Fascinating stuff. I have never pondered the arbitrariness of musical tunings (probably because I am not a musician).
However, if these tunings and notes vary so much, what does it mean when one claims that they have 'perfect pitch'? Is it an ability that uses the relative distance between notes? That is, given an A they can identify the C?
> what does it mean when one claims that they have 'perfect pitch'
someone starting before 6 years old (better chance of things sticking) and being sung "bah-bah-black sheep" with a piano at the correct pitch. So they manage to remember the starting pitch as well as the relative up/down of the melody.
Interestingly, more common in "tonal" language speakers, e.g. Mandarin, where the pitch can make a difference in the meaning of the same word. Apparently "ma" can mean mom, horse, lazy... depending on the pitch and its direction.
Perfect pitch is mostly a curse than a blessing as many notes in the world are off, e.g. a school bell, and hurt the person with the perfect pitch. I hear :)
I'd say perfect pitch = relative pitch + internal pitch reference (i.e. A=440). You cannot be born with the latter pre-programmed in your brain because that's an arbitrary number.
However, if these tunings and notes vary so much, what does it mean when one claims that they have 'perfect pitch'? Is it an ability that uses the relative distance between notes? That is, given an A they can identify the C?