Exploring the Genetic and Environmental Causes of Perfect Pitch
Keywords:
Perfect Pitch, Biology, Genetics, Music, LanguageAbstract
Perfect pitch, or absolute pitch, possessors can recognise, recall, and label musical notes quickly, and do not require a reference note, like those with relative pitch abilities do. The phenomenon is seen as advantageous to musicians, with notable performers and artists throughout history possessing it. This paper aims to explore the effects that genetics, language, culture, and education can have on perfect pitch, and discuss which are the most crucial to its development.
References
Szyfter, K. & Witt, M.P. (2020) How far musicality and perfect pitch are derived from genetic factors?, Journal of Applied Genetics, 61(3), pp.407-414. DOI: 10.1007/s13353-020-00563-7
Yang, S. (2023) Uncovering How Musicians Develop Perfect Pitch: A Literature Review, Undergraduate Research in Natural and Clinical Science and Technology Journal, pp.1-7. DOI: 10.26685/urncst.419
Carden, J. & Cline, T. (2019) Absolute pitch: Myths, evidence and relevance to music education and performance, Psychology of Music, 47(6), pp.890-901.DOI: 10.1177/030573561985609
Glasser, S. (2021) Perceiving music through the lens of synaesthesia and absolute pitch, Perception, 50(8), pp.690-708. DOI: 10.1177/03010066211034439
Bongiovanni, N.R., Heald, S.L., Nusbaum, H.C. & Van Hedger, S.C. (2023) Generalizing across tonal context, timbre, and octave in rapid absolute pitch training, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, pp.1-18. DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02653-0
Baggaley, J. & Thurlow, A. (2022) Mechanisms of absolute pitch: I. Acoustical beating, Musicae Scientiae, p.10298649221085205. DOI: 10.1177/10298649221085205
Thurlow, A. & Baggaley, J. (2022) Mechanisms of absolute pitch: II. Pitch shift and perfect touch, Musicae Scientiae, p.10298649211072505. DOI: 10.1177/10298649211072505
Gregersen, P.K., Kowalsky, E., Kohn, N. & Marvin, E.W. (1999) Absolute pitch: prevalence, ethnic variation, and estimation of the genetic component, American journal of human genetics, 65(3), p.911-913. DOI: 10.1086/302541
Szyfter, K. & Wigowska-Sowińska, J. (2022) Congenital amusia—pathology of musical disorder, Journal of Applied Genetics, 63(1), pp.127-131. DOI: 10.1007/s13353-021-00662-z
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. All content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY 4.0).
