The Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse

Rating:
Summary: I found it confusing.
Review: I bought a similar course by David L. Burge about 18 years ago. It was advertised in a guitar magazine with a 30 day or so money back guarantee. I spent very little time with it because I was unable to connect at the time with the ideas presented. I recently checked out a DEMO version with a small part of the new course advertised here.

The DEMO version was different, but I couldn't relate to it either. In this version, Mr. Burge seems to be able to make a connection between "sound" and "color" and "feeling" and is trying to get the user to do the same. In the version I checked out 18 years ago, I seem to recall that he was making a connection between "sound" and "color." At the time, I believed he may have been confusing the term "color" as it applies to "tone." There indeed is a difference in "color" on a guitar, for example, for each different note, if you are using the word "color" as a synonym for "tonal characteristics."

In this case, a difference in "color" means that each note has different tonal characteristics related to the different overtones caused by the interaction in the guitar of the wood with the strings. I may indeed have very limited perception, but so far I have been unable to tell the difference in color between pure notes played independent of an instrument - i.e. pure notes with no harmonics/overtones.

I had read Jerry Coker's "Improvising Jazz" where he describes how to use one's musical instrument to develop pseudo perfect pitch. (By memorizing the individual tonal characteristics of each note on their instrument a person can compare in their mind a heard pitch to the same pitch as played on their own instrument and thus identify the heard pitch.) Mr. Burge's approach is different from this. His approach may well be of benefit to others, but I was not willing to put the time in to find out if I could get anything of permanent value from it.

Rating:
Summary: Best non-religious CD series that I've ever listened to
Review: I, too, began the course with only a very skeptical hope, but by the end of the first weekend, I started to recognize the "flavor" of many notes, regardless of octave or even instrument. Even after my first listening, I started to recognize the pitch of blenders, lawnmowers, elevator movements, announcers' voices, and so on, knowing which note they were. As a non-musician, though, I had to learn the names of the notes that represent the flavors (or colors) of the pitches that I could recognize. Naturally, I don't know how to play them on an instrument, either. As for whether I was born with perfect pitch, I could answer either way but also emphasize that the same would be true for any other person. I must admit, though, that I've always had a good ear for languages, being able to mimic accents of the various languages that I've learned, much to the amazment of my university professors and native speakers. Now, if only I could apply my pitch recognition. I still can't control my voice to match the sound inside my head so that I could at least sing hymns with the rest of the congregation at church.

Oh, I should also mention that although I recognize pitches of notes, even of the mechanical or electronic things around me, I still can't recognize chords or which notes compose those chords, and the course jumps right into the emphasis on chords almost immediately. I'll see over time whether I can get a feel for chords of various instruments as I continue with the course, and then this should become more helpful or applicable to learning how to play an instrument and thus become able to play by ear after developing the techniques of whatever instrument I choose to learn.

Rating:
Summary: It takes time and patience, silly
Review: Much like the Relative Pitch course, you need three main things for this course to work.
First, you need time. A whole 15 minutes a day, and the occasional 20-40 minutes to listen to the lessons. Second, you need patience, because it won't happen overnight. Finally, you need dedication, because this course simply won't work if you only do it 3 or 4 times a week (or less). Oh, and an instrument helps, too.

No, you don't really need a friend. The team drills do help, but they aren't deal breakers by any means. And no, you don't have to play a piano; this course can be done on any instrument. Finally, you don't have to have an instrument that can play more than one note simultaneously to finish the course... however; you will need to do the harmonic drills sooner or later to really get a great ear.

Also, please don't put so much fear into his use of the word "color." He simply means that every note usually has 2 colors - There is a surface color, which is affected largely by overtones, attack, and envelop. The surface color is what makes a guitar sound different then a piano or flute. Then, there's the color underneath the surface, which is the same on any instrument (for the most part), and is where you get "perfect" pitch from. But it's such a tiny thing that really, the more you try to understand it (in the early stages), the worse you'll be. Just keep it in the back of your mind.

So you have a few options, here. If you know that you can't dedicate the time and effort to this course, then don't buy it. Then you won't have to call Mr. Burge a "snake charmer" just because you're lazy. However, if you have the time, patience, and dedication, this will change your outlook on music in ways you couldn't imagine.

I highly recommend this course.