm done. Now I just listen to different songs I like and then play them.
Rick, thank you for putting in all the time and energy in to making all these videos about perfect and relative pitch. Really love all your videos about this subject beacause you have a analytic look on the subject.
A lot of people who put their hard time and energy in music get (sorry for saying it this way) butthurt about perfect pitch, because it gives them the feeling that it makes them lesser of a musician, or that they have fewer knowalage then others of music ( this is just an assumption and not targeted against anyone).
This is not the case, everyone is unique in behaviour and feeling.
In the end perfect pitch doesnt have to make you a great or better musician( as you stated in more of your other videos), it just gives better knowledge of whats going on.
Passion and vision makes a great musician, knowelage is the tool to make people achieve great music and grow further.
I definitely subscribed to his channel. This guy is amazing.
I don't really have Perfect Pitch but I have an almost Perfect Relative Pitch and I can play piano by ear no problem :)
Jakob saaame
@@sleepydrifted it almost asks as if you want to be challenged. Try playing Preparations or from the musical "Natasha Pierre and the great comet of 1812"
kimikokat i can hum songs in the correct tone pitch exactly how they sound or whatever it’s called but I don’t know the note names but I play clarinet in band for 6 years now
Playing it from hearing can be accomplished from relative pitch (you have a reference not)
Playing it from listening once and then A week later playing it from memory that would be more like perfect pitch
Or hearing a car sirene and you know the notes its making
same heh
I always thought I had perfect pitch but it seems I have relative pitch. I was experimenting with alternate tunings when I was 8 and discoverrd by listening that Soundgarden had drop D songs. At the time I didn't even know drop D existed so I tuned the whole guitar a step down to achieve the sound. I can recognize the tuning of any song and tune accordingly. I guess it's relative but as a 37 year old I'm happy with what I got. Dylan is impressive!!!!
Interesting. Thanks Rick for a compelling body of work. I am enjoying music more than ever and I never thought that possible.
Wew... Thanks man for this vid... I finally know myself better right now... Appreciate your time explaining this out...
GREAT video
I agree. Although benefit is spelled "benefit", not "benifit." I'm looking at the Tull album right now. :)
Hope your son develops a passion for music along with his perfect pitch. Your interaction with him is priceless. It will be fun to see him grow musically. Thanks for your teaching ability.
Very interesting stuff, thanks for taking the time to make the video, explain, and demonstrate 👍
This topic completely fascinates me! Thank you!
Thanks Rick, very interesting and helpful video. You're doing a great set of deeds in sharing your music knowledge. My teenaged daughter is learning a lot from your videos.
it was a G lol
wasn’t it kind of flat
The 2nd time, yeah. The first time it was pretty spot on. (From what I remember this was the case, but I don’t feel like rewinding).
Ddude121 it was a bit sharp
@@McOuroborosBurger the first time it was almost spot on, the second time it was like something between G and F#
it starts with a F# and then goes to a G
Nice Job Rick! I completely agree with you.
Wow, Dylan is wonderful. I can see a great career in music ahead!
Perfect pitch is inborn. Relative pitch is something one can develop. Throughout my teenage years it was requisite all music teachers I encountered--from private guitar lessons to choir director--hammered home developing relative pitch ear, which I will say now at 37, nearly 38 years of age was most beneficial aspect of music training aside from basic theory and reading. Knowing if a song is being performed in original key, identifying interval relations, etc stronger than ever in my ear brain. As for perfect pitch, I have met only a handful of cats with such ability. I remember reading somewhere that perfect pitch is absolutely an inborn talent and there are zero documented cases of anyone 'developing' perfect pitch post-birth.
Rick's kid did lol
How can i know if i have perfect pitch even though i dont know the name of the notes?
Amy time I hear C and then F my brain immediately goes to smells like teen spirit right before the lyrics come in.
Sounds like you have synesthesia.
