Lya12321
I was wonderding if anyone knows if Freddie had perfect pitch ??
Thread
Posts in chronological order
Sebastian
As far as I know, no. His relative pitch was very good, though, but Frederick didn't have perfect pitch. Neither did Brian, John or Roger.
stevelondon20
Frederick!!! :)
The Fairy King
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]
"..... Frederick ...."[/QUOTE]
Never gets old! xD
"..... Frederick ...."[/QUOTE]
Never gets old! xD
Makka
Do you refer to perfect pitch as being able to hit every note spot on whilst singing or the ability to be able to recognise notes being played by ear? 2 different things. Not many singers hit every note every time and Freddie was no different. In regards to note and frequency recognition, I have no idea.
Vocal harmony
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]
As far as I know, no. His relative pitch was very good, though, but Frederick didn't have perfect pitch. Neither did Brian, John or Roger.[/QUOTE]
I remember reading an interview with RTB, BM or David Richards (sorry I don't remember which) Freddies pitch was mentioned as being really good. The interesting thing about it was that it was said while most singers if they go off they tend to sing flat, but Freddie would tend to go sharp which apparently is less obvious to an average listener than a singer going flat.
Brian has also said, on film/video that Freddie could sing doubled lines when recording in perfect pitch. But Brian maybe exaggerating Freddie's capabilities.
As far as I know, no. His relative pitch was very good, though, but Frederick didn't have perfect pitch. Neither did Brian, John or Roger.[/QUOTE]
I remember reading an interview with RTB, BM or David Richards (sorry I don't remember which) Freddies pitch was mentioned as being really good. The interesting thing about it was that it was said while most singers if they go off they tend to sing flat, but Freddie would tend to go sharp which apparently is less obvious to an average listener than a singer going flat.
Brian has also said, on film/video that Freddie could sing doubled lines when recording in perfect pitch. But Brian maybe exaggerating Freddie's capabilities.
matt z
^the quote was about Freddie doubling his lines almost exact so that the two would "phase" and it was part of the A night at the Opera classic albums bit.
Brianthonious even does his expressive finger thing to indicate two separate lines.
Did anybody else catch that the O.P. States PERFECF?
Brianthonious even does his expressive finger thing to indicate two separate lines.
Did anybody else catch that the O.P. States PERFECF?
cmsdrums
[QUOTE] [b]The Fairy King wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]
"..... Frederick ...."[/QUOTE]
Never gets old! xD[/QUOTE]
Good old Seb / Seba / Sebi / Sebidooda / Sebi McSebface......
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]
"..... Frederick ...."[/QUOTE]
Never gets old! xD[/QUOTE]
Good old Seb / Seba / Sebi / Sebidooda / Sebi McSebface......
Sebastian
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
The interesting thing about it was that it was said while most singers if they go off they tend to sing flat, but Freddie would tend to go sharp which apparently is less obvious to an average listener than a singer going flat.
[/QUOTE]
It was Edward Howell who said that.
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
Brian has also said, on film/video that Freddie could sing doubled lines when recording in perfect pitch. But Brian maybe exaggerating Freddie's capabilities.
[/QUOTE]
Well, he said Frederick could double-track himself so accurately that the tracks would phase with each other, which is true - but that doesn't mean Frederick had perfect pitch.
The interesting thing about it was that it was said while most singers if they go off they tend to sing flat, but Freddie would tend to go sharp which apparently is less obvious to an average listener than a singer going flat.
[/QUOTE]
It was Edward Howell who said that.
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
Brian has also said, on film/video that Freddie could sing doubled lines when recording in perfect pitch. But Brian maybe exaggerating Freddie's capabilities.
[/QUOTE]
Well, he said Frederick could double-track himself so accurately that the tracks would phase with each other, which is true - but that doesn't mean Frederick had perfect pitch.
miraclesteinway
I actually don't believe that anybody has true perfect pitch. Or that, at least, it's exceptionally rare.
Let me explain:
Many musicians have something like perfect pitch, many can sing a concert A (which used to be 440, now 442 or even 444) without a reference point because they've remembered it from all the orchestral tunings they've had to do, etc.
Sit down at a recently tuned piano though, and let us assume that the tuner has done a perfect job on it. How many people can really tell whether that piano is tuned to 440, 442 or 444? Such minute differences as would only cause a slight chorus effect if you played them together. Without a reference point that is actually incredibly difficult if it's possible at all. Even at 435 (a tuning used by Blüthner in the late 19th/early 20th century because at that time they felt it gave the pianos a sweeter tone, yes that's on record somewhere), it's actually difficult to tell that it's not on concert pitch.
It's easier to tell if an instrument is tuned to baroque pitch which is almost a semitone (half-step) lower than concert pitch, but that's starting to become quite a big difference.
Without being able to ask Freddie if he had perfect pitch, and with even those closest to him probably not knowing, I'd say Freddie had that kind of musician's perfect pitch - he'd almost certainly know where the notes were placed in his voice, and he'd almost certainly be able to identify, give or take a few cents, middle C or whatever. Given that his pitch matching was so good I'd give him that. Did Freddie have absolute perfect pitch? I've no idea.
It's basically pitch memory, so it also depends what reference points you've memorised.
I know piano tuners with perfect pitch and not one of them would dare tune without a tuning fork.
