I have no musical knowledge so bear with me.
How can people hear a note played or a word sung and this to themselves “oh that’s an A flat” or something along those lines. Or how can they identify that they are not singing the right note and know how to modify it to get to the correct one?
What about tuning instruments. How can someone do that by ear and just know that it’s in tune?
The mind boggles!
In: 10
Most people don’t go “that’s an Ab” by ear. That’s a trait known as perfect pitch, and it typically requires purposeful training from a very young age. Since most people don’t go “hey, Timmy” *presses piano key* “what note is this?”, perfect pitch isn’t very common.
A skill most people can actually hone is relative pitch; knowing the distance between two notes, aka intervals. This is how most people tune, and how we can tell someone is out of tune.
So if I know you’re playing in the key of C, and I’ve heard the tonic (C), and you play a note that isn’t C, I can tell how far off you are, and do the mental gymnastics to name that note. It’s about the relationships of notes, not their individual identities.
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