Perfect Pitch-A Musical Gene

If you haven't read, "Musicophila" by Oliver Sacks...and you LOVE learning about music and it's affect on people, you REALLY should! This post again has to do with something I read from this book.

I knew a girl in college that had Perfect Pitch and I really envied her at times. She was our human pitch pipe in choir, and ear training (aural skills) came naturally for her. Whereas, I had to memorize Major, and minor tones to pass my ear training class.

I used to think that Perfect Pitch had to be a gene you inherited, until I read this in "Musicophilia",

"For students who had begun musical training between ages 4 and 5, approximately 60% of Chinese students (attending Eastman School of Music in Rochester) met the criterion for absolute pitch, while only about 14% of the US nontone language speakers met the criterion."

In other words, those who speak a language that has more tones/inflection in their language have greater odds at having perfect pitch.

What if perfect pitch can be learned just like we know our colors, but we just don't teach it? If this is the case, this proves another point. Music is a language that can be learned!