Hayley 1994 Talent Quest (aged 7) Video!!

[James]

martin said:

dori said:

I completely agree with you Jon. I have a friend who is an opera singer, and she told me that everyone is born pitch-perfect, but it's whether or not they choose to develop it from a very young age or not.

Hi Dori
I must admit I have nevre heard this said before. Quite astonishing!

It intrigues me therefore how a person then unlearns being pitch-perfect?

I'm at risk of going off topic here - so mods feel free to move this to a more appropriate thread.

However, I think Dori means that research has shown that most people are born with the potential to be pitch perfect, but to recognise and develop the skill usually means that the individual needs to harness that from an early age and the ability to develop perfect pitch diminishes rapidly after the age of about 7. It is a skill that is noticeable for its prevalence in lead instrumentalists in top orchestras, where apparently people can hear colours in music. An untrained ear can hear semitone differences between notes whereas someone with perfect pitch can hear many more notes within each semitone and can identify up to 70 distinct pitches in one octave.

I also have a friend with perfect pitch, and he has said that it's not all it's cracked up to be as it can actually diminish enjoyment of music as you hear all tiny mistakes and if an instrument is marginally off tune then it sounds awful. More useful for a professional musician is relative pitch i.e. intervals between notes and once the starting note is obtained, it's about being able to move the note the required number of semitones. This is why, despite Hayley's pitching, she still sometimes has a note played before starting songs. Whether anyone has "perfect" pitch is questionable, e.g. how can you tell the differences between say an A at concert pitch of 440Hz and at 441Hz (without artificial tuning aids?)

Sorry for the technical detail, but it's a subject which fascinates me. What I will say is that it is evident from such videos that from a young age that Hayley had very good relative pitch and by studying instruments from a young age, she gave herself every opportunity to develop a strong sense of pitch.

James

[Richard]

Hello James!

Your post is perfectly relevant to the video of Hayley aged seven, so I see no reason to move it.

Best Wishes,

Richard

[Martin]

Hi James
Actually, I believe Dori did mean to suggest that babies are born pitch perfect. Neverleless, your post got me intetested further and I found this article on the BBC website which goes someway to support Dori's statement (but note that it is currently only a theory):

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2001/san_francisco/1179664.stm

It does however agree that unless a musical instrument is taken up at a young age then pitch perfect is normally lost. This begs the question can it then be reacquired at an older age by learning to play an instrument (or indeed sing)?

Another point I would make is that not all musicians from a young age are ptich perfect.

Happy New Year
Martin

[Nordly]

I like the video!

[martindn]

Yes, I noticed the other day how well my little granddaughter, nearly four, hits the notes when she sings. At her age it is only nursery rhymes, and she is much more interested in ballet than singing, but it sounded impressive to me. But if they can all do it at that age, perhaps it is normal!

Martin