Trivia

Did you know that Celine Dion has absolute pitch? So do Shakira, Mariah Carey, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Luciano Pavarotti, while others like opera singers Placido Domingo and Karita Mattila do not.

And would you have guessed that Jimi Hendrix had absolute pitch, while Richard Wagner, Igor Stravinsky, Joseph Haydn and Maurice Ravel didn’t? Or that Sibelius and Mozart did, but Miles Davis didn’t?

Fact

A singer with relative pitch can reproduce the notes of a melody, regardless of what key the performance is in. Because of this, their song will still be recognizable despite the key change.

For someone completely lacking a sense of pitch, however, singing in tune is nearly impossible. Without a sense of pitch, they have no understanding of what notes fit in with the accompanying melodies, and how far apart they are in pitch. It is difficult to fix your mistakes if you are unable to notice them.

Trivia

Did you know that well-known musicians with absolute pitch have been used in times of war to help identify enemy submarines? For example, the Irish composer Sir Hamilton Harty distinguished himself through his service in World War I on the North Sea, and was eventually promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Fact

As an adult, it is almost impossible to develop absolute pitch through practice. The development of the ability requires a genetic predisposition, combined with music education at an early age, during so-called sensitive periods of development.

Relative pitch, on the other hand, can be practiced, and it does inevitably improve over time if you play an instrument.

Trivia

Autistic savants are people with an exceptional aptitude for a specific cognitive ability or artistic skill. Musical savants often have a limited interest in language and language processing, but possess a strong interest in music, which gives rise to an exceptionally sharp sense of auditory discrimination. Accordingly, musical savants very commonly have absolute pitch, as well as displaying extraordinary talent in musical performance, composition and improvisation.

Fact

Absolute pitch is significantly less common in Western countries than in Asia. It is thought that this is due to many languages in Asia being tonal languages, meaning pitch is used in their linguistic expression. In other words, speaking these languages also develops your sense of pitch.

Trivia

Williams syndrome is a rare genetic disorder caused by a defect in the elastin gene located in chromosome 7. People suffering from the disorder have been found to often have musical tendencies and an exceptional auditory sensitivity. The occurrence of absolute pitch among people with Williams syndrome is as high as 30 percent.

Fact

Persons with absolute pitch may face surprising problems as they get older. This is because a sense of absolute pitch can change with age (due to gradual changes and loss of flexibility of the basilar membrane in the inner ear’s cochlea) such that they will perceive all tones as one or two semitones too high.

Fact

Pianos have seven so-called natural notes (white keys), which repeat across different octaves. These notes, in order of ascending pitch, are: C D E F G A H (German notation system). The black keys are played for natural notes raised or lowered by a half step (sharp and flat notes). This means the black keys do not have separate names, but their names are derived from the names of the white keys.

Trivia

Studies have found that absolute pitch is up to 4000 times more prevalent in children who were either born blind or blinded in infancy. This is due to babies’ brains being very malleable and constantly forming new synaptic connections. With blind babies, the visual cortex is not in use, but other parts, such as the auditory cortex, become much more important, causing the brain to develop differently.

Fact

Absolute pitch can be a significant advantage to a musician in certain tasks.

Absolute pitch makes it easier to both transcribe melodies by ear (melodic dictation) as well as understand harmonies by analysing them in real time. A person with absolute pitch can also sing perfectly without any accompaniment, which is a particularly useful skill in a cappella singing.

Fact

Did you know that absolute pitch can also be a hindrance? Musicians with absolute pitch may find it more difficult to perform a key change on the fly (transposition). A performance being almost unnoticeably out of tune might confuse them, or even ruin the musical experience for them entirely. For someone with absolute pitch, it can be pure torture to listen to the shower serenades of an average Joe, the fipple flute rehearsals of kindergarteners or the karaoke night at the local bar.

Trivia

Out of the over 70 staff members at Heureka, none have absolute pitch.

The star of our Heureka Moment videos and distinguished member of punk bands Ne luumäet and Rehtori, Harri Montonen a.k.a. Heko Luumäki scored seven points in this test. Meanwhile, self-confessed campfire guitarist and CEO of Heureka, Tapio Koivu, scored six points. Not bad. Did you beat their scores?