Having ‘perfect pitch’ is a musician’s dream. But what actually is it and can you learn perfect pitch?
Firstly, let’s look at the definition of pitch in music. Pitch refers to how high or low a note is – and perfect pitch… well, let’s look at that now as well.
What is perfect pitch?
Also referred to as ‘absolute pitch’, it means someone is able to sing or play any given musical note without needing to hear it first for reference. It also means any note can be identified upon hearing it.
Though people can learn methods to attain something close to it, perfect pitch is widely regarded as a natural ability which is hard-wired at birth. It’s not something that’s particularly easy to try and learn later on in life.
Which famous composers had perfect pitch?
Many leading musical figures have perfect pitch, but looking back, the following composers had perfect pitch – according to the history books.
Which famous musicians have perfect pitch?
This is all slight conjecture, and isn’t necessarily the cold, hard truth, but we have heard claims that the following musicians have (or had) perfect pitch.
- Yo-Yo Ma
- Arturo Toscanini
- Arthur Rubinstein
- Sviatoslav Richter
- Itzhak Perlman
- Glenn Gould
- Jascha Heifetz
- Joshua Bell
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