At 01:25 PM 1/18/2005, Karl Young wrote:
>I've heard from string players with perfect pitch that it's ever so
>slightly painful to play with piano as they can discern the compromises
>inherent in equal temperament.
"Perfect pitch" is a misnomer. The correct technical term is "pitch
recognition." It's a kind of parlor trick. If a bird outside your window
sings a single pitch, your friend with pitch recognition says brightly,
"That's a C#." And it's not even "perfect" but can vary in
preciseness. This ability is not necessarily helpful in the real world of
making music, can even be annoying if the orchestra tunes to an absolute
reference pitch, say different from the one learned by the pitch
recognition person. Relative pitch, the ability to judge intervals, is
much more important.
See "Absolute Pitch" article in New Grove 2.
Any string player plays some intervals differently from the equal tempered
system and suffers when playing with equal tempered instruments. Only a
musician's ear needed, not a special gift allotted to the chosen.
Karl Signell
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