Perfect Pitch in a Pill

[ElRay]

I realize this forum is a bit conservative, but I'm honestly surprised at how puritanical and cautious y'all trend.

Valid science has nothing to do with conservative/puritanical attitudes. Conservative/puritanical attitudes, if anything, are typically anti-science.

Ray

 

[The Reverend]

I'll wait until there's more research done on the subject, but honestly, if I had the means to test it myself, I would. There's something to be said for sacrificing the solidity of your stool for science, I think.

I could be a bit looser with my precautionary instinct than most, though. I was in a string of drug trials for a couple years because they paid me a lot and I got free healthcare. As far as that went, I'm relatively normal and healthy now, and three of the studies were with drugs tailor-made to play games with my brain chemistry.

Let the man do what he wants to do.

 

[Hollowway]

Well this thread has taken a weird turn. I figured we'd be talking about how plait using the brain could fundamentally change the way life is lived in the future. Pitch seems like small potatoes compared to the ability to learn new languages without accent, unlearn damage caused by abuse, etc. I didn't read the study to tell if it was done well enough to be legitimate, but even if there is something to it, research in this area could be the mental equivalent of stem cells.

And I, too, would take a soft stool in exchange for perfect pitch.

 

[p0ke]

I'm really quite surprised by the number of people in this thread claiming to have perfect pitch. I was under the impression that it's incredibly rare.

See, I don't consider myself to have perfect pitch. But if I hear a song, I can usually figure out how it goes on the guitar. I can match the sounds, but I don't necessarily know what notes the are (and that's mostly because I've never practiced much music theory on a guitar, especially de-tuned). I can hear a scale and tell you if it's major or minor and then slide my finger up the piano till I get to the note and then look down and see what it is. I can tune a guitar without checking with the harmonics/5th fret. I don't think this is perfect pitch.

I used to know someone in high school who DID have perfect pitch. He told me that the sounds he hears are as vividly different as colors to the eye. You could literally drum on your desk or hit a music stand with a pencil and he could tell you what note it was. He actually said he didn't really like having it because it drove him crazy when 90% of the pianos he plays are out of tune. We could also go up to a piano and like slam down on 10 random keys like a big retarded chord and he would tell you what they were without hesitation. The kid was weird, I'm telling you. You guys really all have perfect pitch?

That's what I thought too.
I mean, I've got a pretty good ear, for example our keyboard player usually comes up with riffs in his head, but can't play them on his keyboard, so he hums them instead and then I play them on the guitar, but that's not what I consider perfect pitch. I can't tune my guitar precisely to concert tuning without any kind of reference (although I guess I could teach myself how to do it by cheating using my tinnitus as a reference and no, don't worry, my hearing is perfect according to every possible medical test, I just have this very faint ringing in my head all the time), and I sure as hell can't name notes played on an instrument, let alone being tapped on a table etc.
So no offence, but are you guys completely sure?

Oh and by the way, I don't believe this pill will work, but if it does, then good for you

 

[Grand Moff Tim]

I used to know someone in high school who DID have perfect pitch. He told me that the sounds he hears are as vividly different as colors to the eye. You could literally drum on your desk or hit a music stand with a pencil and he could tell you what note it was. He actually said he didn't really like having it because it drove him crazy when 90% of the pianos he plays are out of tune. We could also go up to a piano and like slam down on 10 random keys like a big retarded chord and he would tell you what they were without hesitation. The kid was weird, I'm telling you. You guys really all have perfect pitch?

Almost sounds like you're describing someone with perfect pitch and synesthesia.

Synesthesia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Hyacinth]

What if it not only returned the brain plasticity to age 7, but also all the cognitive functions of your brain back to a juvenile state. That would suck.

 

[JPhoenix19]

I used to know someone in high school who DID have perfect pitch. He told me that the sounds he hears are as vividly different as colors to the eye. You could literally drum on your desk or hit a music stand with a pencil and he could tell you what note it was. He actually said he didn't really like having it because it drove him crazy when 90% of the pianos he plays are out of tune. We could also go up to a piano and like slam down on 10 random keys like a big retarded chord and he would tell you what they were without hesitation. The kid was weird, I'm telling you. You guys really all have perfect pitch?

There's relative pitch, which I'd gamble is what most who say they have perfect pitch actually have. From what I was taught, relative pitch could be developed to effectively be like perfect pitch, but there was still a difference. What your describing sounds like literal perfect pitch.

I know I have some innate relative pitch, because I can hear songs I'm familiar with in my head (for the most part), and have picked out songs or parts of songs from memory of what I've heard. I can also *almost* tune a guitar by ear, in that I get it close to pitch.

 

[wespaul]

I'm fine with the relative pitch I've worked hard to develop. I have a bit of ADD, so I find it hard to practice the guitar for more than 20 minutes without my attention starting to wander. A lot of people tell me that there's medication that will help me, but I'm functioning with my own work-arounds.

Side note - anybody remember those old guitar magazine ads from the 90s with some dude balancing a tuning fork on the tip of his finger with the bold claim of being able to teach perfect pitch? Stuff like that always seemed like a scam.

 

[Andromalia]

Eh, I don't like the idea of anything messing with my brain chemistry, call me crazy.

