Before delving into the secret of how to develop perfect pitch, let's first note how absolute pitch has historically been defined.
Perfect Pitch Definitions:
· PITCH is a tone or sound. There are 12 different pitches in all.
· PITCH CHROMA is literally, “sound color” (chroma = color in Greek). It is the unique sound quality of a pitch-its “personality"-experienced psychologically .
· PITCH CLASS is the sum of all pitches that share the same pitch chroma and same letter name (or enharmonic equivalent, C# = Db): C1 and C2, along with all other “C’s”, belong to the “C” pitch class. There are 12 pitch classes corresponding to the 12 pitches.
· PITCH HEIGHT is how high or low a pitch is.
· TIMBRE (TAM-ber) is the unique “tone color” of an instrument, distinguishing it from other instruments.
· PERFECT PITCH (PP) / ABSOLUTE PITCH (AP) is the ability to sing or name a pitch without a reference.
o ACTIVE AP is when a pitch is sung without hearing it first.
o PASSIVE AP is when a pitch is named after only hearing it.
· RELATIVE PITCH (RP) is the ability to hear and name the relationship between pitches.
· CENT is 1/100th of the distant between two adjacent pitches.
