Questions tagged [relative-pitch]
Relative pitch is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note by comparing it to a reference note by identifying the function of a given pitch and/or identifying the interval between those two notes. Relative pitch is often used in contrast to absolute pitch, or the ability to know pitches without reference to any other pitches.
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Relative and absolute tones: does this really make the difference?
Often, in improvisation, you think of the notes of the scale not as the actual notes you are playing but as the notes of the C scale. The concept I'm talking about is that of the movable C, or ...
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Why is absolute pitch so fetished/sought after in the Western music world? [closed]
I often come across accomplished musicians with good relative pitch (can figure out melodies, chord progressions) beating themselves up for not having absolute pitch. In general, reading people's ...
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1answer
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Is this an F below middle C? (check my relative pitch estimation plus my math)
I'm listening to a "tone" and estimating its frequency and need some help checking both my relative pitch estimation and my math.
In this noisy part of this video the Mars helicopter ...
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1answer
67 views
Why do I have more ease with the higher pitches?
There is something I always had, but then I realized now it is also affecting languages:
First, I do not have perfect pitch, but I can recognize the common intervals if I pay attention.
And, my last ...
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6answers
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Relative Pitch and Solfege
Can one teach themself relative pitch by using solfege?
Any tips or recommendations that I can implement in my journey to learning relative pitch? I understand fixed and moveable do already. Just ...
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6answers
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Why is it easier to remember a melody as opposed to a simple interval? [duplicate]
There's already a question similar to this here, but most of the answers raise questions like, "If you can throw an object a certain distance but not tell precisely how far you threw it, how do ...
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2answers
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Perfect or Relative Pitch? [duplicate]
I am wondering whether I simply have relative pitch, or some sort of pitch memory that is well developed. I can sing any note without a reference pitch that is sounded aloud, but does it count if I ...
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Is it possible to have perfect pitch but zero sense of relative pitch?
I'm sure that most musicians have a good sense of relative pitch. Given the name of a well-known song and a starting note, they can sing it in that key, whether or not it is the original key.
I have ...
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2answers
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Sometimes I naturally sing songs in the right key. Do I have perfect (absolute) pitch?
Sometimes I'll be singing a song, and then I'll play a recording and discover I was singing in the same key. Does this mean I have perfect pitch?
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Can someone have perfect/relative pitch without knowing it?
Hey so I've been in music for about 7 years now and it's gotten to the point where I've developed actual skill. I principle French Horn and second Trumpet (with self taught guitar on the side that ...
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2answers
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What part of the sound of notes to focus on while ear training to correctly identify notes?
I am using different instruments from my Keyboard to do ear training. In practicing ear training, i have learnt from the forums here that I should focus and pay attention to the pitch of the note. ...
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1answer
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Can I learn chromesthesia? [closed]
With enough repetition and practice, can I condition myself to associate colors with certain pitches?
Note: I am talking about a relative pitch here, within a certain key . . . so assigning colors to ...
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Finding intervals on an instrument vs. naming them
I would like to piggyback on this question: If someone can sing a melody, why can they not also recognize the intervals within that melody?
The OP is asking why it is easy to sing a song we know, ...
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If someone can sing a melody, why can they not also recognize the intervals within that melody?
Surely everyone who struggles with relative pitch already has in-built relative pitch, so why is it so hard to actually recognise intervals?
What I mean is from a child I (and most other people I ...
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5answers
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Do Musicians Who are Trained on Other Instruments Automatically Acquire Singing Ability?
I watched a guitarist on YouTube discuss some concept about harmony, and he played a note and sang an interval above. He prefaced with "now, I am not a good singer but...", and proceeded to sing notes ...
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4answers
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Exercises to go beyond basic relative pitch, and notice if any given interval is out of tune, by how much, and in which direction [closed]
Some people set a lot of store by "perfect pitch" but I feel that really good relative pitch is more important. What exercises can you suggest to improve this ability?
