quayster@arkham.wimsey.bc.ca (Tony Chung) (03/24/91)
In light of the recent discussion in THIS group about perfect pitch, I should share my own personal experiences with the Burge course. Anyone who thinks that the tapes will subliminally implant perfect pitch into your brain has got another think coming. The first two tapes are of the seminar he always gives at his lectures. The next two discuss common problems that people have regarding the idea of "colour hearing". Out of 6 tapes, so far the first 4 only try to sell you on the idea that you NEED perfect pitch, in addition to relative pitch, in order to become a complete musician. Of course we NEED perfect pitch! After all, we shelled out $100 for the course, and all the guy does is sell us on something we've already bought!! For this reason alone, the course he advertises isn't worth the money. However, he does provide a system for learning how to first compare tones with one reference note (the burning process), then later transferring that comparison so that you comapre each note to itself. Then voila! You have perfect pitch memory. A 'C' sounds like a 'C', because that's what it is. I've been working with a partner for the past 6 months, drilling each other on pitches through the exercises for 10-20 minutes each, every day. While I have shown remarkable success, having had some degree of pitch memory before taking the course, my partner is still trying to figure out why the 'A' sounds like an 'Eb' David Burge offers a system, and, like most systems, it works for some people, but not everybody. He teaches perfect pitch the way he claims he learned it. First, by immersing himself in the field of pitch discrimination; then second, by giving up. The moment he gave up, he realised that everything around him had different pitches, and he could name them. I guess it's just a matter of letting your mind work for you. I would like to know what instruments those with perfect pitch learned on. The people I know who have developed this skill so far have been piano players, violinists, and trumpeters. I have yet to see a drummer with perfect pitch; which indicates that some sense of pitch training early on is important -- one does not emerge from the womb saying, "that doctor's scissors cut at an Eb!" For myself, I'm a late blooming keyboard player, who usually practises on out-of-tune pianos. When I heard someone tune a piano, and people asked me to name notes, I had to guess flatter, because I'm so used to hearing notes at certain degrees that really-in-tune sounds sharp. If only there was some way I could regulate this. Well, if you've stuck with my rambling this far, I appreciate the time you're giving through eyestrain. When next we meet, kemo sabe. +- Tony Chung -----------------+ \ ^ | quayster@cynic.wimsey.bc.ca | -- o- | quayster@arkham.wimsey.bc.ca | ) "Sig's keep getting shorter +----------------- Tony Quays -+ (____, every day..." --Myron Lewis
carroll@ssc-vax (Jeff Carroll) (03/25/91)
In article <3qaBZ2w164w@arkham.wimsey.bc.ca> quayster@arkham.wimsey.bc.ca (Tony Chung) writes: > >I would like to know what instruments those with perfect pitch learned >on. The people I know who have developed this skill so far have been >piano players, violinists, and trumpeters. I have yet to see a drummer >with perfect pitch; which indicates that some sense of pitch training >early on is important -- one does not emerge from the womb saying, "that >doctor's scissors cut at an Eb!" > My first instrument was piano (at age 4), followed by trumpet, organ, and guitar. I think that perfect pitch probably correlates with early musical training more than anything else. My pitch sense is mental pitch memory. I can remember the F I sang this morning, and I can remember the A-flat I sang every morning when I was in high school. No humming, or thinking of colors, or any of that garbage. Thanks to the psychologist at Marconi who took the trouble to post the definition in his reference. That should put a lot of the old wives' tales about heredity to rest. -- Jeff Carroll carroll@ssc-vax.boeing.com