Are you tonedeaf?

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Shag

I had a friend with perfect pitch in college, and for her, there was no screwing up of any notes because nothing was subjective. A note was concrete, like reading it on a page - there wasn't any "I think that's an Ab". She could listen to very complex musical passages and name every note perfectly - it was wild. That's my understanding of perfect pitch, and that if someone really has it, they won't be wrong. It's something they were born with, not something they learned.

People with really good relative pitch can almost fake having perfect pitch, but they aren't always right, and it takes a lot more effort than someone with true perfect pitch.

It's possible I have some misconceptions due to only knowing one person with perfect pitch, but your quote caught me as odd...

Yep. I've also known two people with true perfect pitch back in my conservatory days. Frankly, I don't believe either one of these guys. I'd probably believe good or very good relative pitch, but perfect pitch... no, I just don't buy it. The two that I knew, you could name a note and they could sing it, no hesitation, and be dead on, every single time. There's no "half step" off, ever.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Yep. I've also known two people with true perfect pitch back in my conservatory days. Frankly, I don't believe either one of these guys. I'd probably believe good or very good relative pitch, but perfect pitch... no, I just don't buy it. The two that I knew, you could name a note and they could sing it, no hesitation, and be dead on, every single time. There's no "half step" off, ever.

Try me. When I was at Eastman and we had sight-singing exams, I got all the melodies, but I had trouble with singing in solfegg (do re mi fa sol) because a note wasn't a "do" or a "ti" but it was a B or an Eb. That's how I thought of each note, and going out of my way to make the conversion to solfegg was a complete drag.

The only time I've gotten pitches incorrect was when somebody played a random glob on the piano and I might have confused a D in one octave with another in the upper or lower octave. These were 20-note clusters, so the mistake is understandable.

[Stanley Nickels]

They need some sort of a meter for lyrics comprehension. Because, I can tell you, I'm wrong about lyrics about 90% of the time. I have no idea what it is, but I am the classic buffoon who gets the lyrics wrong to any given song. I wish I could remember a full compendium of the more hilarious mistakes I've made; one I CAN remember is a recent song from The White Stripes. After an argument and an ensuing Google search, I realized I was wrong. The lyrics are:
I've been waiting for the doorbell, when ya gonna ring it, (when ya gonna ring it?)

I thought it was-- and I'm completely serious about this-- I've been waiting for the gold, man, when ya gonna bring it (When ya gonna bring it?)

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by SNR

Try me. When I was at Eastman and we had sight-singing exams, I got all the melodies, but I had trouble with singing in solfegg (do re mi fa sol) because a note wasn't a "do" or a "ti" but it was a B or an Eb. That's how I thought of each note, and going out of my way to make the conversion to solfegg was a complete drag.

The only time I've gotten pitches incorrect was when somebody played a random glob on the piano and I might have confused a D in one octave with another in the upper or lower octave. These were 20-note clusters, so the mistake is understandable.

Well, I do NOT have perfect pitch, and I got 9 out 10 sight-singing exams, and probably 8 out of 10 solfège (which is a complete drag; on that, we agree ).