What is Perfect Pitch?

What is perfect pitch? You may already know that perfect pitch, or absolute pitch is the ability to identify a particular musical note without using a reference tone. It is sometimes also called absolute pitch. The ability benefits musicians because they are able to sing in a particular key at will, transcribe melodies easily, and tune instruments to concert pitch without a tuner. Many musicians with perfect pitch are adept in both recreating and recognizing. Click here for more info: perfect pitch software.

Perfect Pitch Theory

What is more important is the question of “how?”. It is quite simple to explain what perfect pitch is but how do these musicians recognize the different notes and their supposed individual characteristics? What are these differences and how does perfect pitch really work? Some of the world’s most accomplished musicians do not have perfect pitch, however, most of us exhibit amazing skills of aural recognition every day. For example, we can easily recognize our mother’s voice amongst hundreds of other voices and sounds. So, how is it that we cannot all hear these note differences?

Firstly, there are some fundamental principles of acoustics, which we need to know to answer these questions. To start with, tonal sounds from any source contain fundamental frequencies of the notes being played as well as harmonics of those frequencies. Harmonics are also called overtones and all tonal sounds contain them. Even if a single sine wave tone is generated and output to a speaker, there will be harmonics in the sound. Waves have a physical property that they create more waves. These harmonics are multiples of the fundamental frequency of the note playing. The sound you hear when a single A440 note is played is a combination of 440 Hz, 880 Hz, 1320 Hz, 1760 Hz, 2200 Hz, and so on. In most cases, the fundamental (440 Hz) contains the most energy and the energy of each harmonic decreases as you count up them, although this is not always the case with every instrument. The second harmonic as also called the “first overtone”. This can get confusing so I am keeping with the terminology of harmonics.

Different instruments have different harmonic levels (“spectra”). A clarinet has weak even harmonics, for example, with stronger odd ones and a strong fundamental. The guitar, on the other hand, has a higher second, sixth, and seventh harmonic.

It is obvious that the harmonic spectra should be different. Otherwise, the instruments would sound the same. The timbre, or quality, of a tonal sound comes from its harmonic spectrum, as well as any noise parts (non tonal). The variance in harmonic spectra allows us to easily tell the difference between instruments. For more info, click: perfect pitch training.

In summary, the unique “quality” or timbre of a tonal sound is always determined by its harmonic levels.

Returning to the topic of perfect pitch, we already know that those with perfect pitch distinguish the notes by their own “quality” or timbre. We know that composers with perfect pitch may choose a certain key for its characteristics, depending on the mood of the piece. However, we know that the instrument determines the harmonic spectra of the notes so how does this fit in with perfect pitch? Well, the shocking, but obvious truth is that there is no physical difference in ”timbre” between the different notes. If there were, there would be no mystery to perfect pitch and the differences would have been physically measured already. It is the human ear, which is responsible for perfect pitch, and the differences between notes are only perceived because of the resonances and frequency response of the ear.

The ear is like a microphone, with moving parts, which resonate at certain frequencies and is better at hearing some frequencies than others. Any tonal sound entering the ear involves a wide range of harmonic frequencies, which set the whole machine in motion. We hear some frequency components as louder than others when they actually have the same loudness.

An Equal Loudness curve shows the frequency response of the ear, which is much the same for everyone. The most sensitive frequency is 4000 Hz. A sound of 30 Hz must be almost a million times as powerful to be perceived the same.

The ear has resonances because of certain resonating parts. There is a resonance at about 3000 Hz due to the auditory canal. Other considerations are the vibration of the eardrum, the bones in the middle ear, and the complex behavior of the cochlea.

Of course, the equal loudness response of the ear is only part of the story of human hearing. The complicated range of different effects going on in the ear as it is constantly exposed to multiple frequencies is a field of study on its own. For example, the extent to which one frequency is masked by another depends greatly on the pitch of these frequencies.

So What is Perfect Pitch?

In summary, the perceived difference in harmonic spectra between the notes of the scale is at the root of perfect pitch. There are physical harmonic levels of any tonal sound. Additionally, the ear creates another internal harmonic spectrum. The brain is extremely sophisticated and, in those who have perfect pitch, can detect the spectrum caused by the ear and distinguish it from that of the instrument. The main reason that perfect pitch is so rare is that we tend to fixate on the fundamental pitch of the notes and, as musicians, the harmonics are not regarded with as much importance. Learning the skill of perfect pitch is about learning to listen to the harmonics of tonal sounds, which is certainly achievable. More information can be found here: what is perfect pitch?