EDIT : perhaps I am not clear ...
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5answers
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Perfect pitch on only one instrument? [duplicate]
So I was wondering if, theoretically, it would be possible to have perfect pitch only on one instrument. For a bit of background, I grew up as a Suzuki cello student and thus have been playing the ...
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What is the term for people who sing lower pitch?
Coming from this question link I am looking for the English term for this singers: They might be able to sing in tune, but they sing always too low low pitch - singing only with the breast voice).
In ...
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Why do humans have relative pitch?
Why does the brain learn to form a strong connection between some pitches and other pitches like having the internal sense that two notes are a fifth apart?
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6answers
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Do we have any particular tonal center in mind when we are NOT listening music?
Let say I sing or play song in C major. I feel that C note as home, or in other words, it has the quality of the tonic note for me. I stop playing the song. After 24 hours or any longer period, ...
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2answers
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Sometimes I hear a top note that isn't there. Is this related to Harmonics?
When I try to copy a tune or watch other people play the piano, I sometimes hear a note that isn't there. Especially top note is the case. My teacher said that it is related to harmonics, told me that ...
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7answers
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How can I develop relative pitch if I have perfect pitch?
As someone with perfect pitch, I can do the usual things associated with perfect pitch such as name a note instantly without a reference note, name the key, and name a chord. Sight-singing comes ...
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1answer
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Do I have perfect pitch or good pitch memory?
So I started learning music theory this January 2019, I've learned very quickly from basic to advanced because I've been playing guitar (self-taught) for 9 years...
I can now identify any interval by ...
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3answers
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Having learnt all the intervals by ear, how does one learn whole melodies? [duplicate]
This might seem like an easy step, but having learned how to recognise all the intervals upto an octave: ascending, descending and harmonically, how does one figure out a melody by ear? I can pick out ...
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Help with transcribing? I don't exactly know what key and chord can this be [closed]
I'm trying to transcribe one of the tracks from Anachronox:
I'm very beginner at transcribing and my ears need much training as well.
I think I wrote the melody and,...
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Transcribing as music and relative pitch practice?
I've read some good transcriptions recently and watched transcribe videos from 8-Bit Music Theory on YouTube and I was thinking if it's considered to be a good relative-pitch / interval / music ...
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3answers
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Is relative pitch trainable from scratch?
I know perfect pitch is not obtainable for adults (I'm over 20.) and I accepted it, okay. I even watched Rick Beato's video about it (youtube.com/watch?v=816VLQNdPMM) and read about it on the internet....
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1answer
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What feelings or words are associated to the different major scale degrees? [closed]
I'm using the Alain Benbassat method for ear training: Listening to major scale notes in the context of the scale (e.g. after hearing I-IV-V-I) and trying to hear the scale degree.
I keep reading and ...
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2answers
681 views
is it possible to learn instrument based perfect pitch?
Perfect pitch is impossible to learn especially since I'm 19 years old but I have heard of people who developed perfect pitch on their instruments. For example, Aimee Nolte is able to listen to the ...
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3answers
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Absolute/relative pitch?
For a few years now, I've been trying to achieve some sort of absolute pitch. I realise it'll most likely never happen, but several times a day, as I walk past a musical instrument, I'll sing a ...
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3answers
228 views
How can I tell if I have good relative pitch or if I am just familiar with scales
I have been playing guitar for over 10 years now, and for more than half of those years I have studied under a tutor in order to force myself to learn new techniques and genres of music (everything ...
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1answer
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Perfect, Absolute, Relative Pitch [duplicate]
I've seen many quizzes on "perfect pitch and do you have it"? They all play sounds and ask you to name it. But perfect pitch or not wouldn't one have to have some music training to know the designated ...
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Recognizing intervals without interval songs?
I would love to know all my intervals by ear but where ever I search for help it says to learn interval songs e.g. Jaws theme for minor 2nd. I find this to be pretty ineffective honestly. I don't hear ...
