ABSOLUTE PITCH- The ability to recognize or produce any given note, by name, without the aid of an instrument or reference tone.

PERFECT PITCH- Absolute pitch.

RELATIVE PITCH- The ability to recognize or produce any given note by comparing it to a reference tone.

-According an article in Scientific America (2020), 1 to 5 out of every 10,000 people have perfect pitch.

-One out of every ten thousand Americans have absolute pitch. The people in China, who speak Mandarin, the rates can be up to 9 times higher. According to a study released in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (2004), depending on the age music was introduced to the student, the Mandarin speaking music students who have perfect pitch range from 40%-60%. That’s compared to Americans who began at similar ages whose ranges max out at around 12%.

-Most scientists maintain that when music is introduced during the early stages of development (6 years or younger) the chances of absolute pitch development is increased. Some researchers believe it is related to memory and other cognitive functions. These functions change and lessen over time. In some studies, absolute pitch has changed and lessened for the aging population (especially if they don’t use it).

PERFECT PITCH is the ability to recognize or sing a given isolated note without the use or assistance of an instrument or a tuning mechanism. People with perfect pitch can often accomplish the following:

     1.Identify by name individual pitches played on any given instrument.
     2.Name the key a given piece of tonal music.
     3.Identify and name all the tones of a given chord or other tonal mass.
     4.Name the pitches of common everyday non musical sounds.

     *The ability to sing a note on demand appears to be less common.

RELATIVE PITCH is the ability to recognize or produce a musical tone at its correct pitch according to its relative position in a scale. Here are some ways to improve your relative pitch (in the recommended order):

     1.Practice interval recognition.
     2.Learn to recognize chord qualities.
     3.Learn to recognize chord progressions.
     4.Test it with a friend, ideally a fellow musician.

A study published in Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience (2013) argued that the drug valproate could reopen that critical learning period for adults. This is the period in which it is thought that childeren can aquire perfect pitch. Later a study conducted by Prof. Howard Nusbaum, Shannon Heald, Stephen Van Hedger, and Rachelle Koch showed that perfect pitch might be more approachable than previously thought and that it could be related to one's auditory working memory (the ability to recall and assign meanings to sounds). A part of this study was an 8 week training period of note memorization. By then end some without perfect pitch displayed the same accuracy as those with perfect pitch and some did not. Another part of the study showed that those with perfect pitch could be “re-tuned”. In some instances, they would play a 20 minute symphony for people with perfect pitch while gradually dropping the overall pitch by a few semitones. Some didn't . Some did. Ultimately this study argues that perfect pitch might not be as exclusive as previously thought and that it may can be approached later in life.