Your wife/girlfriend/whatever won't like this.

 

[vilk]

Almost sounds like you're describing someone with perfect pitch and synesthesia.

Synesthesia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

lol, he didn't say that he sees colors when he hears sounds. But he tried to explain it as something like: You know how you see purple and blue and green, and they're like totally different things? For me C and D and E are just as much different. --When he was explaining being able to hear the drumming on a desk or hitting a music stand or pianos that are out of tune: You know how sometimes you see a color and you're not sure whether to call it blue or green or teal, that's what it's like for me to hear a sound that isn't a real note. I can tell you what note it's close to, but it's not really that note.

He also was like 5 foot and walked on his tiptoes all the time, and I'm pretty sure he was valedictorian. He was crazy good at like piano, viola, and one of those woodwind types.

 

[hairychris]

I always thought that perfect pitch was very rare too - and very annoying. You can't turn it off so *all* sounds are affected, and that squeaky chair becomes even more annoying as it's also out of tune.

Then again my relative pitch is pretty shocking too so whatever.

As for the drugs, well... the list of side-affects is fairly amusing. Then again the list of side-affects on any long-term medication is generally a horror show. Mine is.

Med-ing up for perfect pitch? Personally I wouldn't do it, but let us know how it goes.

 

[redstone]

I predict an increase in brain tumors.

 

[Veldar]

I don't have perfect pitch but that's why I own a tunner.

Even if the pills were available I don't think I'd try them, I'm confident with my music abilities as they are without taking enhancements.

 

[Nats]

Side note - anybody remember those old guitar magazine ads from the 90s with some dude balancing a tuning fork on the tip of his finger with the bold claim of being able to teach perfect pitch? Stuff like that always seemed like a scam.

But eventually he beat that smug bitch Becky at the piano competition.

 

[lucasreis]

I'm really quite surprised by the number of people in this thread claiming to have perfect pitch. I was under the impression that it's incredibly rare.

See, I don't consider myself to have perfect pitch. But if I hear a song, I can usually figure out how it goes on the guitar. I can match the sounds, but I don't necessarily know what notes the are (and that's mostly because I've never practiced much music theory on a guitar, especially de-tuned). I can hear a scale and tell you if it's major or minor and then slide my finger up the piano till I get to the note and then look down and see what it is. I can tune a guitar without checking with the harmonics/5th fret. I don't think this is perfect pitch.

I used to know someone in high school who DID have perfect pitch. He told me that the sounds he hears are as vividly different as colors to the eye. You could literally drum on your desk or hit a music stand with a pencil and he could tell you what note it was. He actually said he didn't really like having it because it drove him crazy when 90% of the pianos he plays are out of tune. We could also go up to a piano and like slam down on 10 random keys like a big retarded chord and he would tell you what they were without hesitation. The kid was weird, I'm telling you. You guys really all have perfect pitch?

The descriptions of your friend's perfect pitch are totally accurate. That's exactly how I feel. I'm very picky with instruments and I hate to listen to instruments out of tune. I also hate most cover bands when they can't really replicate an original song. Something out of tune (be it singing, or an instrument, or anything) is like a sin for someone with perfect pitch. I can tell you I really have it. I didn't really knew I had it until I started to read about it and I realized I had it. I can tell any tuning of any song, notes from water drops, pencils, any objects, really, anything. I don't really know how I developed it but I noticed my brother (which is a guitar player as well) also recognizes notes easily. An my mom, who don't play any instruments, but is a huge music fan, she doesn't really know which notes are which because she never studied musical theory or anything like that, but she always knows when something is out of tune, and she knows how to sing backing vocals with the exact needed notes to follow lead vocals, so I guess she has some form of perfect pitch without even knowing it! lol.

I guess it has something to do with genetics but our huge love for music made us develop it.

ps: As for the people in this thread, I believe in every single one who says they have perfect pitch.It IS rare in terms of general population. But remember, we are a niche forum, of extended range instruments, not the normal folk you find everywhere! hehehe - there are several skilled musicians here.

 

[EcoliUVA]

Given the chance, I would opt-in on any study/trial/etc for this. I do not have perfect pitch, and would be thrilled at the opportunity to acquire it. Likewise for synesthesia - I am fascinated. I would also be happy to subject myself to the constant bombardment of probably-not-very-musical noises. No pain, no gain.

Side effects schmide effects, GIMMAH!

 

[Nats]

I would actually love to get in on this. My wife is a music major. If I developed perfect pitch overnight (which she doesn't have), I would rub it in so hard.

 

[lucasreis]

Almost sounds like you're describing someone with perfect pitch and synesthesia.

Synesthesia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know how this feels, I have a bit of Synesthesia myself. I have a color for each note actually... each note represents a mood. It's hard to explain

I made a thread about this subject many years ago on this forum.

 

[8last]

I'll have to challenge the no known reports of adults developing perfect pitch. In my 20s I taught myself how to do by tattooing the pitches into my brain. Basically hearing a note and then playing a song in my head that I already know the key of.

 

[Captain Butterscotch]

I'm not talking out of my ass when I say that if this works, I will absolutely do it.