Perfect Pitch
SCIENCE NEWS
August 29, 2007
Perfect Pitch: “You’ve Either Got It or You Don’t”
Is there a gene for perfect pitch? New study sets the stage for finding out
By Nikhil Swaminathan
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Image: © ISTOCKPHOTO/JACOB WACKERHAUSEN |
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GENETICALLY PREDISPOSED?: Assuming this young lady has perfect pitch, could her ability be coded in her DNA? |
You don’t have to be Mozart to correctly identify a tone as A-sharp or D-flat. In fact, says a new report, perfect pitch may be genetic In the midst of recruiting subjects for a genetic study on perfect (absolute) pitch—the ability to discern a note from nearly any sort of sound without a reference tone—scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered several interesting patterns among people who have the skill.
