> Alot of people that have perfect pitch also have this "CD recorder"
> like musical memory. I.e., if they hear something they like, they never
> forget it and can reproduce it 20-30 years later if they need to,
> even if they have never tried to reproduce it before. When they want
> to remember a tune, they can just draw up a recording they have stored
> away in their mind and listen to it.
I comment:
I wish I would meet someone that could do this. It's been suggested that
Tatum could, and that he demonstrated it to Horowitz.
Reed continues:
> BTW, there is a funny story about Horowitz that I read. His ex piano
> technician has been telling all these stories since Horowitz died.
> Horowoitz used to tell everyone he had perfect pitch and of course
> nobody was about to challenge him. One time he was saying how in
> Europe they tune lower and this conductor corrected him and he threw
> a big fit.
I add:
Horowitz also had his piano action lightened, which is why he could play
so fast, and wouldn't use any other piano.
Reed:
> >And then when our ppp goes to sing a 5th, what kind of 5th does she sing?
> >A perfect 5th, one would think. Or is a perfect ear even tempered like a
> >piano?
Me:
Doubtful; that is a more recent innovation than other types of tuning.
Reed:
>The even tempered scale has that weird 12th root of 2 equation in
> >it; it does not seem that it would occur in nature.
> >
> >OK, and now our ppp hears a single note that is something other than a
> >tuning fork sine wave. This can be decomposed into harmonics. Can our
> >ppp tell us what the weight of each harmonic is like a spectrum analyzer
> >would? After all, there is no difference between distinct harmonics of
> >one note and several distinct notes from separate sources.
> >
> They hear all the notes. They are not that easily fooled by overtones
> as someone earlier suggested, at least from my experience.
Me:
That was me. I didn't mean all people with perfect pitch. I
specifically meant my mom, who can identify any pitch I play on certain
instruments, but can't reproduce any chord beyond a triad. Personally, I
can start singing any song I know without accompaniment and be in the
right key, but that is the extent of it, and unless I think of a song, I
can't think a specific pitch and tell you what it is.
Mark