Any benefit of being a perfect pitcher on the topic of memorising piece?

[felia]

hey guys,
how many of you here has perfect pitch?
Do you think benefited on memorsing a piece if you are a havinng perfect pitch?
i don't have. Just want to do a survey and see how is the feed back..Thanks.

Felia

[mound]

I don't have perfect pitch.. I don't even have perfect relative pitch! (one day I hope - but I don't think perfect pitch would be of particular use in memorizing a piece. Good relative pitch would certainly help.

[Daevren]

I really doubt it.

But maybe people that have good ears generally also have good musical memory.

[Jacey1973]

I first started memorising this year and sometimes (in the early stages where i didnt know the piece particualry well) i forgot what key/note i was going onto next. So my teacher taught me to study the music - analyse chordal progressions etc so i would automatically know what key i was going into to help solve the problem.

However i just thought if i had perfect pitch surely it would have saved me a little time? As I always sing the melody in my head as i am playing, so if i had perfect pitch i would have a pretty good idea of what note was coming next even if i couldn't remember it exactly....does that make sense?

Anyway, overall i don't think having perfect pitch would make a huge difference with memorising...but interesting idea.

[minimozart007]

Here's the simple answer: There is none.

[minimozart007]

By the way, I have perfect pitch.

[felia]

well, i guess i got the answer.. Minimozart, you really sound like the one who have perfect pitch.....(who always says perfect pitch is no use for memorising). Jenni R, you really sound like me, who always wonder if perfect pitch can help in memorising...
haha~~

i think perfect pitch does help a bit in memorising pieces, when you are guessing which note is that..

[ako]

I agree with minimozart. I have perfect pitch and it doesn't help me in memorizing a piece. Having good ears helps you in other things such as enabling you to be more sensitive to your own playing (tone colors, etc).

[dave santino]

I've got perfect pitch, but don't find that it helps memorising get easier for me. What it does do for me is help playing by ear tremendously, as the chords are so much clearer....at least for me, anyway.

[gezellig2005]

i have perfect pitch also. Doesn't help in memorising but benefits alot if you play violin.

[c18cont]

I have perfect pitch,

It served well when singing various small and continuous venues with my ensemble, as I could pitch them on anything, and was able to choose numbers I felt would catch the attention of listeners, according to circumstance....(All material was A Capella..)

I also was able to select a key for any comp. I was listening to, and if I was copying the material as it was played, (For melody and chord) I was in the right key from the beginning...and missed less of the material in copy...

I can't recall other values, but a few times I have had trouble in not working with something in the orig key;...I was hearing it so, and it was being played in a diff. key, it was confusing...This was NOT, in my case very often....and in fact it does have some value in helping maintain intonation in an instrument, as mentioned by previous posting, where you must do so, but most do fine in that regard by careful listening.

I can hardly see paying the money for such an elusive concept, and looking at the limited value success would bring. Good relative pitch can be learned by most people...after all.

Best,  John Cont

[c18cont]

O.K.,

Some will ask, as pointed out by my wife just now, why not just use a pitch pipe...? Some already know why..it is far more surprising and even can be spectacular if well done to have a group perform anything WITHOUT rec. a pitch pipe pitch....(Often the aud never heard the hummed pitch I gave....)..

John Cont

[will]

What? What is going on here? All those with perfect pitch saying their ability doesn't help with memorizing pieces....
I do not have PP but imagined it would help memory a huge amount. I imagine how easy it is to perfectly whistle a tune to myself, or hear an entire piece in my head. I would have thought that pianists with good PP can simply play pieces (or at least simple melodies) using their ability to guide their fingers to the right notes. 
dave santino, ako, minimozart007, gezellig2005: surely PP aids your speed of learning and memorizing pieces?

[c18cont]

In Reply to Will,

In fact, I can play simple songs by listening...But the more complex it becomes, and the longer it is, the more difficult to remember what you heard. It is like any recognitory activity; it becomes more difficult by complexity and length (time).

I can remember enough to go home after hearing something new that is not difficult in content, and reproduce a ROUGH facsimile on the piano, but I certainly could not reproduce a complete song accurately as heard earlier, just as I might not remember a proof on a scientific thesis, without long term study...

Best,   John

[minimozart007]

I am going to slightly modify my answer to be completely understood.

I shall agree with that perfect pitch is useful when you play a string instrument.  After all, I play the cello.  It is also useful when you sing.  Perfect pitch is not very useful when you play the piano because memory is stronger with thinking in intervals and groups of notes,
instead of individual notes per se.  Which is exactly why learning theory is very useful.

I hope nobody flames me.  I'm only a hungry child on a city alley .

[whynot]

Yes and no.  Initially no, it doesn't benefit my memorization, because my process is based on score study, not listening.  But after memorizing, I do play by ear.  I can describe the progession of events in theoretical ways, but that's not how I know what to play.  I hear it playing in my head and copy it back to myself.  But even though I can tell what notes I'm hearing, I'm paying more attention to the relationships, I guess, because I can play pieces in other keys.  So in that case, I'm not following "hear a G, play a G," it's more the shape of the music.  I don't know, it feels like the piece works the same way in my head no matter where I play it.  My teacher does the same thing (better).

When I observe conversations about perfect pitch, I worry that some people who don't have it feel they're lacking something, and I don't believe they are.  There are so many ways to have a good ear:  varying degrees of detecting pitch/harmony, an ear for timing, for nuance, timbre, style, balance, and overall taste.  The person I go to for interpretation has an incredible ear for style, timbre and characterization in music, no way has perfect pitch but is certainly one of the best musicians I know, and hears nuance that totally escapes me until it's pointed out to me.  I know what key/chords I'm listening to, but he hears EVERYTHING.  I'd like to be more developed that way.   

[c18cont]

Indeed,

Thanks for the wise reminder, to Whynot...

John