How to Learn Perfect Pitch
Perfect pitch is the ability to clearly distinguish musical tones. People with perfect pitch can hear any musical tone and immediately recognize which note it is. They can also recognize musical chords and hear the separate notes that make up a harmony. Most people who have perfect pitch were born with it. However, this does not mean you can't learn to have perfect pitch. Training your musical ear to clearly distinguish musical tones takes years of practice and a tremendous amount of dedication.
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Instructions
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Choose any note and attempt to sing it from memory, then play that note on your instrument to see how close you were. Try another note. This is one exercise to help you begin to memorize the unique sound of each note. Repeat this step over and over.
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Play a note on your instrument and listen to it closely. Close your eyes and keep playing the note over and over. Focus on the specific qualities you hear in the note that make its pitch unique. In order to learn the difference between green and red, you had to be shown an example of each and then told they were different. Then you memorized which one was which. Musical notes are the same. You have to train your ear to know the difference between notes by carefully listening to each note over and over and observing their differences.
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Play a note on your instrument, then try to match the pitch with your voice. It does not matter if you aren't a singer. This will help you internalize the note.
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Close you eyes and imagine the sound of a note in your mind. Really try to hear the pitch in your head. The same way a person a can close their eyes and visualize an image, a person can close her eyes and hear a note; it just takes practice. Sing the note you are attempting to hear in your head and then check it against your instrument.
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Take singing lessons. Even if you do not want to be a singer, this exercise will help you learn perfect pitch. Vocal coaches will teach you how to internalize and memorize a melody, which is an important aspect of developing perfect pitch.
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Tips & Warnings
Match any pitch you hear with your voice. Any time you hear a sound that sounds musical to you, such as a door chime, a car horn, etc., attempt to sing its pitch. Musical tones are all around us. Take advantage of this extra practice.
References
- Photo Credit Piano image by Guillaume BAUDRY from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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rpawlak
Feb 10, 2011
Great article. Trying to develop Perfect Pitch can be a long tedious process. I found a fun way to do it. Try playing a computer game called Perfect Pitch Pursuit. It was created by Smartwave Software and can be downloaded from their website, or from cnet. My son has been using it and making great progress.
