Hi Pat,
Did you view the ppt in slideshow mode?
The question as to how to teach perfect pitch is an interesting one, and I think you'll get different answers depending on who you ask.
Firstly, let's be clear as to what it means - the ability to recognize a note when hearing one, or to reproduce a note correctly.
I remember asking this teacher a long time ago how can one develop it, and this is what he said. He sang me a "C". Then asked me to sing it back, which I did. He said, if I ask you again after 10 seconds, you'll still be able to, won't you? Yes. What about after 1 minute? What about after 1 hour? 1 day? etc. That was his version of how to acquire perfect pitch.
Another person I asked who had a bit of this ability said that he plays the violin and he has heard the "A" note so much from tuning up that it's now engrained in his mind - he can hear it just by imagining himself tuning up.
I also have a similar experience to this too, inadvertantly, and this only happened in the past couple of years. When we put Felicity to bed, we usually put on this particular soothing classical music CD, and the first thing you hear is this violin note (from the first track). Well, I've played it so much that I can now hear it in my head before I even play it. I've also tried to get Felicity to try to sing me the tune in the right key before I play it.
If you want to try this approach, you probably want to consistently play either a note or piece of music to your child. Best to find something which has a 'rich' sound quality - I think the violin is good in that respect.
Little Musician will try to help with perfect pitch recognition in the above way too. It's not finalized so I'd rather not comment any more on this. We hope to get beta out in the first quarter next year. Still more stuff I want to do with it...
Try looking around Youtube to see if any videos help.
BTW, I don't think solfege is geared towards teaching perfect pitch in particular, though it's a very important skill to master, especially to have the ability to play by ear.
Digg
