Can Perfect Pitch Be Learned

By Ray Scott

Perfect Pitch (also called Absolute Pitch) is the ability to recognize any musical note without a reference tone. For example, someone with perfect pitch can a hear a doorbell and immediately recognize the notes. For years, people have debated whether this ability was simply genetic or if it could be learned. As a professional musician and music school graduate, I was always jealous of my peers who had this ability. They breezed through difficult classes like Ear Training and Aural Skills, and I always assumed that the ability was just inborn, that you couldn’t learn it.

I was dead wrong.

Sure, some people are born with Perfect Pitch and can just tell a Db from an A or a G from an E. However, some people are also naturally born athletes. That doesn’t mean that someone can’t be trained to be a good athlete. It just takes practice.

Based on research conducted during my graduate studies in music and education, I have come to the conclusion that anyone who has a propensity for musical talent (e.g. if you can play an instrument or show promise of talent) probably already has this ability whether they know it or not. It’s just a matter of unlearning some bad habits that you’ve developed throughout your whole life.

I would not deny that this capability has a genetic component; however, the same genetics that predispose someone for musical ability may also very well indicate their proclivity for Perfect Pitch.