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Re: Perfect pitch study offers window into influences of nature and nurture
I have a personal experience to add. Many years ago I was in a touring band in Colorado and because I lived over 1 mile from my nearest neighbor and had a large dense living room that sounded terrific acoustically, my band often rehearsed there. My son, Jeff, was somewhere between 3 and 4 years of age then and one day, the next day after a practice he asked me the "name of the song that went "Little Sister la-la-la la-la-la la-la-la". At first I was just impressed that he even noticed and cared but that was quickly overshadowed by the distinct notion he had sung it in key! So I got my guitar and asked him to sing it again. I had taken a tip from Jimi and adopted tuning down one half step, so while we played it in G-Position, it was actually F Sharp. Jeff was singing exactly in F#. Soon he could sing the whole song, all in perfect step pitch wise even if a few of the words were less than clear but hey, that's rock 'n roll anyway right?
Here's the 2nd movement kicker. In 2 years his perfect pitch was gone and he could not sing Three Blind Mice in tune. However a few years later it began to return. By 10 he bought his first music album (it was a cassette then) which was "Louis Armstrong's Greatest Hits" and he could sing all the trumpet lines on cue as well as the lyrics. He can still, now that he's almost 30, hear a song once and days, weeks, months later, like me, sing it in the original key or transpose on command.
Very interesting article! Thanks.
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