Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am doing a project on how much, or if, musical background has an effect on if you have perfect pitch when you are in your teens. I am filling out a paper for my procedural plan, but I can't figure out what my control and experimental groups would be, since I'm not changing anything.

Hi,
one question I have is how will you deal with a "non musical" persons ignorance of musical terminology. If a person is born with perfect pitch but not trained in music there may be a steep learning curve for the people you are polling. Some people may not understand a note is "higer".

Have you decided how you will test this? Will you play a recording and ask the person to identify the note?

It is best to simplify the procedure when possible, perhaps play sets of recorded notes for people and have them identify if one is higher in pitch than the other. Start with obvious examples like a low C and a hi C, and then move the notes closer together. In the end you may ask people to distinguish between a half step.

A large sample of participants is what you will be after, sort people according to thier musical ability, Have they ever played an instrument?

Does this help?

Jim

Here's a resource I found.
http://www.mmk.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de ... olute.html

Another resource with an online test! Check it out!

http://perfectpitch.ucsf.edu/ppstudy.html