Apparently, perfect pitch is a genetic thing.

I don't know my scales well enough to name the note I'm hearing. However, if asked to sing a note from a song I know, or echo one I've just heard, I always nail it. I guess that's "perfect pitch" for someone who's never studied music.

It's always bothered me to hear someone sing off-key. I just want to scream, "CAN YOU NOT HEAR THAT YOU'RE OFF?" until I remember that, No, he can't. It's a gift. Someone once said that people with good pitch actually feel the notes, rather than hear them. That seems right to me, and it explains why off-pitch sounds upset me so deeply.

One experience in life will forever weigh on my record, however.

In my first car, I installed a Pioneer AM-FM-cassette with a Clarion equalizer and four speakers. It was a fine system for its time, about 40 watts per channel. I used it to play tapes I'd recorded from albums, mainly because they sounded better than store-bought, mass-produced cassettes.

The quirk of this particular Pioneer, though, was that cold weather slowed it down. The pitch of the music changed as a result. So even today, if I'm humming a tune that I once played on that old unit, odds are 50-50 I am singing one step low in key.

That could be disastrous if I'm ever onstage, starting a song off vocally before the band joins in.

I'd better figure a workaround before I start my singing career.

Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse at 08:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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