Posted by Art H on October 21, 2003 at 23:03:47:
In Reply to: Re: Know any good D's? posted by My son on October 21, 2003 at 09:10:31:
There is a fascinating article in a recent yale alumni magazine about a brain researcher who has been investigating perfect pitch. Using brain scans he says he can see huge differences in brain activity between people using p.p. and ordinary mortals like the rest of us. He has also tested people who have taken the PP training course and has found that they still can't come close to the stunts that true PP victims can do. I think most really good musicians with PP try not to flaunt it, but I do know one tuba player who never failed to let everyone know about his ability.
The thing about it is, guys with perfect pitch tend to play "out of tune" because they are so sure of their own pitch that they sometimes fail to adjust to match the ensemble. That adjustment is far more important that absolute pitch.