<p>It’s funny, perfect pitch is so incredibly rare, and yet everyone and everyone’s kids on this forum seem to have it…</p>
<p>It is rare, but it isn’t that rare, either. Roughly 15-20% of music students have been found to have perfect pitch (it is about 5% in non musical students/musicians), in people coming from tonal languages, like Chinese speakers, even non musicians have roughly a 20%+ rate of PP.</p>
<p>As far as people on this board go, only some claim to have PP themselves or for their kid, I don’t know where the ‘everyone claims to have PP’ comes from, some did, some didn’t, and it wasn’t outrageous. Plus this is the kind of thread where those who have PP or have a child with PP would be more likely to post, so even if a large percentage claimed to have it themselves or their child, that wouldn’t even be so surprising.</p>
<p>I don’t think “incredibly rare” accurately describes the amount of people who have perfect pitch…and that most likely goes doubly toward the people who are active on this forum.</p>
<p>However, I am not so sure there can be different levels of perfect pitch. “Perfect” is an all or nothing word. Maybe an above average sense to pick out a pitch would be a better way of putting it? Either way, I think the word perfect is meant to mean…ermm perfect (forgive me for not finding a better use of the word).</p>
<p>One of my kids has “perfect” (aka “absolute”) pitch; the other three don’t. My husband and I don’t. From what I’ve been told, repeatedly, having absolute pitch isn’t really am advantage for a musician. You just need an accurate sense of relative pitch. My daughter with perfect pitch can identify any note she hears (and how sharp or flat it is) the way I can identify colors. (Ah, I see someone has written the same below.) She finds it hard to imagine that people like me can hear a note and have no idea what pitch it is. (And like jazz/shreddermom’s kid, she identifies the pitches of our appliances.)</p>
<p>In case anyone missed this study: </p>
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<p>[Tone</a> Language Is Key To Perfect Pitch](<a href=“http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519172202.htm]Tone”>Tone Language Is Key To Perfect Pitch | ScienceDaily)</p>
<p>I wonder if there’s any reverse correlation. Can my English-only son with PP easily learn Chinese or other tonal languages? Because he certainly didn’t find Latin to be a cakewalk.</p>
<p>Somewhat related to what jazz/shreddermom asks, I may have said this in an earlier PP post, but given the potential association with “tones”, I’ve wondered if there may be some association with PP and mimicry of accents.</p>
<p>I have NO ability to identify a note, but can basically tell you if something is in out of tune, yet I have an incredible ear (or is that voice) for mimicry or accents. I have dealt with a number of international suppliers, both european and asian, and I’ve had to consciously stop myself on a long phone call from actually speaking with the opposing caller’s accent. Both my secretary and assistant have been in the room during such calls, and will remark that why am I speaking like that? I’ve told them to kick me if they find me doing it.</p>
<p>We would travel to maritime Canada for three weeks at a time, and my wife would head-slap me because by the end of the first day, I would be speaking with the native accent, regardless if we were in Quebec, the Laurentines, or Cape Breton. Same thing happens if we travel within the States.</p>
<p>None of this is conscious. My vocal cords seem to reproduce what my ears hear.</p>
<p>But I can’t sing a note.</p>
<p>Son has the same ability, and is even a better mimic than I am, but he has PP and hold his own in a good chorus. Neither of us have ever “practiced” this, it just seems natural. The wife and d look at us like we are crazy.</p>
<p>I feel like relative pitch would be so much more useful than perfect pitch. Although if someone with perfect pitch learns how to read music and correlate the line/space to the letter that must make sight-reading INCREDIBLY easy for him/her.</p>
<p>Pathetically enough I can barely read music, note-wise unless it’s like a C. I kind of more memorize intervals (oh one line above the last pitch, that’s a third). I also don’t count 1 2 3 4 but rather each note individually. I still manage to do well on sight-singing every year 
at NYSSMA. The last 3 years in a row I’ve gotten a perfect sight-reading score (Let’s just ignore the fact that I got a point off for dynamics this year my rhythms and notes were right although I barely counted at all I literally guessed lol. Does that mean something? I thought I was gonna get like a 4/10 but I got a 9/10 and the judge even wrote “nice sight-reading!” Don’t you love all-state?).</p>
<p>This is kind of random but does anyone get annoyed when the key of something is transposed? Like different from what it says on the paper? It may just be because I sing and things maybe aren’t as high or low in my voice as they look on the page.</p>
<p>I’m by no means a great musician or considering going into music. I’m just kind of wondering if anyone has an explanation for this stuff and/or agrees and/or has a comment :P. I’ve been reading through this thread and find how it can be an actual curse to have perfect pitch fascinating (Spock :P). The “Happy Birthday” story is actually sort of funny!</p>