What are Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch all about?
Absolute Pitch
Absolute Pitch (AP), often called perfect pitch, is the ability to identify a musical pitch in the absence of any other tonal points of reference.
For example, AP is the ability to recognize middle C or middle Eb in any musical context–no matter the particular piece, no matter the key center, no matter the tonality, and no matter what melodic or harmonic function those notes perform.
AP is a rare gift indeed, and for those of us not so endowed, it’s a miraculous and humbling thing to witness. According to widely accepted studies, it is estimated that AP is possessed by roughly one in every 10,000 people.
FYI: Frank took a few ear training and improv classes at Berklee music school where he was pleasantly surprised to learn that most professional musicians don’t have perfect pitch.
Relative Pitch
Relative pitch (RP) is the ability to hear how musical tones relate to other pitches within your field of perception.
For example, Relative Pitch is the ability to recognize the unique sound-feeling of the note E when played in the context of a C Major tonality.
RP is the way that almost all of us are naturally able to perceive and enjoy melodic and harmonic relationships between sounds.
There are two main types of relative pitch reference:
- With respect to the prevailing key center Do. This is the purview of Solfege ear training. An enduring sense of key center provides the harmonic “context”, a context that organizes all the sounds in functional terms relative to a single point of reference Do.
- With respect to any note currently in your field of perception. This is the purview of Interval ear training. This can be useful for hearing the local relationship between notes in a melody or chord progression, when the tonal center is ambiguous, or when there is a change of key center.
Interval ear training does not contradict Solfege. Interval ear training complements Solfege, adding another dimension to your listening skills.
learn more… Can You Learn Absolute Pitch?
Leave a Reply