perfect pitch in children-how common?

My 10 yo DS (also with Aspergers) has perfect pitch. Used to be able to imitate the sounds of automatic doors swishing open, or the exact engine sound of the train when he was a toddler. Like the OP, I'm so glad he has music in his life. However, he does clasp his hands to his ears and ask me to stop if I so much as try singing along to anything on the radio (guess he didn't get his musical ability from me!), and he really doesn't have a lot of time for anything that's out of tune. I think, from what others have said, it's both a blessing and a curse. Like everything about him I wouldn't change a thing. It's certainly good in aural tests and I think he's currently enjoying being able to jump up and play anything back by ear, as I don't think he realised that not everyone is born with this ability!

My son had digital hearing aids for glue ear some years ago as part of an experiment. The audiological consultant assessed his auditory perception as well as his actual hearing. Apparently the expression "perfect pitch" is a little pointless. Some people have exceptionally acute auditory perception other people are almost tone deaf. Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

I can recongise notes most of the time without a reference point, but I cannot reproduce notes with the same accuracy. I don't have perfect pitch, but I do have better absolute pitch than most people. Some people have some sense of absolute pitch. It is very rare to meet someone who really has no sense of pitch whatsoever.

Just to explain further, it's the reference point that is the difference between relative and perfect pitch.

There are definitely degrees of perfect pitch - I think the key (see what I did there!) is the recognition of a note with no reference point. How precise it is does seem to vary.

My dad used to annoy me by tapping wine glasses and asking what note it was, then checking on the piano in front of visitors, like a performing monkey!!

Some people get mixed up between perfect pitch and really good relative pitch. I believe that perfect pitch is very rare. (ie. 1 in 10000). It is a lot more common in children with severe autism. People with perfect pitch know the note that the flushes in or the pitch that the fridge hums in. It can really drive them crazy hearing a low level hum of an electric light that is out of tune.

Dh has perfect pitch as does dd1 and, I suspect ds. Play 5 random notes together on the piano and dh can say exactly what they are. He can listen to something and play it back.

However dh couldn't sing in tune until he was about 12yo.

However I haven't got perfect pitch but I can tell you notes if you play them one at a time in the couple of octaves above middle c. I can remember impressing my (non-musical) family when I first started the recorder in year 2. I can also tell you if the strings on a violin (I played for a few years) are out by a tiny amount. That is definitely learnt not inbuilt as I can only do that with the open strings.

I'm not sure what it is like where you are but we found that the conservatoire jd and specialist schools don't really like involvement in other ensembles and definitely no other music lessons outside their own.

We were aware of this though, they did make it clear to us.
Dd had already done infant and juniors with our LA ensembles and had played in county youth for a few years before she left.

They will give permission for certain competitions, especially national or international, but some local ones if they think the standard would be good enough.
The same with concerts, by permission only. Children wanting to join the national ensembles have to make sure they fit in with the school, and school dates have preference.

The Saturday academies aren't compulsory, especially if he's getting lots of other music. Have you looked at any summer holiday music courses?

I personally would look more to joining the junior academy of one of the London music colleges. Then maybe consider a music scholarship somewhere which takes music seriously later.

DH was very talented as a child but is very pleased his parents didn't send him to music school, as he also became very keen on other things (computers) as well as his music.
I know a lots of talented you musicians and none of them or the professionals I know went to a specialist music school, excluding time as a chorister.

OP, it sounds like he's doing really well - one word of warning, don't extrapolate forwards - the higher grades are not necessarily the same distance from each other, and it is worth consolidating technique etc, and really growing as a musician.

If you're interested in a music school, why not take him along for a consultation? They would give you some feedback as to whether it's worth pursuing or not.

OP, it is quite rare, oh so I hear from dd school.
They are all gifted musicians, not necessarily classical although they do seem to be the majority.
Obviously, they all have the potential regarding tuning and pitch but there are those who are naturally good in this way and others who need to put in more effort to produce the same results.
I'm really pleased for your ds, music is a wonderful talent to possess and covers so many disciplines such as language, Maths, Art, Science, History, and maybe more
He sounds like he is doing really well, and well done for not pushing him too much.
However, given some of the traits associated with Aspergers please move him to a specialised education if it appears this is what he wants to do when he is older.
Having been through similar I'm happy for a pm if I can ever help, not that I'm an authority or anything.