Thats the way i could tell what he played also. Hahaha
hahaha the same here. At 5:36 that song immediatly came to my mind
lolol the notes in that track are far easier to understand than the lyrics :D
Evarínagarm Guardian Games and Stuff doesn’t have synesthesia, not saying he *smells teen spirit* when he hears C and F, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a song by Nirvana, those tones are in that song so that’s what he thinks of like Dylan thought of notes as “Star Wars” or whatever.
Your kids are adorable, and very lucky to have such a great teacher.
This made me realize that I have relative pitch! I plucked out the notes on every chord! I can't read music, I've never learned, but I can play most chords on a guitar by reading their names, but don't know what they're made of or how. This has made me very happy, I don't know why, but thank you!! I'm going to learn how to read music in the future.. You boosted up my confidence!! Thank you!
What happens to Dylan if you tune your keyboard to A=432Hz? (Should have been the clickbait title)
I guess he'd have a problem. I don't have perfect pitch, so I can only compare it to language.
Say you have a dictionary. Left side is the word (representing note names), right side is the explanation of that word (note pitch). Changing the pitch is like moving the whole right column one word down, the whole thing wouldn't make sense. If for all my life I've been calling an apple apple and someday, somebody comes and tells me this is a pear now, I'd probably would have a hard time getting it. I think thats what it feels like if someone were to change the pitch.
It's kind of gymnastic, it's more like "ABC" become "BCD" so "apple" would be "bqqmf", it takes just few more seconds but it's not so difficult
This phenomenon would be with A=415Hz (baroque pitch), not 432
My guess is: Dylan would notice right away that it was out of tune.
Perfect pitch is actually just extreme long term memory of pitches. BUT a study happened where people with perfect pitch were listening to a song, but the song was being constantly (but slowly) raised in pitch. By the end of the song, they were still unaware, but then when it was played from the beginning again, at the original tuning, they suddenly thought that it was out of tune. SO, you *could* fool someone like Dylan with that method, but not by simply tuning the piano differently. He'd just think every note was out of tune, which it would be.
I perfect pitch and 432Hz just sounds like a slightly different note, it's almost a quarter tone but I can still tell what note it is
What happens to Dylan xD he dies
For the case of Mozart though, I think perfect pitch helped him learn new music styles just by hearing and reading scores, composing without testing on an instrument. Thanks to his father being a musician, he learned music from a very early age, and he could memorize really difficult organ pieces he heard in cathedrals and replicate them himself from memory. When he went to Leipzig to pay homage to Bach, he heard Bach motets performed there, he memorized those just by hearing as well. In most of Mozart's liturgical works and symphonic works, his contrapuntal writing is too advanced for his age (look up "10 great fugues not by Bach"), and part of the reason I think is because he could learn just by hearing lots of music and reading lots of scores.
I keep watching your videos and love them. I do want you to talk about the "Grey area" that is "pitch memory." It is a concept we don't talk about near enough.
Thanks for another great video, Rick. It clarified my questions, and I also checked my relative pitch:D
P.S. You're kids are wonderful.)
Those "perfect pitch" musicians also had relative pitch though. Without translating the perfect pitch to relative pitch, perfect pitch is near useless. I knew guys in college that had perfect pitch and didn't know B-D-F-A made a half diminished chord.
Exactly. Music is about a lot more than individual notes. Perfect pitch doesn't give you the instant ability to "understand" music. It just helps you with pitch recognition.
Stop all useless bla bla about one absolute perfect pitch! Please! Nothing in the real life is perfect and all is relatif. Let talk about good musicians instead!
yeah, but that's not only because he has perfect pitch. he probably plays a lot and practices, etc
Haywood Giles you might be confusing relative pitch and knowledge of music theory.
A relative pitch person can hear a diminished chord and say oh that's a diminished
Someone with perfect pitch can say oh that's B D and F. If they have no music knowledge they don't know what chord it is. But with extensive music theory knowledge. They can use the knowledge perfect pitch gives them then use music theory to figure what kind of chord it is.
What a stupid comment.
