Xeno's Absolute Pitch System: Lesson 1, Middle C

Xeno's Absolute Pitch System: Lesson 1, Middle C.
Learn to hear Middle C in relation to music in other keys.

It starts very simple then gets more complicated. Listening to this free music-only music lesson will make you 3% smarter. ;-)

I've once again been wondering if I missed the boat by not being taught to recognize musical note names when I was 2 to 3 years old (some research says that's the time to do it).

If we can learn as adults to have absolute pitch, it seems we should learn in the same way we learn the names of colors as kids... by playing.

I can hear a "C" note and sing it back several minutes later, but if listen to some music in another key, forget it. The note memory gets erased. Why should I no longer recognize blue after seeing something red?

That got me thinking...  we learn colors by comparing them to eachother... mixing them, painting with them ... perhaps I could create a series of compositions that compare notes ... show a note, and then gradually hide it in other notes. "Hide and seek" and peek-a-book fascinate kids for a good reason: they help our brains learn quickly.

Kids do this with colored pens. Color with one, then put it away for a while... then bring it back. This might be a way to learn to still recall a "C" any time at all.

I really don't want to work too hard at this. It should be fun. I just want to wake up one day and be able to recognize any notes I hear by name.

See that crazy sheet music? Believe it or not, that's part of the actual score I wrote played and recorded today for:  "Lesson 1 - Middle C". Download it or listen here for free (20 MB MP3).

All you have to do is listen once a day and the song will program your brain.  It works by slowly embedding C notes from an 88 key concert piano into somewhat random compositions in various keys. There are many different tricks in this song.

Your brain hears all of this and forms new connections, new associations. The idea is to fix the C in once place in comparison to other keys. This is not something you typically hear in modern western music. Most songs are in a key. It is if we are never shown red and blue at the same time, so we never figure out how they relate.

My hypothesis is that listening to this lesson will help people internalize the C note and thus be able to remember it longer.  Let me know if it helps you.

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