You may have heard the terms “perfect pitch” or “absolute pitch.” Basically, a person with perfect pitch can identify the name of a tone. This is similar to how you can identify that a color is blue or red or yellow.
Having perfect pitch goes a bit deeper than that. It is similar to the ability or discriminating between vermilion and scarlet or sea-foam and turquoise.
This is important mostly when a musician is looking at a piece of music and wants to be able to sing that melody. One can sing it in one’s mind while reading the music but without the aid of an instrument.
When does one begin learning perfect pitch?
Absolute pitch can be learned at an early age with an instrument that is tuned to our Western pitches. Reviewing the tones with your child early and often will allow your child to develop perfect pitch. You can even do it if you are not musically inclined.
Again, it is a useful skill to have. Albeit, if your child does not eventually learn to read music, there is little value in it, like being able to identify spices by taste but not being able to read a recipe.
Personally, I am in the category of relative pitch. I cannot identify a tone by its absolute name. For example, I’ll tell you that the color is blue-green, but I can’t tell you that it is teal or aquamarine. However, I can use my relative pitch to stay within a palette (teal, persimmon, and peach as opposed to aqua, sand, and silver. I like colors. 😉)
I use my relative pitch to stay within the palette when reading music – or the key signature of the scales. After I know the initial tone, I can read the music and sing. If the notes are going up, down, or repeating, I follow that with my pitch.
If you practice training your child’s ear, make sure that your instrument is tuned. Use free videos with perfect pitch training on YouTube. Go a little at a time, a few minutes per session, several times a week. Set a goal to eventually have your child learn to read music to use his or her skills to the fullest.
