scholarly journals Perception of relative pitch with different references: Some absolute-pitch listeners can’t tell musical interval names

1995 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 962-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken’Ichi Miyazaki
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Musical Interval ◽  
Relative Pitch

scholarly journals Absolute Pitch and the Perception of Sequential Musical Intervals

1991 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
André-Pierre Benguerel ◽  
Carol Westdal
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Experiment ◽  
Musical Note ◽  
Musical Interval ◽  
Relative Pitch

When identifying musical intervals, most musicians appear to use only one strategy: they directly evaluate the musical interval between two notes (relative-pitch strategy). Musicians with absolute pitch (AP) seem to have two strategies available for identifying intervals: they can either use the relative-pitch strategy, or they can first identify the two pitches and then infer the musical interval between them (AP strategy). This study investigates the perception of sequential musical intervals by two groups of musicians, one group with AP and the other without AP. Most subjects in either group were able to name standard sequential musical intervals based on the equal-tempered scale accurately. Most subjects in the AP group were able to name notes of the equal-tempered scale accurately and consistently, whereas subjects without AP were not. Subjects with AP identified, with varying degrees of accuracy and consistency, single notes spaced in 20-cent increments over a 9.4- semitone range, using the standard musical note names. In the main experiment, subjects identified sequential musical intervals ranging in 20- cent steps from 260 to 540 cents, using the standard musical interval names. On the basis of their identification errors, subjects, both with and without AP, appeared to identify the intervals using the RP strategy rather than the AP strategy. It seems that musicians with AP do not use this ability in the identification of sequential musical intervals, relying instead on their sense of relative pitch.

Absolute Judgment of Musical Interval Width

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Aruffo ◽  
Robert L. Goldstone ◽  
David J. D. Earn
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Absolute Judgment ◽  
Musical Interval ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Musical Concepts ◽  
Interval Width ◽  
Musical Tone ◽  
The Absolute

When a musical tone is sounded, most listeners are unable to identify its pitch by name. Those listeners who can identify pitches are said to have absolute pitch perception (AP). A limited subset of musicians possesses AP, and it has been debated whether musicians’ AP interferes with their ability to perceive tonal relationships between pitches, or relative pitch (RP). The present study tested musicians’ discrimination of relative pitch categories, or intervals, by placing absolute pitch values in conflict with relative pitch categories. AP listeners perceived intervals categorically, and their judgments were not affected by absolute pitch values. These results indicate that AP listeners do not infer interval identities from the absolute values between tones, and that RP categories are salient musical concepts in both RP and AP musicianship.

Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch in Music Students in the East and the West

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken'ichi Miyazaki ◽  
Andrzej Rakowski ◽  
Sylwia Makomaska ◽  
Cong Jiang ◽  
Minoru Tsuzaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Music Students ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Japanese Students ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Musical Context

Absolute pitch (AP)—an ability to identify an isolated pitch without musical context—is commonly believed to be a valuable ability for musicians. However, relative pitch (RP)—an ability to perceive pitch relations—is more important in most musical contexts. In this study, music students in East Asian and Western countries (Japan, China, Poland, Germany, and USA) were tested on AP and RP abilities. In the AP test, 60 single tones were presented in a quasirandom order over a five-octave range. In the RP test, ascending musical intervals from 1 to 11 semitones were presented in four different keys. Participants wrote down note names in the AP test and scale-degree names or musical interval names in the RP test. The conservatory-level Japanese students showed the highest AP performance and more than half of them were classified as accurate AP possessors, but only 10% were classified as accurate RP possessors. In contrast, only a small percentage of participants from Poland, Germany, and the USA were identified as accurate AP possessors, whereas many more were accurate RP possessors. Participants from China were typically intermediate on both measures. These noticeable contrasts between AP and RP performance in different countries suggest influences of the underlying socio-cultural conditions, presumably relating to music education. Given the importance of RP in music, the results suggest that more emphasis should be place on RP training, particularly in East Asian countries.

scholarly journals Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception

NeuroImage ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 132-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Leipold ◽  
Marielle Greber ◽  
Silvano Sele ◽  
Lutz Jäncke
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Single Trial ◽  
Relative Pitch

Absolute pitch learning in adults speaking non-tonal languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 1908-1920
Author(s):  
Yetta Kwailing Wong ◽  
Vince SH Ngan ◽  
Leo YT Cheung ◽  
Alan C-N Wong
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
External Reference ◽  
Small Pitch ◽  
Early Childhood Experience ◽  
Language Exposure

