Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency Range

This paper has two distinct parts. Section 1 includes general discussion of the phenomenon of “absolute pitch” (AP), and presentation of various concepts concerning definitions of “full”, “partial” and “pseudo” AP. Sections 2–4 include presentation of the experiment concerning frequency range in...

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Main Authors: Andrzej RAKOWSKI, Piotr ROGOWSKI
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of Sciences 2013-10-01
Series:Archives of Acoustics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://acoustics.ippt.pan.pl/index.php/aa/article/view/177
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author Andrzej RAKOWSKI
Piotr ROGOWSKI
author_facet Andrzej RAKOWSKI
Piotr ROGOWSKI
author_sort Andrzej RAKOWSKI
collection DOAJ
description This paper has two distinct parts. Section 1 includes general discussion of the phenomenon of “absolute pitch” (AP), and presentation of various concepts concerning definitions of “full”, “partial” and “pseudo” AP. Sections 2–4 include presentation of the experiment concerning frequency range in which absolute pitch appears, and discussion of the experimental results. The experiment was performed with participation of 9 AP experts selected from the population of 250 music students as best scoring in the pitch-naming piano-tone screening tests. Each subject had to recognize chromas of 108 pure tones representing the chromatic musical scale of nine octaves from E0 to D#9. The series of 108 tones was presented to each subject 60 times in random order, diotically, with loudness level about 65 phon. Percentage of correct recognitions (PC) for each tone was computed. The frequency range for the existence of absolute pitch in pure tones, perceived by sensitive AP possessors stretches usually over 5 octaves from about 130.6 Hz (C3) to about 3.951 Hz (B7). However, it was noted that in a single case, the upper boundary of AP was 9.397 Hz (D9). The split-halves method was applied to estimate the reliability of the obtained results.
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spelling doaj-art-6d28f2bd6dc54e3dae0d276fd3d0d8072025-08-20T03:27:43ZengInstitute of Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of SciencesArchives of Acoustics0137-50752300-262X2013-10-01362Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency RangeAndrzej RAKOWSKI0Piotr ROGOWSKI1The Fryderyk Chopin University of MusicThe Fryderyk Chopin University of MusicThis paper has two distinct parts. Section 1 includes general discussion of the phenomenon of “absolute pitch” (AP), and presentation of various concepts concerning definitions of “full”, “partial” and “pseudo” AP. Sections 2–4 include presentation of the experiment concerning frequency range in which absolute pitch appears, and discussion of the experimental results. The experiment was performed with participation of 9 AP experts selected from the population of 250 music students as best scoring in the pitch-naming piano-tone screening tests. Each subject had to recognize chromas of 108 pure tones representing the chromatic musical scale of nine octaves from E0 to D#9. The series of 108 tones was presented to each subject 60 times in random order, diotically, with loudness level about 65 phon. Percentage of correct recognitions (PC) for each tone was computed. The frequency range for the existence of absolute pitch in pure tones, perceived by sensitive AP possessors stretches usually over 5 octaves from about 130.6 Hz (C3) to about 3.951 Hz (B7). However, it was noted that in a single case, the upper boundary of AP was 9.397 Hz (D9). The split-halves method was applied to estimate the reliability of the obtained results.https://acoustics.ippt.pan.pl/index.php/aa/article/view/177auditory memorypitchabsolute pitch
spellingShingle Andrzej RAKOWSKI
Piotr ROGOWSKI
Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency Range
Archives of Acoustics
auditory memory
pitch
absolute pitch
title Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency Range
title_full Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency Range
title_fullStr Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency Range
title_full_unstemmed Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency Range
title_short Absolute Pitch and Its Frequency Range
title_sort absolute pitch and its frequency range
topic auditory memory
pitch
absolute pitch
url https://acoustics.ippt.pan.pl/index.php/aa/article/view/177
work_keys_str_mv AT andrzejrakowski absolutepitchanditsfrequencyrange
AT piotrrogowski absolutepitchanditsfrequencyrange