I'm sorry, I think I've maybe misunderstood "relative pitch" as a
term.
> What if the ensemble is not tuned to the standard at which you have
> memorized the pitches? In such a case I would expect perfect pitch
to be a hinderance. I certainly don't want any of my singers singing
the correct pitch according to A=440 if the rest of the ensemble
happens to be elsewhere. I want them to listen and to the ensemble
and to relate their pitches to the rest of the group through their
skill of relative pitch.
I understand exactly what you mean there!! When I was doing my music
degree there was a student who had "perfect pitch" and he would
really complain if he was listening to recordings and they weren't at
A=440. I regret never asking him how he would cope somewhere where
A=440 was not the standard. He was an excellent 'cellist but did
have difficulties when playing in the orchestra because he figured
everyone else was out of tune!!!
> When I work on a piece intensely I often find that I can remember
the
> starting pitch quite accurately, but I think that good short-term
> memory and relative pitch are the skills needed for transcribing. I
> don't see how perfect pitch is relevant.
There again, the 'cellist above could listen to a piece and knew
every note being played and could just jot it down. I guess the
advantage of that is that it's quicker than going "ok that's middle
C, up a third ... E up a fourth ...a" etc. He just thinks C-E-a
because he hears them as specific notes rather than intervals.
Sorry if I'm waffling on here, it's just something that I wished I
had - the ability to just hear a note and name it. Then again ......
it is also a hinderance!!!
Kirsty
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