I think most string players can sing an A to tune to just because of hqving loads of practise. DS can tune his guitar by ear, and only uses a tuning thingy when he's playing with other people. He's usually not far off..........

Interesting. Wondering how it works for young string players who often tune without a tuning note? DD does this reliably on her cello along with many of her suzuki cohort. Can't imagine they all have perfect pitch but they have learnt by ear from early age. I am completely unmusical do haven't a clue as to the answer😀

I hate hearing songs in different keys from the original, drives me nuts!

I'll ask my DH sometime about the "different pitches" eg. for authentic ancient music.
I don't really get why a pop singer singing slightly off pitch is really painful for him, but it is. Not sure he has anything similar in other tonal systems eg. Chinese music.
He thinks its to do with something about how his ear has formed.

Finally I have read some academic work on 'perfect pitch" and the academics seem to often not really know what they are talking about (and I know several people with perfect pitch not just DH) and confuse relative with perfect pitch.

BR :)

Of course if Rob told me black is white he'd be absolutely correct and I shouldn't even try to think for myself as it might put bubba at risk ..... I think he might have locked me in now I'm not allowed to drive or go to work....

Ah, right. So my children have learned relative pitch- play them a note, and they can sing a 3rd up or down- or the C below if they are told it's an A- that sort of thing. But they don't do it instinctively- so really a good ear and music lessons.

My friend has perfect pitch- tell her to sing an A and she can. (She's a professional musician)

Is that right?

Me? I have a cloth ear

Thank you Hel- but I can't help wondering whether that's actually what it is, or only what Rob told you it is..........

BR

perfect pitch you " just know" what note it is. I assume you have to have a name for the sound but "sing an A" presumably would result in a A at concert pitch - ie same as an A on a standard piano.

Relative pitch- what most good musicians have - give them a note and they can sing another note correctly eg " this is an A, now sing me a C below it" .

Having a " good ear" don't think that has a definition!

Relative pitch can be learned ( assuming the aforementioned " good ear" and memory for sound!) . My kids have good relative pitch as they are life long singers, in environments that need them to be accurately in tune.

To complicate things you can sort of learn perfect pitch if you do enough relative pitch work. DH has sung from childhood and now teaches must. He's usually right about notes even without having a pitching note. I think he has auditory and physical memories ingrained in him (he knows what singing an A feels like in his body).

I assume perfect pitch is an utter curse. I sing a bit ( not like the kids or DH) and can spot transposed music by the " feel" of it. eg if a hymn is written too high for the congregation the organist may transpose it and it " feels wrong" to me.

THen there are other pitches when you get into stuff eg early music set at A415 ... Again i can usually tell the difference hearing a piece. That must really mess with your head if you have perfect pitch.

My understanding of the difference:

Perfect pitch means someone can successfully produce a note without having heard it very recently. In the guitar tuning example above, this would be like producing the 'tunng' base note oneself, rather than using a tuning fork. Relative pitch means someone who can produce a note relative to the note produced by the tuning fork (or by someone who happens to have perfect pitch).

A good ear for music would refer to how well someone can recognise, or having heard a note, reproduce it perhaps on the same, or even a different, instrument.

Can't reliably do any of these myself and always felt that this was a disadvantage. DH can do all three and , as PPs have pointed out above, suffers horribly when things are out of tune. He is astonished that I hardly even notice and am certainly not bothered by out of tune things. I'm not completely tone deaf, just not very sensitive at all.

Understanding music and enjoying it adds so much to people's lives, am always glad to hear about people who do love, or can enjoy, it. Especially when DCs are being encouraged to enjoy music.

I think my DD aged 8 has perfect pitch. From very very young, well before she could talk, she'd imitate sounds she heard and replicate them excatly. She's now a very good singer, but a distinctly mediocre musician as she finds learning to read music and the effort involved in making an instrument sound good dull in comparison to her real love of singing. I'm a terrible singer and she can't bear me singing, she covers her ears and yells at me to stop because I'm getting it wrong.