Absolute Pitch Education

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

I'll try and describe my experience a little...

One thing I've noticed is that it gets easier in a way with each added pitch. Probably because I am more familiar with the sounds, and my mind is getting better at doing the game. I can keep a pitch in my head longer and more easily after a quick listen. Almost all my errors are half step errors. In the beginning I made a lot of half-step up errors (ie mistaking C# for C), but now not that many. More and more often I just know what a pitch is by its feel or 'chroma', but I usually use the melody words. It reminds me of when I was learning the intervals using tricks and now I just know the feel or 'resonance' of them. The D pitch melody word is by far the hardest for me to get/hear because the interval in the beginning drowns out the D sound. Tried to change it but didn't work. I'm on the E pitch major level 4 at the moment.

aruffo · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:25 pm Post subject:

Hm... do you have a suggestion for a different D-melody? I worried that The Entertainer would present just that problem, but I didn't find anything else short and recognizable from a famous composer that started with D.

losvedir · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 16

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

A good one that starts w/ D would be Minuet in G by Bach, it's one of the most popular piano pieces. You could also just get rid of that harmony in the beginning of the Entertainer.

It might be good to have >1 melody word for each pitch to have the ability to check yourself better or get a different perspective. I could provide some recommendations if u want. Pachebel's canon main melody starts on A. Also Chris do u know the name or composer of the F pitch melody word? thx

aruffo · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:33 am Post subject:

I'd like to change the default D-melody for everyone's sake-- I'll check out the one you've just mentioned.

I suppose I could have a download section for alternate melody words; that would probably be helpful. If you want to use your own files instead of the built-in ones there's a menu option t'do that, and it'd probably be nice to have files ready for them what wants 'em.

The list of composers is up somewhere.. let's see.. where did I put that? mm... Ah! There it is.

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

At level B it just keeps getting easier. For this note I haven't really relied on the melody word at all, because I just know the sound of B. Don't know if I'm hearing chroma or if I'm just better at memorizing the timbral quality, but I would definitely characterize this note as a sort of turning point. BTW for the D melody I switched to the bass intro from 'When You're Next To Me' by Mitch and Mickey from 'A Mighty Wind". It characterizes the sentimental feeling of 'D' very well but it's not in PD obviously.

Martin · Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Denmark

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

Currently on Eb w/ 300 something waves. One thing I've noticed is that after 5+ missiles w/out the target my mind is inclined to hear a close pitch as the target pitch. I heard that this also happens with visual color.

The black notes seem to solidify the area they fall in. For C# for example, I hear the C quality and the D quality and it improved my perception of that pitch area. C sounds very thick while D is similar but brighter. C is my best note and I generally pick it up when I'm not even concentrating on it. Other ones pop out too sometimes when I'm not trying to id them in particular.

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

Currently on F# w/ 400 something. Each note you progress makes you better at hearing all the notes, because it is basically the same skill.

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

On Ab w/ 493 waves. It will be interesting to see how different the game is with the new ratio. I'm sure it will be more difficult, but this is a welcome thing. Notes seem to have more 'color' in the area right below middle C. More bass players seem to have AP in general so there might be a connection there. Also, tritones (and dissonances in general) seem to brighten up the chroma for both notes in the interval (not originally my idea but I agree with it).

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

still on Ab. It's so much harder now with the new ratio. I haven't even beat cadet yet, but I can tell that I'm learning the notes a lot better because of the challenge.

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

I have to say that I am really hearing notes differently now, at least (or especially) on the piano. It's hard to describe the difference, but it seems like notes have a new quality. This is most apparent in the bass notes right below middle C. I do not have full blown AP though (just a melody trickster, piece ap, active pitch recall from thinking of melodies, and selective pure ident), but am happy about this new sensation. Unfortunately I haven't been playing the game as much recently due to frustration (sometimes losing with the new ratio) from being set back to where I started, and also from getting Warcraft 3 lol. The good thing is that with ear training you pretty much don't lose the progress you've made when you take a break.

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

Finally made it to the last note Bb, thx to the bug fix. The new version is a lot of fun. F# is my worst note but I'm starting to pick it up better

petew83 · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 267

beat Bb (sort of). got an OutOfBounds exception way at the end, I think because the octaves weren't put back in yet. Destroyer is my fav rank by far. It's sounds are really good for the training

aruffo · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:17 pm Post subject:

Eep! Yes, it would. I gots ta get crackin' on those octaves. With Thanksgiving here upon us, it shouldn't be long. Thanks f'r your patience.