Simply put, absolute pitch is more subtle and accurate.
With relative pitch, there are twelve major chords. With absolute pitch, there is only one C major chord. The distinctions you can make with absolute pitch are finer and smaller. And each note has its own sound. Transpose a Beethoven symphony into another key and it doesn’t have the same feeling anymore. Each key has its own mood.
With a more refined ear, you have more precise options to help you make the right musical decisions.
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about graham
This is a great blog! My husband found it and sent me a link to check it out.
Now, about this post–I learned relative pitch while earning my Bachelor of Music degree and found it very intriguing.
I’ve never understood absolute pitch very well–how it is heard so accurately. After reading several entries in this blog, however, I think I’ll give it a try to see if I can learn it. I can see how it would give me an advantage over just knowing relative pitch.
Thanks Heather
I’m subscribing to your blog right away.
Please keep us all posted on your absolute pitch progress. Good luck!
Sounds bogus to me. Take two pianos or harpsichords tuned with the same temperament, but at pitches differing by a semitone. You can play the same piece on both and it will have the same fingering, the same intervals and practically identical timbres. Where is the difference in character?
Key character only makes sense relative to the pitch standard of the instruments you have.
It sounds bogus to you because you do not have absolute pitch. And based on your other comments on this blog, you have no desire to learn absolute pitch. Anyone with absolute pitch will tell you that every pitch has its own character.