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Perfect pitch, also known as absolute pitch, is the ability to identify pitches by name without reference to any previously sounded pitches. Many individuals are born with perfect pitch, but it usually takes musical training and practice to develop it as a skill. As for myself, I never really considered that I might have perfect pitch until my high school band director gave me a blindfold test on the piano. When I took the test, I did make a few mistakes (although they were within half-steps of the correct pitch, and I guessed correctly when he played the pitch a second time). It took perhaps a few more months of practice before I could really identify any pitch instantaneously, without error.
Some individuals possess perfect pitch for certain instruments. Other musicians have described to me how they believe they possess perfect pitch for a single tone (usually B-flat or C), and have to use this one tone as a reference. Of course, it’s always easier to identify single pitches than it is to identify combinations of tones or transcribe counterpoint. Most individuals with perfect pitch can, within reason, identify chords and transcribe moderate-to-complex contrapuntal lines; however, I would hazard a guess that most musicians would have an easier time transcribing a Mozart wind quintet than a Schoenberg wind quintet.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard stories about perfect pitch possessing people who could allegedly listen to you sit on a piano keyboard and proceed to tell you every note you sat on (“it was SO amazing! He/she recited EVERY note!”). Yeah, as in “C, C-sharp, D, E-flat, E, F, F-sharp, G, A-flat, A, B-flat, and B.” I’m not aware of many adult human rear ends that would cover less than an octave on a piano.
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