It's not perfect pitch, but would you consider this child to be musically gifted somehow?

Question

Would you consider an 8 year old child who has no musical training, yet can be given a song they've never heard before, sit down at a piano for 2 or 3 minutes or so, and be able to figure out how to play the melody, to be gifted? Now, the child is no Mozart writing whole symphonies at age 5, but what would you consider this child to be?

Haha, thanks for all your responses. The child here is actually a female, and no longer a child: it's me. I was reading something about perfect pitch yesterday and it got me thinking about my own musical past. I wish my parents would have gotten me into piano lessons when I begged them for nothing but a piano for Christmas when I was 8 years old. I began formal training when I picked up the violin at age 10. I started piano lessons at age 12. Luckily I attended a school that had the best orchestral music program in my state. As a matter of fact I tested into the highest level of orchestra my freshman year of high school. I was 1 of 4 freshman out of a total of 50 incoming freshman in orchestra who made the top. Unfortunately, my parents moved and I ended up going to a high school with an extremely subpar music program with a horribly mean instructor. I kind of became burned out at that point, but now that I am in college I would like to get back into it.

Answer 1

Yes, I would definitely say he is gifted...virtuoso? not quite yet...Mozart was a virtuoso at age 5, true...but he also was receiving musical lessons and he was basically bred to be a musician by his father.

This child should definitely be taking lessons. I would strongly suggest that you do some research and look for good music schools in your city/town. Don't just get him/her lessons from the lady down the street. Any child that has a natural ear like that; their talent can be cultivated easily with the right teacher.

You want a music school...a place where the child can be involved in ensemble playing, performances, and workshops with other kids. Do you live in an area that has a major musical conservatory? (Peabody, Eastman, Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis, etc..) or a college or university that has a good music school? (ex. Univ. of Michigan, Temple Univ., Rutgers, Rice Univ. etc etc) It is often that these schools have a preparatory music program for children and young adults. They are usually very good programs and the child you are talking about would gain a solid foundation in music and would most likely thrive in the environment considering the talent you have mentioned.

If you mention the state that you live in, I'd be happy to recommend some good schools if you'd like!

EDIT: Shirley you are incorrect in your defintion of prodigy (i mean no disrespect - i just mean to point this out) Wikipedia defines prodigy in the following way:
"A child prodigy is an individual who masters one or more skills or arts at an early age. One generally accepted heuristic for identifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 13 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor. "

By this definition...I would not consider this child a prodigy - I think that he/she probably possesses a good degree of natural ability, however. If his/her talent is cultivated properly - it wouldn't be an impossibility for the child to become somewhat prodigious. but as another user said...there is probably a risk of the child feeling "forced" since it would take A LOT of work for a child to reach a high artistic level. Here are a few examples of what people usually consider to be child prodigies:

Itzhak Perlman at age 13 (this age is at the cusp...but who cares? LISTEN TO THIS...IT'S INSANE) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZs6D-w0Ex4

Sergio Tiempo at age 3 or 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3R6SBGUzkQ

Answer 2

Your child is a natural musician -- get him/her some music lessons immediately.

It might be perfect pitch, actually. It's a little hard to say. How many times does s/he hear the song before going to the piano? 2 or 3 minutes isn't "fast" in terms of figuring out pitches, by any means. But, the fact that your child can remember the tune and be able to eventually figure it out indicates that s/he has strong innate musical abilities.

Urquey's comment is misleading. Relative pitch and perfect pitch are two different things: they are not different degrees of the same ability.

Perfect pitch really is nothing more than highly developed pitch memory. There are probably MANY people who have some degree of perfect pitch, but don't know it. There are (at least) two different cognitive processes involved -- one which recognizes a particular frequency (or frequencies within a range) and says "hey, I know what that is," and another which assigns that frequency a name and says "oh, that's the frequency that I call C#."

The first may or may not be innate, but the second is DEFINITELY learned. Obviously, there is nothing about 440 hz that "is" an A...it's been defined by humans...and it's changed over the course of music history.

Answer 3

Perfect pitch is a gift some people are innately more gifted at than others. However, it has been shown that these talents can be developed through training and dedication. Look for a book called, "Developing Perfect Pitch" my book was published in the '50's and it describes associating colors with tones, after much study you recognize different tonalities the way a person "sees" different colors. Different pitches (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) do indeed have different tones -- otherwise all composers would have composed their songs all in the same key. The different pitches have varied flavors, colors, and moods. After much training, anyone with enough dedication can learn to distinguish these variations. Of note, my aunt has perfect pitch, and she can listen to the train, or the refridgerator whine, and tell you what note it is!

Answer 4

'The child' (you do not even indicate his or her gender!) obviously has a good musical ear. I doubt 'the child' is playing 'songs'. Songs are sung - they have lyrics. I expect your child is playing 'pieces' unless he/she is singing as well (which would be even more remarkable!).

Urquey is misleading you about pitch. No-one is born with 'perfect pitch' (how could they be? it would be like being born knowing how to talk). Perfect pitch is simply a very good pitch memory. Relative pitch is very similar but relates to notes in specific pieces one can remember and what pitch they are, rather than being able to remember the pitch of every note, irrespective of whether or not it forms part of a specific piece of music.

It would seem that 'the child' has some kind of musical talent - and definitely has a well-developed musical ear. It might be a nice idea to start him/her on piano lessons (or, if that doesn't suit, perhaps violin?). Encourage the ability but never PUSH it. Never force it. It is important 'the child' loves music and wants to play and study, otherwise the magic will be lost for ever. There are few less attractive things in life than pushy parents (and I'm not suggesting you are, merely pleading with you not to become so).

And remember, the word 'song' is NOT a generic term for just any piece of music - it refers to a piece with a vocal part with words. I see this term misused every single day in this forum and it drives me to despair.

And, when you have a moment, give your child a name!

Answer 5

Why is this child not receiving piano lessons ? He has a good sense of relative pitch. (perfect pitch is something different and is a bit over rated) ; relative pitch is much more useful.

Answer 6

He probably has undeveloped perfect pitch or what is referred to as relative pitch which is being able to distinguish notes within a very narrow interval.

Say you hear an A and guess a Bb or G# that would be relative pitch.

My advice:
Train the boy, get him started on something musical, if he has this potential, foster it! Don't let it go to waste.

Answer 7

I am glad that you ask this question.A child who is musically talented without any music lesson is called a child prodigy.But if that musical child knows how to play the difficult pieces of music,then he or she will be now called the master of the intrument he or she played(like the hungarian composer Franz Liszt)

Answer 8

It means he has definite natural talent and a good ear. I was the same way when I was a child.

Answer 9

Virtuosuo child!!