No I don't have perfect pitch, not even close.
But what is perfect pitch and do musicians
really need it or is it just a parlour trick?
And what do the Nazis have to do with pitch
at all?
Let's find out more about perfect pitch.
Hi everybody, CJ here and welcome.
Today we're taking a look at perfect pitch.
What is perfect pitch?
Well, first of all, about 1 in 10,000 people
possess the ability of perfect pitch.
And that is to be able to name any note without
a reference note.
In other words, if you ask somebody with perfect
pitch to sing you a "C" or "A" or a Bb
they'll be able to sing it perfectly, without any
reference.
And if you ask them to name the notes of a
chord, they'll be able to do so without looking.
If I played this chord, a person with perfect
pitch can tell me every single note that's there.
That is absolutely amazing, absolutely fabulous.
When I was coming up in music lessons I wanted
perfect pitch so badly, I thought it would
be the greatest thing to have, it would make
me the greatest musician in the world
or so I believed.
I don't know if that's really true, and furthermore,
I'll probably never know because perfect pitch
is something you either have or you don't.
It's either impossible or very difficult to
develop later in life.
So what do musicians do who don't have perfect
pitch?
How do we actually find the notes that we
want when we want them?
We use relative pitch and pattern recognition.
Relative pitch is the ability to name a note
after being given a reference note.
So if I'm given the note "C", then I can closely
approximate any other note.
For example, "F".
That's approximately an "F", it's not perfect
because I don't have perfect pitch.
So relative pitch is a skill that can be developed
as well as pattern recognition.
Music is made of patterns, you learn to recognise
those patterns along with relative pitch and
you're on your way.
Those are skills that can be developed, unlike
perfect pitch.
So please do not use your time, don't waste
your time trying to get perfect pitch.
Work on relative pitch.
People with perfect pitch can be tricked.
A 2013 University Of Chicago study showed
that 27 participants could not notice when
a song was slightly detuned.
In this study they took 27 participants with
perfect pitch and played them a classical
piece, a very long piece and slowly detuned
it as they were playing it so they lowered
the pitch, not a single participant noticed,
but afterward, their tonal centre had changed.
Whereas prior to listening to the piece of
music they would have correctly identified
this note as "C".
But afterward, this same note, they would
have thought as sharp.
All of them called it sharp.
Their tonal centre had been changed.
So, from a human perspective there's not much
perfection, not actually.
But let's take a look at pitch itself.
Absolute Pitch, can a pitch be absolute?
Well first of all, what is a pitch?
A pitch is a frequency measured in Hz, or
cycles per second.
Humans can hear from 20 Hz to 20 KHz, but
most of the sounds we hear on a daily basis
are between 250 Hz and 6 KHz.
In music, the piano keyboard, this lowest
note "A", is 27.5 Hz, the highest note, "C"
is 4186.01 Hz.
And our favourite note, middle "C", is 261.626
Hz.
And then there's the note that everyone tunes
to, "A".
The "A" above Middle "C" is set at 440 Hz.
How did this come about?
It wasn't always this way.
Before the 20th century there were orchestras
that played at 415 Hz, as in Baroque music,
right on up to 460 Hz, so there was no consistency
on tuning frequencies for an orchestra, choir
or whatever the case may be.
So people were all over the place , so there
was a need for some consistency.
So in 1939 there was a meeting in London,
at Broadcast House, home of the BBC.
At this meeting by the International Standards
Organisation they were to set the official
tuning frequency to 440 Hz.
This is where the Nazis come in.
Because apparently, Hitlers propaganda minister,
Joseph Goebbles was in charge of all the radio
stations in Germany.
He called this meeting in order to change
the frequency to 440 Hz.
And the reason is because raising it to 440
Hz causes human bodies to tense up and get
stressed and opens people up to mind control!
That's great Nazi stuff!
Mind control is right up their alley.
But is that really true?
No, not necessarily it's not really true.
That conspiracy started in 1988 by Lyndon
LaRouche and his Schiller Institute.
That's because they like a different frequency.
Now, that meeting in 1939 actually did take
place, but the frequency wasn't set because
world war 2 broke out shortly after so no
one had time to officially set anything.
But in 1917, the American Federation of Musicians
had agreed to use 440 Hz as their standard
tuning so by default 440 became the norm.
And in 1975 the International Standards Organisation
officially recognised 440 Hz as the official
tuning frequency.
But it hasn't always been that way.
Like I said, there have been many variations
from town to town and city to city.
But the most popular one is the frequency
432 Hz, also referred to as Verdi's "A", named
after Giuseppe Verdi, a 19th century composer
and it was also called the Scientific "A"
because, by using the Schumann Resonance,
(yes, nice and fancy sounding) the Earth has
a frequency of 8 cycles per second, or 8 Hz,
and when you double that after 5 octaves you
end up with Middle "C" at 256 Hz and "A" at
432 Hz.
Now because these measurements are made from
the Earth, they are thought to be more natural.
These frequencies keep humanity in tune with
nature.
So that's why people want to use 432 Hz as
the official tuning standard and not 440 Hz.
Now, what's this got to do with perfect pitch?
All it means is that the notes that we use
and the frequencies that we use are not absolute.
There is nothing intrinsically perfect or
absolute about "A" 440 Hz.
It could easily be "A" 432 Hz or "A" 415 Hz
or some other frequency.
We chose that frequency, it was an arbitrary
choice.
It wasn't handed down to us by some musical
deity or anything like that.
So what's so perfect or absolute about it?
Really, nothing.
So what's the big deal with perfect pitch?
I have no idea.
Just know this.
You do not need to waste your time trying
to develop perfect pitch, it's just not worth
your time or energy.
However, relative pitch is where you can spend
your time.
Being able to identify the distances between
notes.
That way when you're listening to music you
can analyse it better, along with pattern
recognition.
those are the skills that you really want
to focus on.
So I don't know how our friends out there
with perfect pitch would feel about this video,
I don't know if you like it, if you've got
perfect pitch let me know how you feel about
it in the comments.
Is perfect pitch a blessing or a curse.
Let me know.
And if you've ever met somebody or worked
with someone with perfect pitch, let me know
what that experience was like, you can let
me know in the comments as well.
Now, if you liked this video, click on the
like button, share it with your friends and
subscribe.
I'd greatly appreciate it.
That's about it for today for perfect pitch.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
See you soon, take care.
