In footnote 94 of page 288, David Shenk elaborates on "University of California, San Diego's Diana Deutsch"'s claim that "every human being is likely born with the capacity for absolute pitch, but that it get activated only in those who are exposed to enough tonal imprinting at an early age" (288). Shenk explains that although absolute pitch is rare, the most rare aspect is "the note naming, not the note reproducing" as many people are able to "sing a familiar song in the right key without being given a reference tone" (289). Therefore, the imprinting gave children the ability to label.
Taking this new theory of absolute pitch into account, how is tone deaf taking into the theory, where everyone is born with the capability of absolute pitch? What early childhood factors may have contributed to a child's development of absolute pitch? To a child's development of only partial absolute pitch, in which a child can reproduce but not label? What selective advantage does absolute pitch place on people who have it as opposed to people who do not? Cite specific examples from the book and from sheer experience.
~Jimmy Chang (jimmychang95@gmail.com)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAmong the general public, the common belief is that tone-deaf people cannot “appreciate or produce music” because they could not hear the difference in tones of different notes. However, tone-deafness is actually “a pure output disorder,” meaning that tone-deaf people can hear differences in tone and appreciate music, but they cannot produce the tone desired by the brain with their vocal chords correctly. (290-191).This suggests that it’s actually a lack of singing ability and not being able to process notes in the brain into noise from the vocal chords.
ReplyDeleteDiana Deutsch claims that everyone has the capacity to have absolute pitch, but they must have enough “tonal imprinting” in their early childhood for the adaptation to go into effect. Allan Snyder explains that “our mechanism for hearing consists of discrete frequency analysers which afford every individual with the raw apparatus necessary to confer absolute pitch. In other words, the information for absolute pitch is available to us all.” In Ed Douglas’s article “Pitch Perfect”, he quotes Diana Deutsch’s idea that children who speak tonal languages, languages in which certain pitches designate words such as Chinese, develop absolute pitch more often than children who speak non-tonal languages such as English. This occurs because the children who speak tonal languages learn early on how to associate a pitch with a word. This is essentially the same process as absolute pitch which is associating a pitch with a key or note. Basically, people can learn absolute pitch as long as they had early tonal imprinting during childhood. The textbook “Biology” by Campbell, defines imprinting: “In animal behavior, the formation at a specific stage in life of a long-lasting behavioral response to a specific individual or object” (Campbell G-19). Imprinting occurs during a sensitive period, or a critical period, which is a “limited developmental phase” when behaviors can be learned (Campbell 1126). This is why true absolute pitch can technically only be achieved as a child because this is when the sensitive period occurs. Another way a child can learn absolute pitch is to have early training in music and specific training for absolute pitch. For example, a common technique of teaching absolute pitch is to play a pitch in repetition and tell the child which note is being played. This is an effective method of teaching absolute pitch to children, but it is still highly difficult and the training must be extensive. Nevertheless, Laura Bischoff and Elizabeth West Marvin state that “AP is not an all-or-nothing skill. Many have AP in varying degrees…”(289). A speaker of a tonal language with less training than a true person with absolute pitch may exhibit some characteristics of absolute pitch but may not be as fast or accurate. Also, people who have had musical training, regardless of age, often have varying degrees of absolute pitch. Usually, those who have a better chance of attaining full absolute pitch are those that have had musical training in their early childhood.
Absolute pitch is a perfect example of nature versus nurture and GxE. Absolute pitch is influenced by environment because everyone has the genes for absolute pitch but they are turned on from early tonal imprinting. Absolute pitch occurs in a person when the genes are being expressed, being made into proteins.
Absolute pitch has a few selective advantages. Obviously, speakers of tonal languages need to communicate with those around them in their societies. Since their languages require associations of pitch to words, absolute pitch is a selective advantage helping them communicate with ease because they can easily associate the pitches to words or notes. This selective advantage does not necessarily aid in surviving and reproducing but it ensures easy communication. However, absolute pitch did act as a selective advantage that aided in surviving and reproducing earlier on in evolution. Our ancestors in evolution adapted by developing absolute pitch so that they could communicate efficiently. Also, it is possible that absolute pitch developed as an adaptation so that when ancestors of humans were hunting, they could pick up on specific prey’s calls and hunt better. Today, many primates that developed from a common ancestor as humans still use certain pitches or songs to communicate. For example primates make certain calls to warn of a predator which was often a trait of a common ancestor with humans. If the animals could not depict the pitch of a warning call or could not produce the call, it could not survive and reproduce and could not warn the group of animals respectively. This trait has carried on through evolutionary time and humans still possess the possibility to have absolute pitch in their genes but it is not as common anymore as it is not necessary anymore, and over time the gene has become inactive. Today, a simple advantage of having absolute pitch for musicians is the ability to easily recognize musical notes which aids in rapid learning of new songs. Also, having absolute pitch enables musicians to easily write music because they can have an idea in their head and immediately transpose it into notes. Overall, it is an advantage to have absolute pitch whether it is truly an important advantage in today’s world, but it was almost necessary in past evolutionary history.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the nervous system is important for absolute pitch. Absolute pitch involves the left hemisphere of the brain. In fact, in a study by Allan Snyder and Terry Bossomaier, they showed that absolute pitch can be acquired by turning off parts of the right side of the brain. However, this process causes other negative effects in the person.
Sources:
http://www.centreforthemind.com/publications/absolutepitch.pdf
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40285605.pdf?acceptTC=true
Alex Casino (AlexJCasino@gmail.com)