Editing Absolute pitch (section)

{{Short description|Ability to identify musical notes by ear without reference}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Perfect pitch|Pitch Perfect}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

'''Absolute pitch''' ('''AP'''), often called '''perfect pitch''', is the ability to identify or re-create a given [[musical note]] without the benefit of a [[reference tone]].<ref name="phil-494">{{cite book |author=Deutsch, D. |chapter=Absolute pitch |editor=D. Deutsch |title=The Psychology of Music |edition=3rd |pages=141–182 |year=2013 |doi = 10.1016/B978-0-12-381460-9.00005-5 |isbn=9780123814609 |chapter-url=http://philomel.com/pdf/PsyMus_3_Ch5_Absolute_Pitch.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://philomel.com/pdf/PsyMus_3_Ch5_Absolute_Pitch.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ward, W.D. |year=1998 |title=The Psychology of Music |chapter=Absolute Pitch |editor=D. Deutsch |pages=265–298 |publisher=Academic Press |location=San Diego |isbn=0-12-213564-4|edition=Second }}</ref> AP may be demonstrated using linguistic labelling ("naming" a note), associating mental imagery with the note, or sensorimotor responses. For example, an AP possessor can accurately reproduce a heard tone on a musical instrument without "hunting" for the correct [[Pitch (music)|pitch]].<ref name="Zatorre, 1989">{{cite journal |first1=Robert |last1=Zatorre |year=1989 |title=Multiple coding strategies in the retention of musical tones by possessors of absolute pitch|journal=[[Memory & Cognition]] |volume= 17 |issue=5 |pages=582–589 |doi=10.3758/BF03197081 |pmid=2796743 |last2=Beckett |first2=Christine|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Zatorre, 2003">{{cite journal |first=Robert |last=Zatorre |date=July 2003 |title=Absolute pitch: a model for understanding the influence of genes and development on neural and cognitive function |journal=Nature Neuroscience|volume=6 |issue=7 |pages=692–695 |doi=10.1038/nn1085 |pmid=12830161|s2cid=7431996 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Perfect Pitch? {{!}} The University of Chicago |first1=Max|last1=Witynski|url=https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/what-is-perfect-pitch |access-date=May 5, 2023 |website=news.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref>