I recently realized my perfect pitch is a bit interesting in some ways, and wondering if anyone else has something similar to this.
I perceive notes in Do Re Mi Fa….so on at the fixed pitch (for me, C=Do, D=Re), and hear them like they are sung (for me every instrumental music has lyrics).
This works the same for any random everyday sounds too – if I hit a cup in front of me, people say it sounds like ding-, dang-, or whatever – but for me it sounds like “Mi-”.
So it seems that I do have perfect pitch.
However, my pitch is not THAT perfect. I sometimes find my pitch perception to be off a half step. Sometimes I hear a song in F# and think it’s in F, and realize I was wrong after trying to play along with my instrument.
I also heard that some people with perfect pitch can’t stand listening to a piano (or any) tuned quarter step down. For me that never happens. If a song in F was played on that piano, I perceive it as either in E or F. If someone asks me to sing F#, it’s a bit confusing, and can be a bit off. So my perfect pitch is somehow passive.
Also it’s interesting that I can transpose what I hear if I focus. If I hear an Eb scale and keep telling myself it’s an Ab scale, I start perceiving that scale as Ab scale, and other notes played after as well(up fourth or down fifth). I can move my pitch up or down like this, and when I do this the “lyrics” of the songs gets automatically transposed as well, but this goes back to concert pitch if I lose my focus, and this is generally hard for songs with fast passages.
This is quiet convenient when I change the key of what I play, or change the key of the instrument. Kinda works automatically. I heard some people with perect pitch have difficulties with transposition, and I never had such a problem since transposition was automatic in a way. I play Bb sax, and while I generally hear everything in concert pitch, I hear everything a whole step up when I was playing my sax.
So I am guessing my perfect pitch is kind of flexible, just like relative pitch. Some told me what I have is relative pitch, so I tried the perfect pitch test from UofC website and got nearly perfect.
But I recently felt my perfect pitch is too blurred by playing a Bb sax, so I decided to work on a new fingering so that I can play sax like it’s in C. Before I changed my fingering it bothered me a little, because when I cut in and trying to play a note, I sometimes find myself playing a note that’s a whole tone low, and needed to change my pitch perception. There was a time I did try to move my original pitch perception a whole tone up, but realized it was impossible.
Then now I got quite comfortable with the new fingering, and feel much more comfortable with playing along or with others, since my pitch perception can always stay in a fixed pitch and I can play whatever I want to play at any moment without confusion.
Anyways, I feel like I talked too much about useless stuff. So, I was just wondering, are there any who has perfect pitch perception similar to mine? (not too perfect and flexible at the same time..?)
I perceive notes in Do Re Mi Fa….so on at the fixed pitch (for me, C=Do, D=Re), and hear them like they are sung (for me every instrumental music has lyrics).
This works the same for any random everyday sounds too – if I hit a cup in front of me, people say it sounds like ding-, dang-, or whatever – but for me it sounds like “Mi-”.
So it seems that I do have perfect pitch.
However, my pitch is not THAT perfect. I sometimes find my pitch perception to be off a half step. Sometimes I hear a song in F# and think it’s in F, and realize I was wrong after trying to play along with my instrument.
I also heard that some people with perfect pitch can’t stand listening to a piano (or any) tuned quarter step down. For me that never happens. If a song in F was played on that piano, I perceive it as either in E or F. If someone asks me to sing F#, it’s a bit confusing, and can be a bit off. So my perfect pitch is somehow passive.
Also it’s interesting that I can transpose what I hear if I focus. If I hear an Eb scale and keep telling myself it’s an Ab scale, I start perceiving that scale as Ab scale, and other notes played after as well(up fourth or down fifth). I can move my pitch up or down like this, and when I do this the “lyrics” of the songs gets automatically transposed as well, but this goes back to concert pitch if I lose my focus, and this is generally hard for songs with fast passages.
This is quiet convenient when I change the key of what I play, or change the key of the instrument. Kinda works automatically. I heard some people with perect pitch have difficulties with transposition, and I never had such a problem since transposition was automatic in a way. I play Bb sax, and while I generally hear everything in concert pitch, I hear everything a whole step up when I was playing my sax.
So I am guessing my perfect pitch is kind of flexible, just like relative pitch. Some told me what I have is relative pitch, so I tried the perfect pitch test from UofC website and got nearly perfect.
But I recently felt my perfect pitch is too blurred by playing a Bb sax, so I decided to work on a new fingering so that I can play sax like it’s in C. Before I changed my fingering it bothered me a little, because when I cut in and trying to play a note, I sometimes find myself playing a note that’s a whole tone low, and needed to change my pitch perception. There was a time I did try to move my original pitch perception a whole tone up, but realized it was impossible.
Then now I got quite comfortable with the new fingering, and feel much more comfortable with playing along or with others, since my pitch perception can always stay in a fixed pitch and I can play whatever I want to play at any moment without confusion.
Anyways, I feel like I talked too much about useless stuff. So, I was just wondering, are there any who has perfect pitch perception similar to mine? (not too perfect and flexible at the same time..?)