My understanding is that relative pitch has many levels. With regard to the list member who referred to "Modus Novus", I too have found many who had difficulty with the non-diatonic and confusing enharmonic spellings that appear in this very fine sight-singing exercise book. Some people have very good diatonic relative pitch, but many do not extend their experience into the chromatic and atonal.
There are many students (and I discovered this in my two years as a teaching fellow in the ear-training dept. at Juilliard) who have perfect pitch in relationship to their instrument. There was one fellow who could accurately write every dictation as long as he was writing F horn pitch. He could not make the transposition immediately, but naturally could re-write the transcription. All he needed to do was master the mezzo-soprano clef! Another student could not take dictation unless he pretended to play his flute. Somehow the physical crutch enabled him to hear pitch perfectly. One time, I received a call from Lowell Greer to play second horn in an orchestra which was accompanying him on a Mozart Concerto using period instruments. There were other pieces on the program. I am not a natural horn player by any means, but he provided the instrument and the mouthpiece, and I (hopefully) did not embarrass myself. I did find myself pretending to depress valves as I played different notes in different keys. I was quite surprised at how much that small crutch improved my accuracy. It was also helpful to have R.J. Kelly sitting to my left and being the terrific colleague he always is. O. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Hans.Pizka Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 11:24 AM To: 'The Horn List' Subject: RE: [Hornlist] pitch There is also the "acquired perfect pitch", means the "a" is fix stored in the memory. There is a lot of education involved. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Wester Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 2:24 PM To: horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: Re: [Hornlist] pitch I've always heard the term "relative pitch" used for those having quite good ears, but not quite perfect pitch. I put myself in that catagory. Some who can sing a pitch cold most of the time, knows proper intervals, plays in tune, yet probably coudln't tell you if a solitary note was sharp or flat or in tune with any regularity. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What kind of pitch do you have if you can cold sing a middle c 75% of the time? _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/ndspmustang%4 0yahoo.com --------------------------------- Love cheap thrills? Enjoy PC-to-Phone calls to 30+ countries for just 2ยข/min with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka. de _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/pandolfi%40deerfield.edu _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
