Absolute Pitch - Correlation With Musical Talent

Correlation With Musical Talent

Absolute pitch is not a prerequisite for skilled musical performance or composition. Studies have shown both positive and negative impacts of AP on musically skilled tasks: musicians with absolute pitch tended to perform better on transcription when compared to musicians with similar onset and duration of musical training, but musicians with absolute pitch also showed poorer abilities at recognising musical intervals (for reference notes other than C). No test yet exists for comprehensively and objectively measuring the influence of absolute pitch ability on musicianship.

Owing to uncertainty in the historical record, it is often impossible to determine whether notable composers and musicians had absolute pitch. Since absolute pitch is rare in European musical culture, claims that any particular musician possessed it are difficult to evaluate. Among composers of the Baroque and Classical eras, evidence is available only for Mozart, who is documented to have demonstrated the ability at age 3. Experts have only surmised that Beethoven had it, as indicated from some excerpts from his letters. By the 19th century, it became more common for the presence of absolute pitch to be recorded, identifying the ability to be present in musicians such as Camille Saint-Saëns and John Philip Sousa.