Absolute pitch (AP) refers to labelling individual pitches in the absence of external reference. A widely endorsed theory regards AP as a privileged ability enjoyed by selected few with rare genetic makeup and musical training starting in early childhood. However, recent evidence showed that even adults can learn AP, and some can attain a performance level comparable to natural AP possessors. These training studies involved native tonal language speakers, whose acquisition of AP might be facilitated by tonal language exposure during early childhood. In this study, adults speaking non-tonal languages went through AP training that was 20-hr long, computerised and personalised. Performance on average improved, which was accompanied by enhanced working memory for tones, whereas relative pitch judgement and sensitivity to small pitch differences remained unchanged. Notably, two out of 13 learned to label all 12 pitches within an octave, with accuracy and response time comparable to natural AP possessors. Overall, the findings suggest that tonal language exposure is not a prerequisite for AP learning in adulthood. The understanding of the origin of AP would benefit from considering the role of lifelong learning instead of focusing only on early childhood experience.

scholarly journals Functional anatomy of musical processing in listeners with absolute pitch and relative pitch

1998 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 3172-3177 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Zatorre ◽  
D. W. Perry ◽  
C. A. Beckett ◽  
C. F. Westbury ◽  
A. C. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Functional Anatomy ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Relative Pitch

scholarly journals Electrophysiological Correlates of Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 760-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kosuke Itoh ◽  
Shugo Suwazono ◽  
Hiroshi Arao ◽  
Ken'ichi Miyazaki ◽  
Tsutomu Nakada
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Relative Pitch

scholarly journals Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Leipold ◽  
Marielle Greber ◽  
Silvano Sele ◽  
Lutz Jäncke
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Single Trial ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Pitch Processing ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Perception Time ◽  
Early Processing ◽  
Beta Frequency

AbstractPitch is a fundamental attribute of sounds and yet is not perceived equally by all humans. Absolute pitch (AP) musicians perceive, recognize, and name pitches in absolute terms, whereas relative pitch (RP) musicians, representing the large majority of musicians, perceive pitches in relation to other pitches. In this study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural representations underlying tone listening and tone labeling in a large sample of musicians (n = 105). Participants performed a pitch processing task with a listening and a labeling condition during EEG acquisition. Using a brain-decoding framework, we tested a prediction derived from both theoretical and empirical accounts of AP, namely that the representational similarity of listening and labeling is higher in AP musicians than in RP musicians. Consistent with the prediction, time-resolved single-trial EEG decoding revealed a higher representational similarity in AP musicians during late stages of pitch perception. Time-frequency-resolved EEG decoding further showed that the higher representational similarity was present in oscillations in the theta and beta frequency bands. Supplemental univariate analyses were less sensitive in detecting subtle group differences in the frequency domain. Taken together, the results suggest differences between AP and RP musicians in late pitch processing stages associated with cognition, rather than in early processing stages associated with perception.

Absolute Pitch and the P300 Component of the Event-Related Potential: An Exploration of Variables That May Account for Individual Differences

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bischoff Renninger ◽  
Roni I. Granot ◽  
Emanuel Donchin
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Auditory Task ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
P300 Component ◽  
Auditory Tasks ◽  
The Brain

Our primary goal has been to elucidate a model of pitch memory by examining the brain activity of musicians with and without absolute pitch during listening tasks. Subjects, screened for both absolute and relative pitch abilities, were presented with two auditory tasks and one visual task that served as a control. In the first auditory task (pitch memory task), subjects were asked to differentiate between diatonic and nondiatonic tones within a tonal framework. In the second auditory task (contour task), subjects were presented with the same pitch sequences but instead asked to differentiate between tones moving upward or downward. For the visual control task, subjects were presented again with the same pitch sequences and asked to determine whether each pitch was diatonic or nondiatonic, only this time the note names appeared visually on the computer screen. Our findings strongly suggest that there are various levels of absolute pitch ability. Some absolute pitch subjects have, in addition to this skill, strong relative pitch abilities, and these differences are reflected quite consistently by the behavior of the P300 component of the event-related potential. Our research also strengthens the idea that the memory system for pitch and interval distances is distinct from the memory system for contour (W. J. Dowling, 1978). Our results are discussed within the context of the current absolute pitch literature.

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