Now your child is enrolled in Let's Play Music classes and you're getting excited about the long list of amazing skills that will be taught during three power-packed years. One fantastic super-power you'll see signs of in your child is perfect pitch.
What is Perfect Pitch?
Perfect pitch, or absolute pitch (AP), is the ability to identify or reproduce a musical note without needing a reference. For instance, if your child can name a piano note, like D, or sing middle C accurately without seeing the keys, they have perfect pitch. This skill is quite rare and impressive!
Children who speak tonal languages (where pitch changes are important in speech, such as in many forms of Chinese) often develop perfect pitch more easily. However, it is still valuable for all young children to work on their pitch skills. Research shows that while anyone can improve their pitch ability, only those who start training very young are likely to develop true perfect pitch.
Why is it Useful?
Pitch training enhances your child's musical abilities, which is a key focus of Let's Play Music. With perfect pitch skills, your child can do any of the following:
Sing in any key on request
Provide starting notes for others
Determine the key of a song and accompany it appropriately
Tune stringed instruments without a pitch pipe
Correct themselves while sight-reading
Visualize musical scores mentally
Master brass or vocal music with precision
Learn tonal languages more easily
In Let's Play Music, specific games and activities improve perfect pitch. For additional practice, use a pitch pipe or keyboard app to help your child identify notes, or play pitches on a keyboard for them to recognize. Regular practice, like singing "We Are Here" in the car to the tune of "DO is Home," will aid in you child's pitch improvement over time.
Most Let's Play Music students will be able to sing a middle C on request, but few will develop full perfect pitch. This isn’t a concern—our program emphasizes training in relative pitch, chord recognition, hearing chord progressions, and discerning rhythms. These skills are crucial for becoming a total musician.
Complete perfect pitch is rare among even famous musicians and composers. Shelle Soelberg, the creator of Let's Play Music, found that daily practice in perfect pitch benefited her children significantly. Over the years, her kids could reliably hit middle C, and with continued practice, four of them acquired perfect pitch by age twelve. Shelle noted, “We made pitch practice a natural part of our daily routine. The piano was close to the kitchen, so we often sang or played pitches while cooking or doing chores.”
While continued AP practice after the program is optional, the enhanced ear sensitivity your child gains will benefit them for life!
Not in a Let's Play Music class yet? Don't miss out - find a teacher near you now!
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