you misspelled instruments, I'm dismissing your entire post WHAM.Potter wrote:And wow, you can play 4 instraments. Not really musical, you can play them, you have good coordination.
[Grubb's] Random Thoughts of the Day
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You miscolored T. I'm in my time machine, about to go back and ensure that your parents die in "tragic accidents" before reproducing.Potter wrote:you mispelled tee, IM IN YUR BATHROOM, PEEIN IN YOUR LAUNDRY HAMPER
Oh yeah, and on the music topic: in my lifetime I've written baroque, classical, romantic, pop, j-pop, rock, rap, and almost anything you care to name. I play two dozen instruments, most of them professionally, and the only reason I don't play the others is because I'm too good for them. My theremin plays chords. Correctly. Even violas and saxophones play in tune in my presence (they're too scared to do otherwise), and I shoot mystical perfect pitch rays from my eyes. While they're closed. Of course, all this is to be expected since I'm the reincarnation of Mozart, who returned to the Earth because he knew he could do WAY better than anything he came up with the first time around, and besides I got sick of them begging me to conduct the heavenly chorus. So hush, foo.
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Well, I can play dulcimer. (Not really, but I have one)Arka wrote:You miscolored T. I'm in my time machine, about to go back and ensure that your parents die in "tragic accidents" before reproducing.Potter wrote:you mispelled tee, IM IN YUR BATHROOM, PEEIN IN YOUR LAUNDRY HAMPER
Oh yeah, and on the music topic: in my lifetime I've written baroque, classical, romantic, pop, j-pop, rock, rap, and almost anything you care to name. I play two dozen instruments, most of them professionally, and the only reason I don't play the others is because I'm too good for them. My theremin plays chords. Correctly. Even violas and saxophones play in tune in my presence (they're too scared to do otherwise), and I shoot mystical perfect pitch rays from my eyes. While they're closed. Of course, all this is to be expected since I'm the reincarnation of Mozart, who returned to the Earth because he knew he could do WAY better than anything he came up with the first time around, and besides I got sick of them begging me to conduct the heavenly chorus. So hush, foo.

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As with most mental quirks, it has its advantages and its disadvantages.
I won't deny the advantages. It's useful to be able to know one's tuning without having to rely on a clunky electronic device. Some instruments have a wide enough pitch variability that I don't see how anyone can play them without perfect pitch, frankly. I also don't understand how people can compose music without perfect pitch, as my relative-pitched friends tell me that different keys really don't sound different to them. Do you just pick a key for everything at random, or what? And what do you do with passages that aren't in a key, per se?
In the non-musical realm, it can be very helpful in certain kinds of diagnostic work - for instance, when working with electronics a hum at a multiple of 60Hz is almost certainly related to a particular issue, while hums at other frequencies may also have significant meanings depending on the internals of the device you're dealing with. Different types of equipment failures all have their different associated pitches. When driving one's car, the pitch of the engine tells you a lot about how efficiently it's running, and paying attention to this gives you good feedback on your driving style. And then there's the fun and slightly stupid stuff - if you have a half-way decent memory, you can often tell what song is about to play on the radio from the sample of silence at the beginning. This gets hysterically funny reactions from car-mates.
It can also cause annoyance, however. I frequently find myself going, "Did my car have a noticeable engine harmonic at a high G before? I don't remember it having one. Does this mean something is wrong with it?" Since I'm not competent enough with automotive maintenance to really open it up and take a look (much to my shame - still need to remedy that), I get to either tough it out and hope I'm not destroying my car or take it to the dealer and go, "There's a faint engine harmonic at high G, and I'm not sure it was there before!" This generally doesn't end well. And you've probably already read my rantings about having to learn a new approach to musical thought in order to play keysounded games. If anyone ever tries to teach you the solfeggio system (do, re, mi) you'll have a heck of a time. Etc., etc., etc.
The big issue, though, is psychological: when you have both perfect pitch and musical training, you get to the point where out-of-tune things bother you. I went through a period around the time I was 13-15 when I didn't attend concerts, didn't listen to recordings, and really, REALLY couldn't stand anyone singing, because I got to the point where I would hear something half a cent off from the intended note and it would really piss me off. I love singing, but during this period of time it was basically impossible for me to do so - I just couldn't stand people singing. That's a very unpleasant way to live.
Luckily, I have a more zenlike attitude now, so I get to enjoy the advantages of perfect pitch without flipping out when someone's 0.5% flat or sharp.
Of course, I probably shouldn't have mentioned any of this given that you said,
I won't deny the advantages. It's useful to be able to know one's tuning without having to rely on a clunky electronic device. Some instruments have a wide enough pitch variability that I don't see how anyone can play them without perfect pitch, frankly. I also don't understand how people can compose music without perfect pitch, as my relative-pitched friends tell me that different keys really don't sound different to them. Do you just pick a key for everything at random, or what? And what do you do with passages that aren't in a key, per se?
In the non-musical realm, it can be very helpful in certain kinds of diagnostic work - for instance, when working with electronics a hum at a multiple of 60Hz is almost certainly related to a particular issue, while hums at other frequencies may also have significant meanings depending on the internals of the device you're dealing with. Different types of equipment failures all have their different associated pitches. When driving one's car, the pitch of the engine tells you a lot about how efficiently it's running, and paying attention to this gives you good feedback on your driving style. And then there's the fun and slightly stupid stuff - if you have a half-way decent memory, you can often tell what song is about to play on the radio from the sample of silence at the beginning. This gets hysterically funny reactions from car-mates.

It can also cause annoyance, however. I frequently find myself going, "Did my car have a noticeable engine harmonic at a high G before? I don't remember it having one. Does this mean something is wrong with it?" Since I'm not competent enough with automotive maintenance to really open it up and take a look (much to my shame - still need to remedy that), I get to either tough it out and hope I'm not destroying my car or take it to the dealer and go, "There's a faint engine harmonic at high G, and I'm not sure it was there before!" This generally doesn't end well. And you've probably already read my rantings about having to learn a new approach to musical thought in order to play keysounded games. If anyone ever tries to teach you the solfeggio system (do, re, mi) you'll have a heck of a time. Etc., etc., etc.
The big issue, though, is psychological: when you have both perfect pitch and musical training, you get to the point where out-of-tune things bother you. I went through a period around the time I was 13-15 when I didn't attend concerts, didn't listen to recordings, and really, REALLY couldn't stand anyone singing, because I got to the point where I would hear something half a cent off from the intended note and it would really piss me off. I love singing, but during this period of time it was basically impossible for me to do so - I just couldn't stand people singing. That's a very unpleasant way to live.
Luckily, I have a more zenlike attitude now, so I get to enjoy the advantages of perfect pitch without flipping out when someone's 0.5% flat or sharp.

Of course, I probably shouldn't have mentioned any of this given that you said,
BeatmaniacIIDX wrote:I hate people with perfect pitch...
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