Perfect Pitch and Pitch Perfect

[morwen9]

I'm pitch perfect. Well I'm mostly in tune when I sing.

[Libby]

There's a difference, actually. Pitch isn't the same thing as "on tune". If you've watched those singing competitions, the judges will often say the singers are "pitchy". That doesn't mean they're singing out of tune, it means their pitch is off. I don't have time to get into that further, anyway, since I have to go to work soon. I'm not a musical note expert. I have been in choir though, so I know some.

[martindn]

Pitch perfect means ALWAYS in tune when you sing. Perfect pitch means you can be pitch perfect without hearing a note beforehand - someone can name a note and you can sing it spot on every time without any refweence.

Hayley is pitch perfect becuase she has "good relative pitch". That means that once she knows the startig note, the interval to the others will be spot on. But she doesn't have perfect pitch becuase she needs a tuning fork or other instrumnt to start her off.

Or that's what she says.

Martin D

[Deleted]

Ah, it would seem this thread has concluded, but I must briefly revive it as it it regards a subject that I am well versed in.
For starters, MartinD's last post sums up the general definition of both terms. The thing that interested me was the recurring statement that perfect pitch is something genetic that you are born with. To preface my own theories I should mention that the actual origin of the 'perfect pitch' ability is something that has never actually been scientifically proven either way. I, however, have seen and observed many examples of it in my own life. I have to disagree with the statement that perfect pitch is "extremely rare," because in my short 20 years I've met several people with this ability. My personal belief is that perfect pitch is something that is acquired over many years of hearing various pitches. Over time, the brain (yes, the brain, not the ear) becomes accustomed to the fine difference between sonic frequencies, eventually to the point where it can accurately distinguish them. In most cases, the subject has learned the names of these frequencies, so they can identify a sound as an 'A,' per say, but the trait of perfect pitch does not require the person to have learned the letter names. In other words, someone with perfect pitch could begin singing any song they've heard prior in the correct key, regardless of whether they knew what that key was called.
This theory is based on my experience with people who have this ability. Everyone I've ever met with perfect pitch has been playing an instrument for a very long time, usually from a very young age. I've heard many people claim they were "born with it," but I've never actually seen someone who has never touched an instrument or studied music exhibit this ability.
As for Hayley, she definitely is pitch perfect, which as we've established means she almost never (but completely never is impossible) sings a note that was not the pitch she heard in her head. This is a result of well-practiced relative pitch (as you've mentioned) and a stellar connection between her voice and her brain. Relative pitch takes place in the brain, to find the note, even before she sings it (or perhaps simultaneously.)
As a closing point, I would not be surprised if Hayley has or is developing perfect pitch. Whether or not it's something one can be born with, I can say with some certainty that it can be acquired, in fact, having played guitar for over 6 years now I'm beginning to become more accurate at guessing the keys of songs, and often I will hear a pitch somewhere (on TV, perhaps) which reminds me of a song I've heard, and that song will turn out to be in the same key. Also if Hayley has started singing a song in the correct key seemingly without any reference, it's possible that she in fact has had a reference, either off stage or in an earpiece monitor. She may even know her own voice to the point where she knows how a certain pitch 'feels' when she sings it. The lowest note I can sing is usually around an E (E2 I think?) and so I can use my own relative pitch to accurately guess others based on that.

Well if you've actually read this entire behemoth of a post, I applaud you, and I would suggest that you now rest your eyes, and perhaps get a drink of water!

-Rory

[Simba]

Actually coming to think about it pitch perfect is not even a technical term I must say unlike its counterpart, which is a real phenomena.

The word perfect becomes obsolete here because no one can ever be 100% in tune. It's only a matter of how close they are to the absolute note, which again is relative to the standards or tuning of the instrument.

In this aspect labelling anyone as pitch perfect is a false claim, because any other decent singer like Leona Lewis don't go any more off tune than hayley does. (which is very little or negligible)


But on the other hand as to the Pitch perfect theory, signs of hayley being a pitch perfect singer are becoming evident.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1xuwT2_Gp4

That's hayley starting Ave Maria on B flat, spot on by recalling the pitch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bosouX_d8Y Play this along to see the accuracy of pitch.

I find this quite amazing really Truly one of the reasons why Hayley is what she is, and that there's no equal.

[Deleted]

I always looked at pitch perfect meaning that the singer always hits the note they intend to - they have perfect control (okay, near perfect) over their voice. As you said, there is really no such thing as a "perfect" note, unless you're going by the standard concert pitch frequencies, but technically they are all imperfect lol. Not sure if there is a real definition for pitch perfection, but if a singer can hit the exact pitch they desire, I don't think you can get any closer to perfection

-Rory