Large-scale direct-test study reveals unexpected characteristics of absolute pitch

Abstract

Absolute pitch, the ability to name a musical note in the absence of a reference note, is very rare in North America and Europe, so that attempts to characterize its features in the western world have involved small numbers of subjects, informal self-report, questionnaires, or web-based exploration. The study reported here capitalized on the high prevalence of absolute pitch in China to explore its features in detail using direct, on-site testing of 160 subjects in a Chinese music conservatory. As expected, performance levels were extremely high, and there was a large effect of age of onset of musical training, with those who began training by age 5 scoring on average 83% correct not allowing for semitone errors and 90% correct allowing for semitone errors. It was found that errors tended to be on the sharp side. An advantage to white keys over black keys was also found; however this was not due to early experience with the piano, as had been hypothesized by others, since performers on different instruments showed an effect that was as large or larger. Furthermore, the special status for note A that had been hypothesized by others was not found, even for orchestral performers.