Timbral cues underlie instrument-specific absolute pitch in expert oboists.

ABSTRACT: While absolute pitch (AP)-the ability to identify musical pitches without external reference-is rare even in professional musicians, anecdotal evidence and case-report data suggest that some musicians without traditional AP can nonetheless better name notes played on their musical instrument of expertise than notes played on instruments less familiar to them. We have called this gain in AP ability "instrument-specific absolute pitch" (ISAP). Here, we report the results of the first two experiments designed to investigate ISAP in professional oboists. In Experiment 1 (n = 40), superiority for identifying the pitch of oboe over piano tones varied along a continuum, with 37.5% of oboists demonstrating significant ISAP. Variance in accuracy across pitches was higher among ISAP-possessors than

SUBMITTER: Hansen NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11449301 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature