Noting the
perfect pitch -- Rare musical ability
to distinguish sounds by ear could be genetic
Carl T. Hall, San Francisco Chronicle Science Writer
Monday, January 14, 2002
Almost from the time he could walk, Berkeley
concert pianist Roy Bogas felt the pull of music --
and an uncanny facility for recognizing, and eventually naming,
notes.
Bogas, who performs for the San Francisco
Ballet and other orchestras, can instantly tell whether a
given tone is an A or a D or a G or any interval between.
Known as "perfect" or "absolute" pitch, it's
a rare ability in adults, even among professional musicians,
who typically have what's known as "relative pitch," or the ability
to tell what a note is only when given
a starting note as a reference.
Now, Bogas and other walking tuning forks
are the focus of intense scientific interest as researchers hunt
for the roots of this remarkable skill.
A team led by geneticists Jane Gitschier at
the University of California at San Francisco and Nelson Freimer
at the University of California at Los Angeles has begun a study to
find the gene or genes that may contribute
to absolute pitch abilities.
The team is hoping to recruit large numbers
of people for its study and has just developed an online test for
absolute pitch that prospective subjects can take. (It is available
on the Web at
perfectpitch.ucsf.edu.)
Researchers are particularly anxious to find examples of absolute pitch clustered in families.
"What we are asking is whether or not this
ability has a genetic aspect to it, and if it does, can we figure
out
what that gene is," Gitschier said.
SUBTLE ROLE OF GENES
Based on the evidence so far, most
scientists believe that genes do play at least a subtle role,
perhaps by
keeping a developmental "window" open wider and longer during early
childhood, when note-naming ability
generally takes shape.
"We have interviewed and tested lots of
people for this trait and found there is a familial aspect,"
Gitschier said.
"There is also an environmental aspect -- if you don't have early
musical training, you're probably not going to
develop absolute pitch."
The goal of the current study is to clarify
how genetic predisposition might dovetail with life experience to
produce what Bogas calls "a higher degree of sound memory" than most
people can even fathom.
Some earlier studies suggest that people
lacking certain, as-yet- unidentified sound-processing circuitry in
the
brain may never achieve a sense of absolute pitch no matter how
early their musical training starts.
One study of people with absolute pitch
found 43 percent of siblings also had the ability to instantly name
notes.
In a separate study, investigators found the trait in only 3 percent
of those whose music studies began before age 6.
Still, some experts argue the quest for an
absolute pitch gene is akin to searching for a gene for speaking
French;
it doesn't exist.
"I'm open-minded, but skeptical," said
Daniel Levitin, a cognitive neuroscientist at McGill University in
Montreal who
has been researching issues of sound perception in the brain. "I
really don't understand what they think those
genes might be coding for."
Speaking French also runs in families, he
noted, but clearly the reason for that has little to do with any
special genetic
factors. Some people may be born predisposed for language or music
skills. But, Levitin said, the genetic differences
are likely to be extraordinarily subtle and difficult to isolate.
Nor is it clear why humanity needed to
develop such a heightened sensitivity to pitch. It may be a
byproduct of a more
general ability to discriminate sounds. But there could not have
been much survival advantage, Levitin said, for any of our
prehistoric ancestors born with some innate ability to distinguish,
say, an F and an A.
Despite these arguments, genes do play some role.
THE ROLE OF GENES
One particularly remarkable clue comes from
studies of people with a genetic condition known as Williams
syndrome.
The condition is marked by profound impairments -- the inability to
tie one's shoes, for example, or perform elementary
arithmetic -- but often comes with a notable talent for music.
A recent study by Howard Lenhoff, an
emeritus professor of microbiology at the University of California
at Irvine who
began studying brain science after his daughter was diagnosed with
Williams syndrome, found evidence that absolute
pitch may be much more prevalent among those with the condition than
it is in the general population.
His daughter is one example. Lenhoff said
she also has the ability to sing in foreign languages with a
seemingly perfect
accent and has an uncanny ability to remember tunes and lyrics.
The most persuasive theory so far seems to
be that a "critical period" exists for the brain to develop an
"ear," so to
speak, for music and sound perception. Once attention starts to
focus on other skills, the critical period closes.
People with Williams syndrome, however, seem to be able to pick up music at nearly any age, Lenhoff said.
"The normal mechanism of closing that
developmental window somehow gets jammed when other cognitive
functions get
jammed," he said. "That window seems to stay open for longer periods
in Williams syndrome, probably into adulthood."
As with language acquisition, some people
just seem to have an innate skill for distinguishing sounds, and are
drawn to
music training as a result, while others have trouble humming even
the simplest tune.
Musical families are common, as Bogas can attest: His 21-year-old daughter, Sharon, is a gifted cellist, finishing this year a course of study at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His brother, Ed Bogas, is a composer of popular music. He, too, has absolute pitch.
NATURE OR NURTURE DEBATE
Is that because of genes, or simply the influence of music-loving parents on a growing child? It seems an open question in the case of Ed and Roy Bogas. Neither of their parents was a professional musician, but they greatly appreciated music and tried to encourage their children to develop their skills.
"Both my brother and I were around music constantly as little kids," recalled Ed Bogas. "Our parents were very excited about the idea that their children might become professional musicians."
In Roy's case, however, it seemed to take very little prompting.
Family legend has it that he would sit as a toddler beside his father, a hunt-and-peck piano player, and direct Dad's fingers to the right keys. By age 5, he was taking advanced lessons. Within a year or so, he had memorized an entire Mozart concerto, which he played in recital upstairs at Carnegie Hall.
The performance amazed his parents and helped launch what turned out to be a distinguished career. But Bogas, who just celebrated his 68th birthday, recalls barely breaking a sweat.
"It came very naturally to me," he said. "I was extremely drawn to playing the piano."
Those who have absolute pitch often seem to take it for granted, saying it requires no more effort to distinguish an E from a G than it does to tell red from blue. Many insist that note-naming is a skill anybody can learn, despite the possibility that some people actually might be born "tone deaf."
"Get a pitch pipe or tuning fork and just carry it around for a couple weeks," said Ed Bogas. "Keep hitting the same tone and eventually you will be able to predict it."
He makes it sound easy. But for some of us, it may take a little more than two weeks to learn.