i think there are a few indian musicians who have an absolute pitch sense. indian musicians set their pitch before each performance (apart from a few instruments like the veena where it is fixed) so it is possible that the existence of an absolute pitch sense has no relationship to the setting of a concert pitch standard. umashankar
i have published my poems. read (or buy) at http://stores.lulu.com/umashankar > Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:22:00 +0100 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Sursound] The Sound of Vision (Mirage-sonics?) > > On 12/06/2012 11:55, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote: > > On 06/12/2012 11:32 AM, Richard Dobson wrote: > >> It is also a concept that > >> needs clarification not least with respect to questions of temperament - > >> do people with absolute pitch insist on 12T Equal Temperament based on > >> A=440? Or it is a broad categorical distinction, like recognising red as > >> red and green as green? > > > > a co-student of mine who has absolute pitch perception expressed > > difficulty in sight-reading (and singing) old music at A=415 Hz (much > > like transposing on sight on a piano), but felt no discomfort on a bar > > piano at 437 (plus minus a few beers that had been poured in over the > > years) or on a crisp concert grand at 442. > > > > > > Interesting. While definitely not having absolute pitch, I count myself > among the musicians (generally not string players) who for whatever > reason find 440 a tad high, and who left to our own devices may well > gravitate towards the old "Philharmonic" pitch standard of 435. The > Berlin Phil regularly played and recorded at anything up to 452, roughly > corresponding to the old English "sharp pitch". > > The historical antecedents would be a great research topic; given that > absolute pitch at least appears to be in whatever way a selective but > innate (genetic?) faculty, it must have existed in one form or another > well before pitches became standardised. It is well known, for example, > that even within the same town, different churches would operate at > different pitches, and that flute players, for example, had to carry > around several alternative middle-joints ("corps de rechange") in order > to comply with widely varying pitch standards. Therefore, in those > times, "absolute pitch", if recognised at all, must itself have been > somewhat relative. > > Richard Dobson > _______________________________________________ > Sursound mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/private/sursound/attachments/20120612/75e994cf/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list [email protected] https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
