Perfect pitch on only one instrument?
So I was wondering if, theoretically, it would be possible to have perfect pitch only on one instrument. For a bit of background, I grew up as a Suzuki cello student and thus have been playing the cello for quite a long time now.
When I'm listening to a piece of music that features the cello, I can 95% of the time tell what note is being played (unless it's in that really high range above the D in thumb position on the A string) accurately. However, this isn't the case for any other instrument - I can't even begin to think about how I could tell what note is what on these other instruments.
So my question is: Is this a known phenomenon: does this count as perfect pitch, or is it just finely tuned relative pitch?
Edit: It has been suggested that this has already been answered, but the question I am asking is not if attaining this on one instrument is possible but instead if it counts as perfect pitch.
Edit again: No, this is not a duplicate of 'is it possible to learn instrument based perfect pitch'. I have already attained this quasi-perfect pitch ability and want to know if it counts as perfect pitch.
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does this count as perfect pitch, or is it just finely tuned relative pitch?
Not an ideal answer to hear, but it's a mix of both. Firstly, yes, this is a phenomenon and you'll rest easy knowing that it is much more likely for musicians to be able to more accurately identify exact pitches when played on their primary instrument as opposed to an instrument that is less familiar to them.
The reasons for this phenomenon should be fairly obvious.
Regarding absolute pitch, in the strictest definition, it would not count as absolute pitch is the ability to distinguish any sound as a musical approximation, irrespective of source: "oh that elevator is Eb" etc. This is why it's called absolute pitch.
It may be perfect, but that accuracy is relative to the instrument.
It's a known phenomenon. Some people call it "true pitch" to distinguish it from full-fledged, all-instruments perfect pitch.
I remember some YouTube videos talking about it, if I can find them again I'll post the links.
I am an amateur music learner. Here are my 2 cents
Answer these questions:
Can you identify a single note on the cello 95% of time?
Have you tried the same melody on another instrument first and then on cello? My guess is that there is bias of known melody.
My theory is:
your years of training with cello have had a heavy effect on your ear training.
It can be argued that musical notes should produce same notes across instruments. But same note played on cello and guitar will have common part. Still there will be some things that are specific to an instrument.
Try this:
instrumental music of same melody;
to see considerable difference use one wind instrument and one string instrument, e.g. flute and cello – you will know the difference.
If you have perfect pitch then it doesn't matter if it's an instrument, voice or the hum of an electronic device. It sounds to me like you have developed very good relative pitch. Since you are most familiar with the cello, then it makes sense that your ears would respond best to that instrument.
You might be listening to the timbre of the different notes. I remember watching this video , where the person describes learning perfect pitch from the timbre of the instrument. His process is to become familiar with the timbre of different notes and then mentally playing the instrument in his head in order to find the correct pitch when he hears it from a different timbre. Perhaps the cello timbre is consistent enough across different instruments that you are able to do a similar thing and hear the timbre of different notes.
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