A youtube channel that was started several months (maybe about a year) ago has added some very interesting material to the conversation about whether perfect pitch can be learned/taught, at least at a very young age. The channel is Rick Beato's, and it is clear that he was able to create an environment in which his young son, and I believe another of his daughters, were able to develop perfect pitch. You may have seen the videos of his son naming complex polychords, which he can also sing and notate from merely hearing them... i.e. he has a very well established level of both perfect pitch and very solid relative pitch and music theory knowledge. Having a parent with such depth of musical knowledge was certainly an advantage, but I'm sure you don't need to know as much as Rick to create an environment in which a child can develop perfect pitch and have a solid relative pitch understanding as well. Rick has also developed an app which I have encouraged my sister to use with my 9 month old niece, so I'm hoping she will try to facilitate my niece's development of the ability.
Here are a few of the videos
demos of AP
exposure to music from infancy
Beato's position on absolute pitch is that it can't be acquired in adults due to limitations in neuroplasticity. I don't necessarily disagree with him on that. I have been trying to gain absolute pitch for over 15 years, and I don't feel like I really have it yet. I can certainly appreciate aspects of pitches that I could not before I started training, or even in fact until I was well into my training, but I don't yet have a completely reliable and accurate perfect pitch. Even so, I will continue to ear train along the methods that I have been, because I know that they have a lot of benefits for the ear, especially if paired with other musical training. I have written an email to Rick, asking him whether he has tried Burge's method, and if not, to give it a try for a few months to see if he perceives any value in it (which I'm assuming he would). I have not heard back yet, but he has obviously been very busy providing tons of free educational material on his youtube channel, which I would highly recommend by the way. I think Beato's position is that only babies can acquire perfect pitch, but I'm not sure what his view is on age limitations more precisely. I think of course the earlier the exposure and training in music the better.
On the other side of things, I came across a channel claiming to help adults gain perfect pitch, with someone who claims to have developed it in only two years. I think he has some good perspective on how you can start to gain an appreciation for pitch qualities as an adult, and to hear with more clarity, which is essentially what I've been working on for years, but I'm a bit skeptical that he has complete perfect pitch himself, or that he can offer an improvement on already existing approaches for its training. Nonetheless, I will post a link for his first video so you can check it out.
Perfect pitch for adults?
Peace!
