<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The accuracy of absolute pitch has often fallen into mythical perspectives, as this rare ability tends to fascinate people through its spectacular results. Many people tend to think that a musician with absolute pitch is always capable of identifying the musical note of any sound in any circumstances. The research literature has revealed that this is rarely true. Although there is a significant difference between real absolute pitch owners and pseudo-absolute pitch owners, the accuracy of absolute pitch is highly influenced by a series of musical factors such as: pitch chroma, pitch height and musical timbre. Therefore, it has been proven that the best absolute pitch accuracy manifests for medium pitch sounds, while very high or very low sounds tend to often be misidentified. Even more, absolute pitch owners tend to make an unusual mistake of misidentifying the octave. The familiar sounds (for example from the instrument the musician has studied in childhood) tend to produce less identification errors. Nevertheless, the piano timbre is usually associated with the best accuracy of absolute pitch. The aim of the present research is to synthetize up-to-date literature regarding the way these factors influence the accuracy of absolute pitch. The study focuses on the idea of normalizing the general perspective of absolute pitch accuracy, as musicians and teachers often tend to have very high expectations regarding this ability. The educational implications of the new perspective drawn here contribute to a better relation between teachers and students, as well as to a better understanding of this interesting musical ability.</p></abstract>

The accuracy of absolute pitch has often fallen into mythical perspectives, as this rare ability tends to fascinate people through its spectacular results. Many people tend to think that a musician with absolute pitch is always capable of identifying the musical note of any sound in any circumstances. The research literature has revealed that this is rarely true. Although there is a significant difference between real absolute pitch owners and pseudo-absolute pitch owners, the accuracy of absolute pitch is highly influenced by a series of musical factors such as: pitch chroma, pitch height and musical timbre. Therefore, it has been proven that the best absolute pitch accuracy manifests for medium pitch sounds, while very high or very low sounds tend to often be misidentified. Even more, absolute pitch owners tend to make an unusual mistake of misidentifying the octave. The familiar sounds (for example from the instrument the musician has studied in childhood) tend to produce less identification errors. Nevertheless, the piano timbre is usually associated with the best accuracy of absolute pitch. The aim of the present research is to synthetize up-to-date literature regarding the way these factors influence the accuracy of absolute pitch. The study focuses on the idea of normalizing the general perspective of absolute pitch accuracy, as musicians and teachers often tend to have very high expectations regarding this ability. The educational implications of the new perspective drawn here contribute to a better relation between teachers and students, as well as to a better understanding of this interesting musical ability.

The Effect of Pitch Height, Timbre and Octave Error on Absolute Pitch Accuracy. Educational Implications

“George Enescu” National University of Arts from Iași

Review of Artistic Education

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The accuracy of absolute pitch has often fallen into mythical perspectives, as this rare ability tends to fascinate people through its spectacular results....

The Effect of Pitch Height, Timbre and Octave Error on Absolute Pitch Accuracy. Educational Implications

Publié en ligne: 07 avr. 2019

Pages: 353 - 358

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rae-2019-0040

Mots clés
absolute pitch accuracy, pitch height, pitch chroma, octave error, timbre

© 2019 Dorina Geta Iușcă, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The Effect of Pitch Height, Timbre and Octave Error on Absolute Pitch Accuracy. Educational Implications

Publié en ligne: 07 avr. 2019

Pages: 353 - 358

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rae-2019-0040

Mots clésabsolute pitch accuracy, pitch height, pitch chroma, octave error, timbre

© 2019 Dorina Geta Iușcă, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Mots clés
absolute pitch accuracy, pitch height, pitch chroma, octave error, timbre