Can someone who does not naturally have a good ear for music be taught to sing at the professional level?

Question

I'm one of those people who wasn't born with an amazing ear. I don't have perfect pitch, nor was I even born with a good sense of relative pitch. I've been studying voice for over four years now, and although my tonal quality, breath support, and range have improved and increased dramatically since starting, I still greatly struggle with pitch (namely finding harmony, but still occasionally melody).

Is this something that can be taught and I should still continue to work at it, or should I just accept a possible fact that some people were born with good ears and that I am just not one of them?

I'm an aspiring actor who would love to work in musicals, but I know my ear will probably be the one thing that will greatly hinder my progress in finding work. There are other things I also need to work on (always perfecting my craft, no?), but this one is probably the biggest hurdle I'm trying to jump, and I'm wondering if I am ever going to be able to get over it.

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Go to this link, it is a product called perfect pitch. People who are born with "perfect pitch" are still not able to identify notes. It must be acquired through doing it. Granted they hear pitches and match pitches better, nothing on this earth can't be learned. Keep going, you will get it.

http://www.discount.perfectpitch.com/

Answer 2

First of all, a lack of perfect pitch can actually be an asset to someone working in musicals, where songs are often transposed to different keys to accommodate the ranges of the performers. Those with perfect pitch (I have it to a low degree) have a very hard time singing a song in a key other than the one it is written in, since they're looking at the page and their eyes are telling them to make one sound, and their ears are telling them to make a different sound. So, you've actually got an edge there. Second of all, relative pitch is absolutely something you can improve on over time. I highly recommend taking a sight reading or a music theory class. A major component of both of these types of classes is learning to hear and sing intervals (the space between notes). This is accomplished through much drilling, which will, in time, help you to hear these pitches with greater accuracy and confidence. Good luck!