absolute pitch
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈæb.sə.luːt pɪtʃ/
- Specialized
:
oído absoluto
- "The immediate question we've been trying to get to is what are the variants in people's genomes that could predispose an individual to have absolute pitch," she said.
Examples
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This difference was exaggerated for those with absolute pitch or those who started their musical training before age seven.
Academic text (2000) -
Is your brain in tune and it talks about things such as the incidence of absolute pitch in this world.
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Potential participants who confirmed they had absolute pitch were excluded from the study.
Academic text (2015) -
" The genetic revision treatment for absolute pitch is no longer commercially available.
Fiction book (1999) -
"The hypothesis, further, is that those variants will then manifest as absolute pitch with the input of early musical training."
Blog text (12) -
By contrast, even among those humans with absolute pitch, our sophisticated musicality is possible, in large part, because we deal with pitch relationships. "Yankee Doodle," for instance, is recognizable to us when begun in any key.
Academic text (2000) -
Musicians with absolute pitch can immediately recognize the note played on a piano.
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Having absolute pitch allows a singer to perform a song in the correct key without needing a reference note.
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People with absolute pitch often describe it as hearing a musical note clearly in their mind.
Synonyms
5
9.6
To hear or sing a musical note without hearing another note first
How Accurate
- Specialized
1
9.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts give a useful clue: 'absolute' (complete/perfect) + 'pitch' (perceived highness of sound) will likely lead learners to think of a special or 'perfect' kind of pitch. However, the precise sense — a person's ability to identify or sing notes without a reference tone — is a technical, knowledge-based extension and is not fully predictable from the words alone, so a B1 learner may not derive the intended ability-focused meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Absolute pitch comes from the idea of pitch, the musical note, being an exact or absolute value you can name without any other sound to compare. So someone with absolute pitch can hear a note and say its name or sing it without a reference sound, which is why the phrase means 'the rare ability to identify or sing a note without a reference'.