Beethoven was such a master he had perfect pitch while being deaf
Thanks for these videos. I struggle a lot with ear training, and the only improvement I've been able to make has been through a focus on "chunking", or recognizing chords and short melodic figures as basic units. Before learning to listen for these larger patterns, I tried to apply my ear training by identifying every single interval in music I listened to, which is a fool's errand. Music goes too quickly for that, and even if you could do it on the fly, it would be too disorganized.
The title of this video seems a little odd to me, though. It's certainly a meaningful question for people with perfect pitch, but for those of us who don't have it (and can't get it, as I'm glad you take the time to point out in your other videos), it's a bit like asking, "Which is more important: climbing trees, or breathing underwater?" Only one of the options is even available.
Thank you for explanation. I thought I had a perfect pitch, because I was able to tune instruments without any tuner and recognize played notes, however when it starts to be really difficult, I have troubles. So it's only like you, thank to a good memory. And now I know I should focus on developing the actual relative pitch.
What I find most interesting is that having perfect pitch is not mutually exclusive with having musical talent. Granted, my 'evidence' is purely anecdotal, but I've known a handful of people who I would place in this category.
"But I don't have perfect pitch" LOL that G was bang on.
Another brilliant video.
Right on, in every respect.
Wow awesome. Thank you for this great vid. I was told that i have relative pitch so decided to check it out. Love that you explained it using kids. How cool.
Put it like this: trying to “develop” perfect pitch is analogous to trying to “improve” your foot size.
Great info from the maestro! Hey, that rhymed.
What rhymed?
I am glad you addressed the possibility of developing relative pitch to the point where it is close to perfect pitch. I worked at a music store for 8 years and was amazed when my manager could grab new guitars and violins and tune the without reference and get them inside +/- 1/4 tone. He said it just came from how long and how many times he did this and said he didn't have perfect pitch. So I started trying it and found I could get within a half tone. I can imagine professional orchestral players after thousands of hours of tuning to A440 no longer need the reference some pitches are burned into their psyche. Or a piano tuner with decades of experience who could tell you which notes are out and by how much and be pretty damn accurate without a reference. Now this more limited, but the point being that without disagreeing with your assertion that adults cannot develop perfect pitch, I think one can get pretty damn close if they chose to work at it long enough. But the point is the difference in time it would take to get to that point would be drastically different between someone who is gifted with perfect pitch and someone who is not.
Always enjoy your videos and I thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with everybody!
Great explanation. I saw Chevy Chase on the Tonight Show demonstrate "perfect pitch" I now understand was relative pitch as he clearly started with a reference note and hummed his way to the note played. Still fun to watch. My issue is learning to play a b flat coronet in band then realizing we were playing a half step down from what was written. And that was never explained to us. Playing with the fam during holidays as a kid was frustrating.
Just for your information, I have had relative pitch all my life, but with some caveats. I can identify the tonic in most songs, but minor keys can confuse me. I have tested many people and have never found anyone else who could do this tonic identification trick. When I was younger I could name intervals instantly, but now, at 87 years of age, it's a little less easy. So I guess aging affects relative pitch as well as perfect pitch.
Majors are a lot easier to identify because of their strong pull towards resolution. Minors have differing layers of tension...and the really interesting ones are extensions played with no root added.
Majors are more of an all-in-one sound that already have strong resolutions built in. Thats why on the surface...they are much easier for the ear to clearly define their note of origin. Sometimes context mixed with movement can muddy their waters...but generally they are pretty straight forward.
Don' singers have "relative pitch"? If they didn't have relative pitch, they wouldn't be able to sing in tune, right?
Wow, you got really close to a perfect G
singers need relative pitch
Close but no cigar (lol)
Apologies! It was G. Spot on.
At the beginning of the video, the first and second notes sung were a high A and low A an octave apart.
borgoat12 are you stupid
Great content in all these videos. I have to step my ear game up in this gospel situation I’ve been hired for and your channel is very helpful. Maybe do a video of exercises to get your relative pitch going.
