Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series: Perfect Pitch: Gift or Curse?

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Friday, January 27th, 2017
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

James Mark, chair of the VIU Music Department, will give a presentation entitled Perfect Pitch: Gift or Curse?. "Technically," says James Mark, "perfect pitch is called absolute pitch, and it is considered a musical gift. Statistically 1 in 10,000 people have it and not surprisingly it is more common in musicians. Roughly 22 in 10,000 musicians have perfect pitch, but it seems ALL musicians want to ‘have’ it." Mark himself is very aware of the good and bad of perfect pitch: he has it. Why can it be a curse for those who have it? Says Mark, "Those with perfect pitch can recall pitches out of thin air and can identify audible frequencies and label them with conventional musical names. Much like how our eyes can identify wavelengths in the visual spectrum and label them as colours.

The problem in music we are not always dealing with the same tuning system." Tuning systems in music are vast. In the Western world, we have adopted a tuning system called Equal Temperament. Equal temperament can find its roots in Pythagorean tuning. A 12-note tuning system developed by Pythagoras in Greek antiquity. Another common tuning system can be found in ‘Just Intonation’. A tuning system based on the harmonic series. In any given situation, a musician may find themselves using one or more tuning systems in the same piece of music or phrase. "This is where the curse of perfect pitch rears its ugly head," says Mark. "Perfect pitch nowadays is commonly developed in an equal tempered system, but musicians with perfect pitch must play in other tuning systems. This means instincts must be ignored and to play ‘in tune’ with others, we must play ‘out of tune’ with ourselves. A great paradox."

In the presentation Mark will talk about the perfect pitch phenomenon in general and his own experience. He will discuss different tuning systems in the world, his childhood, and the contribution of Johann Sebastian Bach. He will also consider the possibility of learning perfect pitch and offer reflections on his coping mechanisms, how he deals with 'out of tune' situations, as well as the connections between perfect pitch and dyslexia.

James Mark was born and raised in western Canada and completed his undergraduate degree in music at York University. He earned his Masters degree in violin performance and composition at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where he went on to become a faculty member teaching theory and musicianship. Currently Mark is the Music Department chair at Vancouver Island University and teaches courses in digital music notation and studio recording. He also teaches violin performance at VIU and at the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music. He is a core member of the Vancouver Island Symphony and is continually working as an arranger and composer. Since 2007 Mark has been the arranger, musical director and violinist for the Yellowpoint Christmas Spectacular. A project that recently celebrated its 10th year with sold out performances on its island tour.

Courtesy parking for this presentation will be available. Enter through Gate 5D (access from Fifth Street) and park in the lot to the right. From 9:15 to 10:00 am, students in safety vests will be near entrances to guide you and provide you with a pass for your dashboard. The pass will be good until 1:00 pm. (If this lot is full, go to gate 5F and park in one of the first two sections).

https://www2.viu.ca/artsandhumanities/Arts_Humanities_Colloquium.asp