Can You Learn Perfect Pitch?

Some people can identify a pitch without even looking at sheet music. Is it something they're born with or can it be learned?

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[mariabelleazemar]

I started playing piano at 4 years old..
I’m 14 now- where’s my perfect pitch 🤣🤣

[mertgokgoz]

it is so depressing to watch this when you are 22 years old. I will never be 6 again goddamn

[JimboCKW]

That wasn't a half step at the end lol

[OneWayD]

A to B is a full step. had you done B to C, your graphic would work.

[BBand]

I learned to identify absolute pitches in high school after seeing my music teacher do it. He said he learned it, and I could too. So I did. It basically came down to just memorizing each pitch by associating it with a song I knew or an open note on an instrument I was familiar with. With enough practice, I got faster at it.

[StaticR]

It kinda bothers me that you showed the note going up a whole step when you said half step. Getting your puns right is like the most important thing!

[tstthomason]

I've heard many horror stories about perfect pitch. Someone I've heard of was a choral student and she has rough times singing in ensembles sometimes because occasionally the rest of the ensemble will start out in a slightly different key and it is very difficult for her to match that key while still reading different notes on the staff

[wessrocket]

Channel talks about the most difficult math equations in history... don't know where is a half step in a music pentagram. 2:22 Love your channel :)

[jonathanmerrill]

I have perfect pitch; my choirmaster discovered it when I was about 7. When I went to music college, I met about a half dozen classmates who also had perfect pitch, and we would test each other by having two people play four notes on the piano simultaneously with our backs turned. I am now 72 and can still hear any piece and know what key it is being played in.

[thestupidfreakingcow]

Honestly, relative pitch tends to be more useful than perfect pitch. Especially if you are dealing with a different tuning system from 12tet. I'm not saying perfect pitch is useless, but you shouldn't feel bad if you don't have it.

[anthonyholroyd]

There's also something amongst singers called pitch memory. This is an ability to hear a note or a song and several hours, days or weeks later be able to start singing that same song in the right key. From my experience as someone who does have pitch memory I think this comes largely from knowing where the song ought to sit in your voice and thus being able to sing it from memory knowing how the notes should physically resonate in your throat or chest.

[JDavis-xinl]

Wait a minute... A natural to B natural? That's a whole step. Do you even music?

[gigaherz_]

I have ... limited pitch. I can easily recognize and reproduce a C note, but not really the other ones without comparing them with the C.

[SpawnAgainTV]

Great vid as always guys! I'm a guitarist and I didn't start any musical training until I was about 13. I've got pretty good (not perfect) pitch recognition and I learnt it by relating notes to songs in that key. I didn't learn that until I was about 15, so personally I've got my doubts. I think if you put your mind to it, you can learn it. It did take months of practice for me to get it right, but I got there. Children of six might be able to learn it faster, but I think anyone can still learn it with time!

[ramywiles]

YESSS <3 This kind of video totally feeds my ego, but I LOVE when people talk about perfect pitch. My teachers and I found out I had perfect pitch when I was in seventh grade... Everyone called it my [my name] Powers from then on. It was a blessing and a curse in high school; people trusted me to know what I was talking about when it came to music, but they also straight up screamed at me and asked me to tell them the note they screamed on (and of course I did). I didn't start musical training until I was 9, though, so I'm inclined to think I was born with it. In any case, it's served me well; I have a BA in music and I'm looking at making a career out of being a musician (and a dancer, though that came along much later and was aided much more by trained musicianship than by perfect pitch).

[mrwedge]

Started piano lessons at 6 and Mandarin was my first language. I basically have the opposite of perfect pitch :(

[IndigoXYZ]

I'm suprised that they didn't mention the Valporate study where in they found that drug induced perfect pitch learning is possible in adults. Perhaps they didn't want to encourage the use of this dangerous anticonvulsant drug.

[TzarinaMystra]

Super interesting--would love to see an episode about whether rhythm can be learned.

[gffypopcorn]

"Sort-of-perfect-pitch" is also commonly known as relative pitch. This is when one is able so find any note when given a fundamental note. For example, when given an A, they can find other pitches by way of audiation to find others relative to its position, this also can depend on how long that can keep a tonal center in their prolonged memory. Great video, thanks!

[MrVibriocholerae]

i thought you were going to teach us how to sell lol