Great videos on perfect and relative pitch and adorable kids (I’m a grandparent of 3 - what a great dad you are!)
That "I-don't-know-if-it's-actually-a-G" is pretty damn close to a G. (Spot on if the guitar closest to me was well-tuned, which I can't be bothered to check.)
It is kinda interesting in the start and singing the G. I wonder if this is due to guitar playing? I often walk around and just suddenly think of what the "G" string sounds like, sing it, then go to the guitar and walla, it is G. Same with all the other open strings.
from experience, playing the violin increased my pitch memory by 200%
I agree Robert. When restringing a guitar I usually get the bottom E to within a few cents of concert without a reference. I started playing when I was 8 and spent a lot of my teens learning Elton John, James Taylor and Beatles songs by ear. And found it SO frustrating to know I hadn't found quite the right chord yet. Drove my mum batshit..but glad I persevered in hindsight.
Even if that G was actually an A flat... :)
Hands down most fascinating content online today.
You have a lovely family Rick. Hope all your kids will pursue music. Godbless
Lennon is super lovely.
When you all hear your favorite song in your head, can you hear it exactly as it sounds? Is that normal? I can hear most of not all of the instruments and vocals and such. I don’t have perfect pitch, so sometimes I hear it in a different key, which is really weird, especially for people’s voices.
I can also hear any instrument I want, like if I think of a random melody, I can hear it played in my head by a violin or trumpet for example.
Same! Probably normal. :)
thanks for the video! Great info and analyzing ~
Thank you for this very informative video!
If I was your daughter I'd be pretty jealous that the other kid has perfect pitch and I don't.
That says more about you than it does about her. It seems like Rick is a great teacher and father and knows how to manage those situations.
As someone with Perfect Pitch, I find it to be a bit counterproductive, as it makes learning intervals difficult, as I tend to hear it as G to D instead of I to V. I have pretty good relative pitch with notes, but chords not so much.
TechReflex sammmemeee tho. i feel bad for her
She has a GREAT ear...no reason to be jealous!
Welll, I have exactly the same combo - my son does have perfect pitch and my daughter doesn't - and yes, she is a little bit jealous.
How do people identify notes using relative pitch once you have heard a succession of notes and have deviated somewhat form the initial reference note, do you still use the initial reference note or there comes a point in which you have to identify the note from the interval it makes wuth the last note heard?
I suspect some people can remember the initial reference pitch despite the clutter or time passed, but I imagine for most it will fade out as you hear more notes and have to rely on the last note heard.
I actually would say I do best singing/hearing an arpeggio from the last note and/or tonic to the one I am trying to find.
I've heard music a lot in half steps, whole steps, and so on in my life. I can fairly confidently arpeggiate to any specified pitch.
I am less good at just going from tonic to whatever... kind of... maybe...
At my music conservatory, we often used little snippets of songs to remember whatever leap you need for a given interval.
Oh now I know why I can hum a song I never heard right away like I had wrote it! Great video!!!
This is my 3rd comment, online, since 1992: I am about to embark upon a journey to copywrite my life of songs...about 123 of them, written the last 52 years, and I am compelled to say Thank You! You are a pretty cool guy, and like Tommy E., Darrel H. And Sir Paul McM, you have decided to live as fully as possible...and 8n this chapter you give to us...everyone, both the gems you've discovered, and the personal discovery of this sharing generously.
Yes, I'm having a guiness.
Let's begin a dialog, and I'll tempt you with two things:
1.) Don Auten...my friend, a fave guitarist of the late Chet Atkins...he invented the Taylor neck and opened the factory with the Taylor Brother - yet this bio fluff pales...when you hear him play! Listen to his Lickity Split, I'm certain you'll be smiling!
2.) Dave Pell...the editor of the internet! Begin with his " Next Draft " newsletter.
Peace, I gotta go n busk
I have a question for anyone who has some knowledge on perfect pitch. I've got a friend who has no trouble naming a note when it's played to him ( without a reference note), but struggles (and usually fails) to sing a given note. By that I mean, when we ask him to sing a g# he doesn't get it right most of the time, but if we were to play it he would know what note it was easily. Is this a form of perfect pitch?
