Perfect pitch

Some call it a curse, others a blessing: perfect pitch. The famous composers Beethoven, Mozart and Bach are said to have had it, but rock legends Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson are also rumoured to have possessed it: the ability to correctly identify or reproduce notes without a reference tone.

We want to get to the bottom of this phenomenon and clarify what perfect pitch is all about.

What is perfect pitch?

Perfect pitch is also known as pitch memory. It is an extraordinary and rare ability whereby people can identify a tone or note precisely without having heard a reference tone beforehand.

People with perfect pitch are therefore able to recognise a musical note being played without any other notes or sounds having been played beforehand - only the note in question. Some people can even sing these notes off the cuff.

It is estimated that less than 0.01 per cent of people worldwide have perfect pitch

Absolute vs. relative pitch

People with perfect pitch can reproduce a tone exactly without having heard it beforehand. So, if you ask such a person to sing an F, for example, they are able to do so without having heard an F or any other tone immediately beforehand.

People with relative pitch can only do this with the help of a reference tone. If, for example, you play an F for them, they are able to derive other notes from it, such as singing a G or an A, etc.

Why do some people have perfect pitch?

The question of why some people have perfect pitch has not yet been fully answered by research. There is not yet sufficient scientific evidence for the neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon.

However, it is assumed that in people with perfect pitch, larger areas of the auditory cortex are active during listening than in those without it. This is the part of the brain responsible for processing acoustic stimuli.

The ability appears to be hereditary. Studies have shown that genetic predisposition plays a role in perfect pitch.

Can perfect pitch be trained?

Until a few years ago, researchers were certain that perfect pitch was an exclusively innate ability. However, this view has since been disproved. Instead, it has been found that pitch memory can indeed be learned, though only by some children up to the age of 6.

There is therefore no such thing as absolute pitch training for adults. Instead, early musical education and intensive training can lead to young children consciously or unconsciously acquiring the ability to hear absolute pitch.

How many people have perfect pitch?

As already mentioned, only around 0.01 per cent of people worldwide have perfect pitch. That is approximately 10 in 100,000 people, probably fewer. However, there are regions of the world, for example in Asia, where the proportion is higher. The reason for this is likely the respective native language. This is because there are so-called tonal languages in which different intonation - that is, the pitch contour - is used to distinguish between meanings.

The pitch of the sounds can therefore alter the meaning of different words and sentences. These languages include Mandarin Chinese, one of the languages with the highest number of native speakers worldwide. As native languages are usually learnt in early childhood, early training of the ear to recognise different pitches in tonal languages appears to increase the likelihood of developing perfect pitch.

Perfect pitch: advantages and disadvantages

Whilst perfect pitch is a blessing for some people, it is a great burden for others.

For musicians in particular, perfect pitch can offer a number of advantages. For example, they are able to tune their instrument without a tuner. Singers with perfect pitch can also sing songs in the correct pitch without instrumental accompaniment.

On the other hand, this very ability can be a major disadvantage: many people with perfect pitch can immediately tell when an instrument is not perfectly in tune. What other people would not even notice can become a real source of stress for them. The same applies to singers with perfect pitch in a choir, who immediately notice any ‘errors’ in pitch, even though the choir actually sounds harmonious

Which famous musicians have perfect pitch?

Particularly in the world of music, there have been and continue to be several famous figures who possess perfect pitch, or who are at least said to have it. These include:

• Johann Sebastian Bach (German composer and musician, 1685 - 1750)
• Ludwig van Beethoven (German composer and pianist, 1770 - 1827)
• Frédéric Chopin (Polish composer and pianist, 1810 - 1849)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Austrian composer and musician, 1756 - 1791)
• Ray Charles (American soul musician and singer, 1930 - 2004)
• Mariah Carey (American pop musician and singer, 1969)
• Celine Dion (Canadian pop singer, 1968)
• Ella Fitzgerald (American jazz musician and singer, 1917 - 1996)
• Falco (Austrian musician, 1957 - 1998)
• Glenn Gould (Canadian pianist, 1932 - 1982)
• Jimi Hendrix (American rock musician and singer, 1942 - 1970)
• Whitney Houston (American R&B musician and singer, 1963 - 2012)
• Michael Jackson (American pop musician and singer, 1958 - 2009)
• Charlie Puth (American pop musician and singer, 1991)
• Brian Wilson (American musician and singer, The Beach Boys, 1942)
• Stevie Wonder (American soul and pop singer, 1950)

Further information: Cooking together in old age: Why culinary community is so valuable, fluid management in old age and When to see an audiologist.