How to Develop a Winning Pitch for Musicians: Tips for Success

Some researchers say that perfect pitch happens in 1 in 10,000 people. So, is it possible to develop perfect pitch? In this article, we will find out what perfect pitch means and how to train your ear to achieve this goal. 

What is Perfect Pitch

A perfect pitch is a trainable skill based on associative memory when the musician immediately recognizes the note as soon as it’s played without any reference tone. Such a person can easily reproduce the given note on a musical instrument. The act of recognizing the note happens so instinctively as if the person sees a specific color and names it without thinking.

Things You Should Know About Perfect Pitch

Perfect pitch (also known as absolute pitch) is more common in people who started pitch-based musical training at an early age (before age 6). Although adults can also develop perfect pitch, it doesn’t automatically mean that every adult successfully achieves this goal.

It’s also important to understand that not all people with perfect pitch have developed it to the same degree. It means some musicians can hear it only when notes are played on their primary instrument, for instance, only on trumpet or piano, while others can identify notes on various instruments. Some people easily sing notes from memory without any reference, also known as aural recall. While other musicians hear notes played on the instrument but cannot reproduce them vocally.

What musicians with basic perfect pitch can do:

• playing notes one at a time in random locations on their instrument;
• reproducing notes almost instantly, as perfect pitch doesn’t require a long time to recognize them;
• correctly identifying 95% or more of notes;
• accurately tuning instruments without a tuner;
• transcribing music quickly and precisely.

Perfect vs. Relative Pitch 

Perfect pitch helps musicians learn what others are playing. They can easily transcribe songs of their favourite musicians or just have a basic idea of what those people do. You can develop absolute pitch with regular training, however relative pitch can also be enough for you as a musician to accomplish necessary musical tasks.

Relative pitch is the ability to recognize intervals — the distance between two notes — and determine notes by comparing them to a known reference pitch. Most trained musicians have good relative pitch, even if they don’t have perfect pitch.

What musicians with basic relative pitch can do:

• identifying notes with a reference note;
• identifying melodies and harmonies by ear;
• transposing music into different keys;
• understanding the structure and progression of music.

A relative pitch is a powerful skill that helps musicians understand harmony, melody, and structure on a deeper level. Many world-class musicians rely entirely on strong relative pitch.

How to Improve Your Skill: Exercises to Develop Your Pitch 

Hearing pitch is not magic but a learnable skill. Starting with a few notes, you can gradually train your ear to recognize chords. Actually, people tend to make ear training more complicated than it can be, while it’s similar to studying a vocabulary. First you hear words that are unfamiliar but with more practice you start to recognize them when someone is speaking and remember them better. Training your ability to recognize pitch is all about taking one sound and doing enough repetitions to help your ear immediately recognize it.

You can become really good at identifying notes and chords through consistent ear training and pitch association exercises.

Here are some exercises to try:

1. Single-Note Identification

Start with C — play it and give yourself time to familiarize yourself with it. This will be your starting or reference note. The next step is to play another note but without looking at keys. Alternatively, you can ask someone else to play it for you. Then guess what note it is. You can work in both directions — playing higher or lower than a reference note. First you can make an exercise simpler and ask the person who plays for you to play two notes, for instance, E or G. Your goal is working out which one was played.

2. Double-Note Identification

Use C as a reference tone and play another two notes at once either higher or lower than C. Try to identify both notes.

Tip on doing this exercise: You should sing a scale (C major) in your head until you hear the given note.

If it’s still difficult — take a step back and give yourself time to sing each note of the major scale to match your voice perfectly to the note you play.

3. Interval Recognition

This exercise helps you recognize the distances between two notes. Start with seconds or thirds. Sing two notes and pay attention to the difference between them. Play a first note on the piano, then sing a second note at a distance on a second or third interval, and then play it to check whether you sing it right. Practice playing and singing intervals upwards and downwards until you can easily recognize common distances like seconds, thirds, fifths, and octaves.

Tip on doing this exercise: Start with a comfortable range and expand it as you improve your skill.

4. Singing along with major and minor scales

Play scales and sing them, ensuring your voice clearly lands on each note as you play it.

5. Chord Identification

Listen to simple chord progressions and reproduce them by singing or playing them on your instrument. In this way, you can train your ear for structure and harmony. Start with two or three chord progressions and then move to complex melodies.

Final Word

Relative and perfect pitch is a trainable skill. While perfect pitch sounds impressive for many beginners, relative pitch is believed to be more practical and widely achievable. You can develop solid relative pitch through pitch recognition exercises such as singing scales, identifying notes, intervals, using ear training apps, and more.

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