According to wikihow there is active AP and passive AP. Passive AP can distinguish notes but can't sing them, only active AP can.
So does that mean that people with chromesthesia (sound-to-color synesthesia) have perfect pitch?
Alyssa Arellano interesting question.
yes
There is a brown note!
Alyssa Arellano not everyone. Only if each note has 1 colour. I have sound to color synesthesia but if you play a C I might hear red one day, and then yellow the next. Today I hear green. If people hear JUST yellow with every G and just blue with every B, then yes they would have perfect pitch.
I have sound-to-color synesthesia and I definitely do not have perfect pitch!
Breathtaking! As allways!
The ad before this said at the end, "Learning songs by ear is usually ineffective."
I must be special, I learned everything I know about music apart from the note names and major scales from listening to songs, playing them, and comparing patterns. 🚀
🌎
At the beginning when he sang the g I went to my piano to see if it was and it was 😂😂
ok so I have a question, in this video it seems like Dylan obviously has perfect pitch, and Lennon on the other hand doesn't seem to have it. having watched your previous videos on how to develop perfect pitch and understanding that it is teachable to an infant, did you just choose not to teach Lennon perfect pitch or did you sort of not succeed in teaching her perfect pitch. I'm sorry if the question is rather rude, but I am just curious because I myself aim to teach my kids perfect pitch (when I actually have kids)
from his other videos, it sounds like it wasnt something he actively taught, it was just the music he would play in his home. so the lesson is, dont just play soulless pop top 100 songs, play some jazz, some classical. lots of different types of music.
Watch his videos on perfect pitch. It can't be taught. But to maximize their chances of developing it, play sophisticated jazz and classical (especially Bach) a lot during the first 2 years of their lives. Once they have it, later on you can teach them the names of the notes. In any case, they'll probably have relative pitch, and the likelihood of being tone deaf will be zilch.
Just a little info. Both of my kids have perfect pitch which they seem to have inherited from their mom. (Who has it as well.) We didn’t actively teach them either, but we are professional musicians, so they heard all the right music in the house as infants and we later discovered that they had it. Noticed both had it by age 2.
Ironically, I have relative pitch, but *nobody* in my family was musical. I begged my parents to buy me a piano.
1 second ago
Pitch discrimination and tonal memory (and rhythm memory) were found or believed to be aptitudes, something we are born with, hence "genetic," by the grandfather of aptitude testing in the U.S., Johnson O'Connor. The institute/research org in his name still tests for it. I wonder how they would account for or integrate what Rick argues in his Perfect Pitch video with their findings and theory. My hunch is that some infants come into the world more able to pick it up than others given the opportunity, but that's just a hunch.
I've been working on my relative pitch. I get results. It seems the longest lasting results come from songs you listened to as a child. Learn them today. See what intervals you were listening to back then. You can still learn them. Also your melody lines. The ones you like to play naturally. See what intervals you're playing. I think it's possible to really improve your relative pitch with a bit of dedication. In solfège "do" shifts for the different keys. You can still get your understanding of intervals to improve. Not really learn the note names much. That's hit and miss.
Hi Rick! I have watched many of your videos and this one definitely impressed me. So really amazing kids you have there! :). I’m always SO impressed with your ability to hear chords and play songs with such ease. It has always been a major struggle for me and has frustrated me my entire life of playing guitar. Do you feel that my lack of chord recognition could be a direct link to my lack of relative/perfect pitch? I remember a theory instructor in college that could break down every note when hearing chords, but I was never able to successfully reach that level of proficiency, even with much listening and attempted practice. Maybe it must be a natural gift that allows this phenomenon and something that can’t be obtained, even with practice??
Anyways… thank you so very much for your videos and I would greatly appreciate any tips on how I could improve my “hearing” of chords and music in general so that I may hopefully struggle less when learning songs and attempting to figure out chord progressions.