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GG: Re: absolute pitch
Hi! Your discussion on absolute pitch has spurred my memory...
Some twenty years ago, I read about a certain Joseph(?) Joachim, a
violinist who sued the Royal Conservatory (London, cir. 1930's) for not
implementing the correct, absoulte pitch. I remember wondering how
something as preposterous as this could happen to a prestigious musical
institution.
I don't think its worth my time to research on the matter, but I still
wonder: Did this really happen? Or was it apocrypha? When exactly did
A440 become standardized?
I would be glad if someone can verify this for me, and tell me (since I
can't remember the source anymore) I didn't just make this up.
At 02:37 PM 12/10/96 EST, you wrote:
>
> Whether absolute pitch is important depends on what you are
> doing and who you are playing with. You have a lot of control
> over how you process auditory information, and if you want to,
> you can train yourself to recognizes pitches without an external
> reference (although it is somewhat harder to train yourself to
> recognize very small deviations from some fixed standard such as
> A-440). It is certainly easiest if you begin playing at a very
> young age or if you have a hereditary knack for identifying
> pitches.
>
> On the other hand, I started playing about the same time I
> started talking and I tend to hear sounds as intervals rather
> than in absolute terms. I can identify a pitch if I want to,
> particularly if I hum it to myself after I hear it, but I don't
> spend a lot of time doing this. I like to have my piano tuned
> as close to equal temperament as possible because, to me, this
> reinforces the impression of floating in the pitch spectrum with
> no external reference, of being able to go from one key to
> another with a feeling of intense pleasure from the way the
> modulation takes place while being indifferent to where I am at
> any given moment in time.
>
> Most musicians I have worked with, including those with
> "absolute pitch," believe it is better to listen for intervals
> in music and to tune according to what is going on around you
> rather than according to some fixed standard. In fact, some
> wind and string players I know with "absolute pitch" view it as
> something of a handicap because they find it gets in the way of
> playing with pitch flexibility. On the other hand, it can be a
> signficant advantage in playing with people who have "absolute
> pitch" (or think they do) because not only might they expect you
> to play to the same standard, but they may be very exacting
> about small pitch discrepancies that other people would be
> willing to tolerate.
>
> The funny thing to me about some musicians that I have found it
> most difficult to work with is that some people who claim to
> have "absolute pitch" are also the most outspoken about altering
> pitches according to the key you are playing in, which is a
> completely valid concept but highly subjective. There is no
> question that a perfectly equally tempered scale is not the most
> pleasing, but I do not think there is a universal consensus on
> how best to improve it. I think for this task it is more
> important to know how to communicate and work well together than
> it is to have "absolute pitch."
>
> I continue to think that for string and wind players, the most
> important thing is to be intimately familiar with the instrument
> you are playing at any given time so that, through mechanical
> means, you can play any note within a certain margin of error
> before making any adjustments. Then you make adjustments
> according to what is going on around you. That way you're never
> too badly out of tune but you're always in a position to do
> better.
>
> Once again, thank you for a very meaningful post for our little
> group. :)
>
>______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
>Subject: More comments on Kazdin
>Author: Eugene Selig <aq094@lafn.org> at internet
>Date: 12/10/96 1:07 PM
>
>
>There is a telling exchange between AK and GG involving absolute pitch.
>GG had stated in another book with another interviewer that the two most
>important gifts required for one aspiring to become a concert pianist
>were the ability to concentrate intensely, and the possession of absolute
>pitch. As for concentration, we know GG had a photographic memory, and
>his musical memory was remarkably reliable. Kazdin had a layman's awe
>on the subject of absolute pitch. I think GG enjoyed touting his gift
>before this man. The one thing GG could not abide was the company of a
>lesser intellect. The fact remains that Wagner, Schumann, Berlioz, and
>Tchaikowsky did NOT have absolute pitch. Modern research has shown that
>there are various reasons why otherwise highly gifted musical persons
>may not possess it. Some people have it through heredity (K. Flagstad),
>while in most cases it comes merely as the result of starting training
>at an early age, say before the age of six. It seems that the capacity
>to "memorize" sounds while identifying their pitch diminishes greatly
>after early childhood. The composers mentioned got relatively late starts
>before launching themselves totally into a career in music.
>
>I think that part of Kazdin's problem is that his idol had the proverbial
>feet of clay, and as such K. felt that his admiration (adoration) was
>misplaced and unappreciated, and as a result felt deprived a position
>of special closeness to an non-existent hero. And, as I said before, GG
>seemed to harbor contempt for anyone who behaved like a toady.
>
>
>
>