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4answers
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Eartraining: What to learn after mastering interval recognition? [duplicate]
(This is for relative pitch, absolute pitch gods please don't descend from heaven)
I've been learning to recognize intervals for the past year or so, and I have to say I'm very good at it. (Mostly by ...
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1answer
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How does ear training help me find the key of a song?
I want to understand how ear training to identify different intervals helps me figure out what notes are in a song, and what key it's in.
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What is the difference between perfect pitch, pitch memorization and relative pitch?
I am confused by these terms. I heard perfect pitch is impossible to learn as an adult, but if you memorize all twelve notes in the chromatic scale in whichever octave, isn't that perfect pitch? If it ...
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Is absolute pitch acquired by training, genetic or both? And if possible, is it much harder than relative pitch?
I have heard many different views of people that absolute pitch is ONLY acquired by training, ONLY by genetics, by genetics but also possible with training or ONLY both. But what is the truth?
...
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2answers
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Hearing Intervals In A Song
Any tips on hearing the intervals that make up the particular sections of a song? I find it easy to identify intervals when I'm listening to them by themselves however when listening to songs in real ...
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Why do people with perfect pitch perceive tunes not in 440 Hz out of tune?
I do not have perfect pitch, but I heard that people who have it might have difficulty when a piece of music is not tuned to the usual 440 Hz pitch standard; it sounds out of tune for them.
But this ...
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4answers
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What level of pitch interval perception is typically necessary for a child to be considered to have some aptitude for violin study?
I've been a multi-instrumentalist for most of my 40+ years, and with violin as my first instrument, I take for granted an acute sense of relative pitch.
My seven-year-old daughter's school has ...
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4answers
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How can I learn to recognize intervals larger than an octave?
How can I learn to recognize intervals larger than an octave (compound intervals)? I recognize them in the limits of a single octave, but make mistakes when hearing larger ones. Perhaps it's because I ...
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2answers
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How important is pitch perception ability in musical creativity?
There are a few online tests that give you a measure of your pitch perception ability (such as the jake mandell tone deaf test). I took the test and I scored a 67% in my first attempt and 77% in my ...
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Which Blues notes are deliberately flattened?
@slim mentioned in this answer that:
In Blues music for example, some notes are deliberately flattened -- but others are not, and a listener with experience of the Blues would still spot badly ...
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4answers
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Is there a term for learned “perfect” pitch?
When I was about 11 years old, my music teacher tried to test me and started playing notes on the piano, expecting me to name them. I knew he was trying to see if I had perfect pitch, but I got them ...
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2answers
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Requesting useful suggestions on ear training, for developing perfect RELATIVE pitch [duplicate]
For those of you that care about it, how do YOU remember all your intervals? As more intervals have become second nature to me, its been a huge advantage in both creative soloing/composing, and for ...
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Is there a Relative Pitch Clef?
To start out: I am more-or-less familiar with all the standard musical clef notations, including F, C, and G clefs; as well as the fact that clefs can be movable (tenor clef, french violin clef...) ...
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Feasibility of practising music for a person who are almost tone deaf?
I've always had trouble with relative pitch and hearing music in general. When I was younger I couldn't tell you if it was a major or a minor chord I was hearing (when other people seemed to be fully ...
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A case of tone deafness or not enough practice?
I always wanted to play an instrument but ever since I was a kid I was told by my parents I was tone deaf, mostly because I have a terrible singing voice.
Now what I have read is that when your tone ...
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8answers
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Teaching a student to match pitch
I'm a piano teacher and I currently have a student that is taking voice lessons from another teacher. Our lessons involve me accompanying her and discussing interpretation and style. She has some ...
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1answer
859 views
Can you develop relative pitch just by playing music?
I started playing an electric piano (Yamaha EZ-40) about a few months ago. At around the same time I also used the software GNU Solfege to test myself. I must say I failed miserably at recognizing ...
