Absolute hearing, i.e. the ability to remember and reproduce the sounds heard without errors, is a characteristic of many musicians and is very useful in their profession. However, is it a talent, an unusual ability, a genius? Not necessarily. It turns out that absolute hearing is the result of intensive training in early childhood.
Absolute hearing: what is it?
Absolute hearing , in other words perfect, is the ability to remember and recognize the pitch of sounds, including several sounds simultaneously, without having to refer to a model sound. Thus, a person with absolute hearing can quickly and unmistakably associate the pitch with its musical name.
Researchers from the University of Zurich, using the EEG study, have established that absolute hearing is a consequence of the coupling of the auditory cortex responsible for sound perception and the dorsal part of the frontal lobe, containing functions related to memory.
It is estimated that 1 in 10,000 people has absolute hearing.
Composers such as Mozart and Beethoven were proud of their absolute hearing. Hailed as geniuses, even as a few years old children they were able to create wonderful pieces of music.
However, when we look closely at their biography, we notice that their musical talent was polished from the earliest years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart heard music at home from birth. When he was 3, he played the harpsichord and accompanied his older sister during the lessons. When he was 5 years old he composed his first piece.
Similarly, Ludwig van Beethoven - his father educated him musically from the age of 4. He gave his first concert at the age of 7. There are many more such examples.
Also today - let's take Igor Falecki (born 2003), who a few years ago made a sensation on the Internet with his drumming. He also grew up in the musical environment - mum - a singer and dad - bass guitarist, made him not only well-informed, but also musically educated from an early age.
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What is the result of this? Many researchers are of the opinion that everyone initially has absolute hearingof us. If activated in early childhood and then trained consistently, it will thrive and survive into adulthood. Otherwise - it will disappear.
The very contact with music is important here, usually with the parent, his work and hobbies, as well as the opportunity to gain own experiences, such as touching instruments, playing with them, experimenting.
However, it must be clearly emphasized, a parent, in order to develop an absolute hearing of his child, does not have to be an outstanding musician. He may not even play any instrument at all. The most important thing is to create appropriate conditions for the child - for the child to be able to listen to music - at home and at concerts - go to music classes, surround himself with instruments.
Worth knowingA similar dependence - i.e. the loss of skills as a result of not training - is also observed in the case of learning foreign languages. A child who learns languages already in infancy (e.g. growing up in a multilingual environment), learns all of them without any difficulties.
This shows how incredibly receptive the mind of a small child is. 2-3 years old toddlers learn rhymes and songs in a surprisingly fast pace. But - they forget just as quickly.
A 4-year-old child may learn to speak a foreign language fluently, but if his living conditions change so that he stops using the language, he will forget it completely a few years later. That is why it is so important to consolidate the acquired skills.
Absolute hearing in children
Babies and toddlers have extremely sensitive hearing (as opposed to their eyesight). They hear sounds in a much wider range of frequencies than an adult. Therefore, e.g. a slamming of a door frightens them - an infant hears this sound many times - reflected from various surfaces.
The child can also hear the operation of electrical devices, such as a turned on but muted TV set that emits sounds inaudible to an adult's ear. Over time, this skill gradually fades away (it would be difficult to live in such noise!). Even teenagers can hear, for example, TeenBuzz Mosquito Ringtone cell phones. Adults - e.g. a teacher - not anymore! Teenagers enjoy using it in lessons …
Musically educated children generally have a much better memory than their peers who do not have such contact with music. Memorizing by hearing is not a problem for them. Of course, this translates into success in learning.
According to scientists, already 6 years of music education (e.g. 1st level music school) is enough to significantly influence the development of verbal memory. Importantly, the abandonment of this education, e.g.instrument, no longer worsens verbal memory. However, starting education in this field should not start until the age of 10. Later, the human brain is not as flexible anymore.
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Absolute hearing test
You can perform such a test even over the Internet. It consists in the fact that first you have to listen to several music tracks, and then, for example :
- identify pitch differences;
- repeat the melody;
- repeat - clap the beat;
- to reproduce the phony on the vision, i.e. to match the musical fragments to geometric figures;
- estimate the number of instruments playing at the moment.
Absolute hearing is much more common in the Far East than in the West. More than half of students in Chinese music universities and as many as 70 percent in Japanese have it, while among American students this percentage is 10 percent, and European students - only 3 percent.
This disproportion is explained by modern methods of musical education of Asians, involving children from 3 years of age. It is also worth noting that Asian children educated in music in America are not more gifted than Americans in this respect.