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
People who can just “pick out the note of anything” are said to have “perfect pitch”.
We don’t know how perfect pitch works, or if people are born with it or develop it. But there is no conscious thought about discerning pitch.
If I asked you what color your shirt was, you wouldn’t need to think, you would be able to look down and respond “red”, as soon as your eyes saw the color.
Similarly, if I asked a person with perfect-pitch what note I was playing on the piano, something in their brain just *tells them* that what their ears are hearing, is an A flat.
People who can just “pick out the note of anything” are said to have “perfect pitch”.
We don’t know how perfect pitch works, or if people are born with it or develop it. But there is no conscious thought about discerning pitch.
If I asked you what color your shirt was, you wouldn’t need to think, you would be able to look down and respond “red”, as soon as your eyes saw the color.
Similarly, if I asked a person with perfect-pitch what note I was playing on the piano, something in their brain just *tells them* that what their ears are hearing, is an A flat.
Like the other person said, identifying a note with no reference is perfect pitch. What I want to emphasize is that this is an uncommon ability. The majority of musicians, even professional ones, don’t have it. It doesn’t matter that much. It can be handy, and a funny party trick, but lacking it is not a barrier.
Tuning an instrument by ear is different, because if you’re playing solo, it doesn’t matter if you’re in tune with some standard. Your A doesn’t have to be exactly 440Hz. What you’re listening for there is the *relationship* between two pitches. Is my bass string a perfect fourth up from the one below it? Is my mandolin string a perfect fifth up from the next? This is something you do need to be good at and a skill almost everyone can develop, unlike perfect pitch, which you pretty much either have or don’t.
This is also how marching a pitch works with voice. I can hear a new song and repeat the melody with the precise pitches the original used (if it’s not too complex or out of my range). But unless I have an instrument or tuner handy, I have no idea what notes I’m singing, only the relationships between them.
I know, for instance, that Star Wars starts on the first and then fifth notes of the key. But as I don’t know the key, I couldn’t tell you what they are. If you told me the first one was A, I would know the second one was E. Or if the first one was F, the second one was C. And that’s what matters.
Instruments will be tuned to a standard- in an orchestra, a single oboe typically gives a pitch which serves as a reference for everyone else. For a singer with a guitar, the reference might be one of the strings on the guitar to which the other strings are tuned if the guitarist doesn’t have a tuner.
Another commenter mentioned perfect pitch; the trained version of that is relative pitch, which means that *given a reference pitch* a person can identify another pitch.
Comes with experience, but I think some people also have it naturally and that’s called having “perfect pitch”. My orchestra teacher told me that I had it when I was in middle school and although I’m no professional music player, I can see why she said it. I have the ability to recognize certain musical sounds, so much that I can even predict the next note coming in a song. I never studied music theory but I can still read music with a bass clef.
Tuning also comes with experience. In orchestra, the contrabass is tuned in perfect fourths while the the cello, violin, and viola are tuned in fifths, meaning that it takes 5 notes to get to the next string. As long as you remember that and get used to hearing how each string sounds, you eventually learn to tune a string with just your ear.
Like the other person said, identifying a note with no reference is perfect pitch. What I want to emphasize is that this is an uncommon ability. The majority of musicians, even professional ones, don’t have it. It doesn’t matter that much. It can be handy, and a funny party trick, but lacking it is not a barrier.
Tuning an instrument by ear is different, because if you’re playing solo, it doesn’t matter if you’re in tune with some standard. Your A doesn’t have to be exactly 440Hz. What you’re listening for there is the *relationship* between two pitches. Is my bass string a perfect fourth up from the one below it? Is my mandolin string a perfect fifth up from the next? This is something you do need to be good at and a skill almost everyone can develop, unlike perfect pitch, which you pretty much either have or don’t.
This is also how marching a pitch works with voice. I can hear a new song and repeat the melody with the precise pitches the original used (if it’s not too complex or out of my range). But unless I have an instrument or tuner handy, I have no idea what notes I’m singing, only the relationships between them.
I know, for instance, that Star Wars starts on the first and then fifth notes of the key. But as I don’t know the key, I couldn’t tell you what they are. If you told me the first one was A, I would know the second one was E. Or if the first one was F, the second one was C. And that’s what matters.
Instruments will be tuned to a standard- in an orchestra, a single oboe typically gives a pitch which serves as a reference for everyone else. For a singer with a guitar, the reference might be one of the strings on the guitar to which the other strings are tuned if the guitarist doesn’t have a tuner.
Another commenter mentioned perfect pitch; the trained version of that is relative pitch, which means that *given a reference pitch* a person can identify another pitch.
Comes with experience, but I think some people also have it naturally and that’s called having “perfect pitch”. My orchestra teacher told me that I had it when I was in middle school and although I’m no professional music player, I can see why she said it. I have the ability to recognize certain musical sounds, so much that I can even predict the next note coming in a song. I never studied music theory but I can still read music with a bass clef.
Tuning also comes with experience. In orchestra, the contrabass is tuned in perfect fourths while the the cello, violin, and viola are tuned in fifths, meaning that it takes 5 notes to get to the next string. As long as you remember that and get used to hearing how each string sounds, you eventually learn to tune a string with just your ear.
For most people it’s just practice. If I played the lowest and highest note on the piano, you’d know the difference. I could then tell you that the low note is called A0 (A note, zero octave). Then I could tell you the highest note is called C8 (C note, eight octave).
I could add the exact middle note and now you’d be able to recognize three notes. Keep building like that, and you’d eventually be able to name most the notes on a piano. By that point, you’ll probably start to recognize the same notes played on other instruments.
However, the ability to tell any note exactly just by hearing it is called perfect pitch, and it’s fairly uncommon. Most musicians can’t do it.
For most people it’s just practice. If I played the lowest and highest note on the piano, you’d know the difference. I could then tell you that the low note is called A0 (A note, zero octave). Then I could tell you the highest note is called C8 (C note, eight octave).
I could add the exact middle note and now you’d be able to recognize three notes. Keep building like that, and you’d eventually be able to name most the notes on a piano. By that point, you’ll probably start to recognize the same notes played on other instruments.
However, the ability to tell any note exactly just by hearing it is called perfect pitch, and it’s fairly uncommon. Most musicians can’t do it.
Latest Answers