AboutAndy Duvall Expertise PLEASE DO NOT ASK REGARDING PIANO APPRAISALS, EVALUATIONS, BUYING, SELLING etc.
I HAVE VERY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE IN THIS MATTER.
However - I would LOVE TO ANSWER any questions regarding piano lessons, learning to play the piano, online piano courses, local piano tutors etc.
Experience I've been playing the piano for the last 30 years. Piano tutor and avid collector of so called "online" piano courses
Education/Credentials BSc Aeronautics, MSc Computers, MBA Marketing - none related to piano teaching, I'm afraid. Though non-accredited, I've been teaching piano for 17 years.
Question QUESTION: Hi sir,
I resently heard about something called "Perfect Pitch" or "Absolute Pitch" (I think they are same). I was told this lets people know exatly which note they are hearing.
But they said if i am not lucky and born with it i can not learn it?
Please do advise.
ANSWER: This is a great question, as recently there have been some important developments in this field. In addition - I have perfect pitch myself, so this question is especially close to my heart.
Perfect Pitch (formally called Absolute Pitch) is the ability to recognize any note you hear, without the aid of a reference note. Let's say I play a note on the piano and ask you which note you just heard. If you can recognize it correctly, and can do this consistently, this means you have perfect pitch.
Relative pitch is similar, but in this case you are allowed to use a reference note. This means that although you cannot recognize the note i play, if I first play a note and TELL you what it is, and then play a second note and ask you what it is - you will be able to recognize the second note by comparing it to the first (using their interval).
I wrote "Piano" above, but this refers to any musical instrument (guitar, flute etc.). You can even recognize the note of machines you hear (an airplane's sound, a dog's bark etc.)
I find perfect pitch extremely helpful to my music playing, and also a lot of fun.
Until recently, common belief was that perfect pitch cannot be learned - either you are born with it, or you can't develop it. There was only one course around that succeeded in teaching perfect pitch (David Burge's course) but it produced inconsistent results - only a small percentage of students succeeded.
Recently some new courses arrived that take a new approach to perfect pitch ear training. They teach perfect pitch using Relative pitch. Relative pitch can be learned easily, so the idea is to get you to recognize some notes internally (as in perfect pitch), then use relative pitch to recognize all other notes. This lets you learn much faster, and produces great results.
I hope this helped. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Best,
Andy
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QUESTION: Thanks very much sir.
Can you please send me a link to where I can find these courses or read more about them?
Please do advise.
