I don’t have perfect (absolute) pitch, but I have good relative pitch. Relative pitch allows me to identify intervals, notes, and chords after hearing a reference pitch. So if you were to play me middle C, for example, I could identify any other note you played after hearing the first note. It’s a useful skill and if you haven’t already developed it, you can with some practice… or you may develop it over time simply by playing and listening to a lot of music.

There’s also something known as pitch memory — a skill that allows you to remember specific pitches, but not necessarily every note. A lot of guitar players, for example, can imagine the sound of an E in their head correctly because they’ve spent years tuning the first string of their instrument to that note. And once they’ve gotten that note, if they have good relative pitch, they can interpolate other notes by calculating the intervallic distances in their head. Sometimes I can find an E without reference, and sometimes middle C. But my pitch memory isn’t great and it’s something I should work on.

Regarding your question about composers using theory versus innate feel: I think it’s usually the latter. In my experience, most people write music and make musical choices based on instinct (I know I do). Theory can come in handy if you’re in a bind and you need to explore a range of possibilities to solve a musical problem or work something out. I think it’s most enjoyable to write and play what sounds or feels good, and then after the fact you can go back and look at its underlying musical architecture and examine why it sounds or feels good. In my view, music theory is simply a set of principles that can help us understand things. I don’t see it as a set of rules or procedures for how to create music (though some people seem to think it is), but rather as a framework with which to understand or communicate concepts.

Thanks for reading!

We always wonder how much the composers are consciously drawing from theory and how much is just innate feel. With Martin, I would wager there more theory than most. He is supposedly a great singer and used to do make multipart harmony demos for his artists himself. (He figures in the book The Song Machine, if anyone is interested.)

I am curious: do you have perfect pitch yourself? Or do you use relative pitch primarily?

haha You don’t necessarily need to have the vocabulary, but having a better understanding of the music you’re hearing and how it’s affecting the way you hear it can be magical.

Side note: The Shawshank Redemption is easily in my top ten all-time favorite scores. Possibly top five. Loved that you used it as a reference point.

Second side note: I’ve watched The Shawshank Redemption so many times I can hear the character of Brooks doing that monologue in my head while ‘Brooks Was Here’ plays.

https://twitter.com/RobertParkerSWE/status/1422316829645713412?s=20

To know ANYTHING this well…

Another excellent analysis Vivek, and I hope this remains a weekly column. I’m truly learning something about what makes music tick!