absolute pitch?

[Martin Lee]

I would like to know how can I train my ears to be "absolute pitch" as I'm
not playing the piano but the violin.

Thank you!

Martin Lee
<sara...@hkstar.com>

[Alex Bach Andersen]

In message <01bd52d4$6a978060$b4c052ca@default>
"Martin Lee" <sara...@hkstar.com> wrote:

> I would like to know how can I train my ears to be "absolute pitch" as I'm
> not playing the piano but the violin.

Try to remember a note eg. "a". If you wake up in the night try if you can
remember it checking with a tuning fork or on your a-string on the violin.
Also try to remember it when doing something not music related, again
check it.

This was the solution I was taught by my solfege-professor at the Royal
Danish Academy of Music many years ago. When I read your request I tried to
remember the "a", and checked it on my piano and I was right :)
>
> Thank you!
>
You're welcome, you'll need a lot of practice though.

--
Alex Bach Andersen, free-lance conductor UIN:8285066
NodeSats/MusicTypesetting - Acorn RISC PC 600 - unARMed
Copenhagen, Denmark http://home6.inet.tele.dk/alexbach/
.... 4 food groups: fast, frozen, microwaved, and junk

[Knudsen546]

that is but one exercise in learning absolute pitch. another that works,
although the results as usual are slow in coming, is to have someone play the
notes on an instrument, while you guess them. If you relax, this works even if
you have a higly developed sense of relative pitch. I was faced with the
dillemma of wanting to learn absolute pitch a few years ago. I wanted to write
direclty onto the score paper at the kitchen table with no instrument. It is
possible to learn, I give you my word. However, its not a cure all. I still use
externel means to work out harmonies. It will be hard to find someone willing
to play the notes for you, so a partner who is learning it also is a help.
Trade off playing duties. I was pretty excited when I started to be able to
just "know" pitches when I woke up in the morning. I wish it was taught as a
required skill in youngsters. For instance, when I was small I had a mediocre
sense of absolute pitch. I vividly remember hearing a song on the radio and
walking to the piano and touching the correct key right off the bat (I could do
it almost flawlessly). They say that you cant "lose" it but that isnt true. I
was unexposed to music and instruments for many years and I believe I did
simply forget how. Not really of course. I had an advantage learning absolute
pitch because there was still a heightened pitch recognition in me. The
"perfect pitch" courses and whatnot are a waste of money. they simply contain
lectures and the ads try to make it sound easy. Its not, its hard work and you
can work hard without wasting 200$ on some reject tape course. Of course, if
someone got some use out of those courses, than please correct me. Well, goo
luck. I believe its worth the effort. ^_^
-----------------------------------------------
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trying to please their boss.
And though the guys a pig we all know what he wants
Is just to please somebody else."
"The extreme always makes an impression."

[MJRMaestro]

Knudsen546 writes:
>that is but one exercise in learning absolute pitch. another that works,
>although the results as usual are slow in coming, is to have someone play the
>notes on an instrument, while you guess them.<

Absolute pitch is a very thorny subject. I happen to have it: and it can
be a burden when listening to strings and voice, in particular.
I've helped some friends work on their sense of pitch, with some success:
the most effective method I've found is to forge an connection between physical
sensation and a sung or hummed note: then build upon that.
For me, and for others for whom absolute pitch is apparently innate,
certain pitches always suggest certain colors: that's always the way I've
experienced it. I'm not dogmatic or ideological about this color thing. But
once one forms an impression of a color by identifying it with the pitch that
produced the impression, then visualizing the color is the key to pulling the
pitch out of thin air.
I've read that absolute pitch, like so many other things, deriorates with
age.