Wiktionary
n. 1 The exact pitch as established by its rate of vibration based on a standard scale. 2 perfect pitch; the ability to identify or reproduce any tone heard perfectly.
WordNet
n. the ability to identify the pitch of a tone [syn: perfect pitch]
Wikipedia
Absolute pitch (AP), widely referred to as perfect pitch, is a rare auditory phenomenon characterized by the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone.
AP can be demonstrated via linguistic labeling ("naming" a note), auditory imagery, or sensorimotor responses. For example, an AP possessor can accurately reproduce a heard tone on their musical instrument without "hunting" for the correct pitch. Researchers estimate the occurrence of AP to be 1 in 10,000 people.
Generally, absolute pitch implies some or all of the following abilities, achieved without a reference tone:
- Identify by name individual pitches (e.g. A, G, C) played on various instruments.
- Name the key of a given piece of tonal music.
- Reproduce a piece of tonal music in the correct key days after hearing it.
- Identify and name all the tones of a given chord or other tonal mass.
- Accurately sing a named pitch.
- Name the pitches of common everyday sounds such as car horns and alarms.
People may have absolute pitch along with the ability of relative pitch, and relative and absolute pitch work together in actual musical listening and practice, but strategies in using each skill vary. Those with absolute pitch may train their relative pitch, but there are no reported cases of an adult obtaining absolute pitch ability through musical training; adults who possess relative pitch but do not already have absolute pitch can learn "pseudo-absolute pitch" and become able to identify notes in a way that superficially resembles absolute pitch. Moreover, training pseudo-absolute pitch requires considerable motivation, time, and effort, and learning is not retained without constant practice and reinforcement.
Usage examples of "absolute pitch".
Why had so little been said at the Music Center about this alternative application of perfect and absolute pitch?
Carried to the absolute pitch the right of free movement ceases to be distinguishable from the right of free intrusion.
It was with a new comprehension he understood his employer's dictum that the keynote of external nature was middle F--this employer who himself possessed that psychic sense of absolute pitch--and that the roar of a city, wind in forest trees, the cry of trains, the rushing of rivers and falling water, Niagara itself, all produced this single utterance.
We climbed out of the water into the desert, crawled from the desert into the high mountains, gasped and climbed out of me mountains into absolute pitch-dark blackness, then groped along into blinding light.
The night was an absolute pitch black, carrying no moon, no stars, and no reassurance that day would ever return.