Learn perfect pitch! - 3 Ways to Do It (things I've been asked to share!)

Perhaps you've heard the terms "perfect" or "absolute" pitch and "relative" pitch. Well, there's a difference and they're both beneficial to have!

• Absolute or perfect pitch is the ability to simply hear a note, recognize it and then name it.
  
  
• Relative pitch is the ability tell where notes are in association with each other. Like how far apart on the scale they are from one another. A person with relative pitch will be able to name that interval.
  

Both can be learned.

Learn perfect pitch...

Embed a note in your mind so you'll be able to name it later.

Play a note on a piano (or guitar, organ, harpsichord - you get the idea) and then picture the first thing that comes to your mind. I don't care what it is...abstract images are great....maybe it reminds you of a song you know...maybe even a place...it doesn't matter.

Keep that image and play the note again.

By playing that note and imagining that image, you're connecting that note with that thought so when you hear it later you'll be able to identify it and name it.

After you think you have that connection in your head, close your eyes and begin playing random notes, one at a time, doesn't matter which notes they are. Eventually you'll play "your" note, the one you've made that connection with. When you think you hear your note, open your eyes and look to see if you are correct.

Do this exercise for a couple of weeks and you'll be right most of the time. Continue using this method for every note in the chromatic scale (A-G) and, before you know it you'll be naming every note just by hearing it! (Now won't that impress people!)

If you don't know it already, find a copy of Rogers & Hammersteins Sound of Music and listen to "Do Ra Me". In this song she's teaching 7 children to sing. I know it's a musical and seems silly, but what she's singing in that song is based on sound methods for learning to recognize and sing on pitch.

• Go to your piano and play the major C scale. Every note will have a word (syllable). Make up your own for each note or use do, ra, me, fa, so, la, ti, do with "do" being the note "C".
  
  
• Do this several times. Now start at the top of the scale and go down...(do, ti, la, so, fa, me, ra, do). Go up and down the scale until you feel you know each note enough to recognize it.
  
  
• Now close your eyes and play one random note in that scale. Say you happen to play "fa" (F). From that note, sing back to C. In this example you'd sing "fa, me, re, do" ending back at "do" (C).
  
  
• Keep doing this, picking random notes in the major C scale and singing back to C. In time, you'll start to really hear the difference in the notes and how they relate to each other on the scale. You'll be able to recognize each note and eventually even name them just from hearing them.
  
  
• When you feel you're ready, move to other scales and repeat this exercise.
  

This may take time, but it works and is way worth the effert.

Many singers, including myself have a hard time singing on pitch at times. There's just that slight difference in what the music is playing and what you're singing that makes the listener cringe.

What if you know basically how to recognize pitch, but are constantly off-pitch and want to improve?

We need to retrain the mind to match what it hears with what it makes you produce.

This is very simple to do, but only if you can hear yourself or know yourself to sing flat or sharp.

Say you're singing away at your favorite song and one note comes up that you can hear yourself singing flat. Somehow your mind thinks it's singing that note correctly, but what it causes you to sing is slightly lower than the actual note.

So, when you sing that note, slightly raise your voice until you think you're singing slightly ABOVE that note. In most cases, this corrects the problem and you'll find you're in perfect pitch.

Same thing if you tend to sing sharp. Lower your voice slightly until you think you're singing slightly UNDER the note. (Note: it is much more common to sing flat than sharp)

The fact is, folks, you won't do well at all in the music performance business if you don't have perfect pitch (or at the very least relative pitch).

Fortunately, ANYONE can learn it!

Now, these techniques I've shown can help anyone improve their pitch, but, if you're in a hurry, and want to learn perfect pitch yesterday here's a kick butt way to do it...