Let me explain:
Many musicians have something like perfect pitch, many can sing a concert A (which used to be 440, now 442 or even 444) without a reference point because they've remembered it from all the orchestral tunings they've had to do, etc.
Sit down at a recently tuned piano though, and let us assume that the tuner has done a perfect job on it. How many people can really tell whether that piano is tuned to 440, 442 or 444? Such minute differences as would only cause a slight chorus effect if you played them together. Without a reference point that is actually incredibly difficult if it's possible at all. Even at 435 (a tuning used by Blüthner in the late 19th/early 20th century because at that time they felt it gave the pianos a sweeter tone, yes that's on record somewhere), it's actually difficult to tell that it's not on concert pitch.
It's easier to tell if an instrument is tuned to baroque pitch which is almost a semitone (half-step) lower than concert pitch, but that's starting to become quite a big difference.
Without being able to ask Freddie if he had perfect pitch, and with even those closest to him probably not knowing, I'd say Freddie had that kind of musician's perfect pitch - he'd almost certainly know where the notes were placed in his voice, and he'd almost certainly be able to identify, give or take a few cents, middle C or whatever. Given that his pitch matching was so good I'd give him that. Did Freddie have absolute perfect pitch? I've no idea.
It's basically pitch memory, so it also depends what reference points you've memorised.
I know piano tuners with perfect pitch and not one of them would dare tune without a tuning fork.
yandere
Depends on what you call perfect I guess, for most of us it was perfect :)
matt z
I can hear a 440 A in my head and know where it is, but generally it'd take a bit of trying. (*from years of playing JUDAS PRIEST'S ' breaking the law ' to tune up: A,B, C - A B C - A B C etc.) So if my amateurish a $$ could pluck a melody mostly from repetition, I'd be almost certain that Freddie had it; DOUBLY so as he was also the lead singer. Composing songs doubtlessly took up hours and hours of repetition (*in the 70's)
Considering Freddie likely didn't tune his own pianos who knows.
Without a string and a reference point it's hard to go off by. I'm certain he knew the phrasing of each key and probably dropped em on Mike Moran from time to time, but without asking him (*a reliable source) who knows?
The only DIRECTIONAL "directing" I've seen of Freddie was from THE MAGIC YEARS doc. The making of ONE VISION: when instructing Roger to playone that goes "Boom! - - TA DAH!"
And same with Brian. ..curiously though no mentions made, Just suggestive emotive work
May want to try getting that question to Mr Moran or Phoebe.
*errr Peterland.
;)
(Btw: strange trivia: "breaking the law might have been inspired by the Donna Summer song "Hostage"...)
Considering Freddie likely didn't tune his own pianos who knows.
Without a string and a reference point it's hard to go off by. I'm certain he knew the phrasing of each key and probably dropped em on Mike Moran from time to time, but without asking him (*a reliable source) who knows?
The only DIRECTIONAL "directing" I've seen of Freddie was from THE MAGIC YEARS doc. The making of ONE VISION: when instructing Roger to playone that goes "Boom! - - TA DAH!"
And same with Brian. ..curiously though no mentions made, Just suggestive emotive work
May want to try getting that question to Mr Moran or Phoebe.
*errr Peterland.
;)
(Btw: strange trivia: "breaking the law might have been inspired by the Donna Summer song "Hostage"...)
The Fairy King
[QUOTE] [b]cmsdrums wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]The Fairy King wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]
"..... Frederick ...."[/QUOTE]
Never gets old! xD[/QUOTE]
Good old Seb / Seba / Sebi / Sebidooda / Sebi McSebface......[/QUOTE]
Seberick!
[QUOTE] [b]The Fairy King wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]
"..... Frederick ...."[/QUOTE]
Never gets old! xD[/QUOTE]
Good old Seb / Seba / Sebi / Sebidooda / Sebi McSebface......[/QUOTE]
Seberick!
stevelondon20
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
The interesting thing about it was that it was said while most singers if they go off they tend to sing flat, but Freddie would tend to go sharp which apparently is less obvious to an average listener than a singer going flat.
[/QUOTE]
It was Edward Howell who said that.
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
Brian has also said, on film/video that Freddie could sing doubled lines when recording in perfect pitch. But Brian maybe exaggerating Freddie's capabilities.
[/QUOTE]
Well, he said Frederick could double-track himself so accurately that the tracks would phase with each other, which is true - but that doesn't mean Frederick had perfect pitch.[/QUOTE]
EDWARD HOWELL! That's even funnier than Frederick!
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
The interesting thing about it was that it was said while most singers if they go off they tend to sing flat, but Freddie would tend to go sharp which apparently is less obvious to an average listener than a singer going flat.
[/QUOTE]
It was Edward Howell who said that.
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
Brian has also said, on film/video that Freddie could sing doubled lines when recording in perfect pitch. But Brian maybe exaggerating Freddie's capabilities.
[/QUOTE]
Well, he said Frederick could double-track himself so accurately that the tracks would phase with each other, which is true - but that doesn't mean Frederick had perfect pitch.[/QUOTE]
EDWARD HOWELL! That's even funnier than Frederick!
Sebastian
There's also James Page, Stephen Howe, Richard Wakeman, Roderick Stewart, Michael Jagger, Edward Sheeran, William Joel, Philip Collins, Francis Sinatra, Katheryn Perry, Christopher Brown, Christopher Squire... the list goes on.