Editing Absolute pitch (section)

===Pitch memory related to musical context===

While very few people have the ability to name a pitch with no external reference, pitch memory can be activated by repeated exposure.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ben-Haim|first1=Moshe Shay|last2=Eitan|first2=Zohar|last3=Chajut|first3=Eran|title=Pitch memory and exposure effects|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance|date=February 2014|volume=40|issue=1|pages=24–32|doi=10.1037/a0033583|pmid=23875573|url=https://zenodo.org/record/931677}}</ref> People who are not skilled singers will often sing popular songs in the correct key,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Levitin, D. |year=1994 |title=Absolute memory for musical pitch: evidence from production of learned melodies |journal=Perception & Psychophysics|volume=56 |pages=414–423 |pmid=7984397 |issue=4 |doi=10.3758/BF03206733 |s2cid=17723148 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and can usually recognize when TV themes have been shifted into the wrong key.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Schellenberg, E. Glenn |author2=Trehub, Sandra E. |name-list-style=amp |year=2003 |title= Good pitch memory is widespread |journal=Psychological Science|volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=262–266 |doi=10.1111/1467-9280.03432 |pmid=12741751|s2cid=31453643 }}[https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/fileadmin/w3trehub/publications/006.pdf Full text]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Members of the Venda culture in South Africa also sing familiar children's songs in the key in which the songs were learned.<ref>{{cite book |author=Blacking, John |year=1995 |title=Music Culture and Experience |chapter=Music and Historical Process in Vendaland |editor=Reginald Byron |pages=136 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=0-226-08829-4}}</ref>

This phenomenon is apparently unrelated to musical training. The skill may be associated more closely with vocal production. Violin students learning the [[Suzuki method]] are required to memorize each composition in a fixed key and play it from memory on their instrument, but they are not required to sing. When tested, these students did not succeed in singing the memorized Suzuki songs in the original, fixed key.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Saah, Victoria |author2=Marvin, Elizabeth West |year=2004 |chapter=Absolute memory of learned melodies in children trained by the Suzuki violin method |title=Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition|pages=736–739 |chapter-url=http://www.icmpc8.umn.edu/proceedings/ICMPC8/PDF/AUTHOR/MP040009.PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810004816/http://www.icmpc8.umn.edu/proceedings/ICMPC8/PDF/AUTHOR/MP040009.PDF |archive-date=August 10, 2011 }}</ref>