Celine & perfect pitch?

[kathyc25]

When I was studying music in college, a couple of my professors had perfect pitch. It was amazing! Like clamar said, I don`t think Celine has perfect pitch, or else she wouldn`t need cue notes.

[arehrauer06]

Celine does NOT have perfect pitch. Perfect pitch isn't something you can learn, you are born with it. And when you have it, you don't "lose" it with time. There are very FEW people who's got it. Perfect pitch doesn't mean you can sing "in tune", it means you can recognize any tone, like if you hear a sound or a note, you can say if it's a C, a B flat, etc... without any reference. You can also sing any note without any reference, but we can often see that Celine needs a first note or a reference note to start songs like TPOL, BYLM, etc... Songs that start with the voice alone. Of course nowadays, you don't hear that reference note when she sings live, because she hears it in her in-ears monitors. And a singer who has perfect pitch CAN'T sing transposed songs, like Celine do really often. They can't do so because the original pitch of the song is in their memory, and they have trouble to sing it even an half tone lower or higher... it's hard to explain...

But Celine definitely doesn't have perfect pitch.

 

yeah, Celine definitely sings a lot of her songs in a transposed key (oftentimes a step or two lower, hmmm :/). I didn't know that those with perfect pitch can't sing transposed songs, although this makes sense to me.. I don't think I have perfect pitch, but if I hear a song, I can sing it back in the key it was recorded without a reference note. It's hard for me to transpose songs, but I can still do it - and I can definitely tell when songs have been transposed. But then if you tell me to sing a C (or sightsing ), I will be completely guessing, ahahaa

Edited October 3, 2008 at 05:47 AM by arehrauer06

[arehrauer06]

Does Celine know how to read notes? Pavarotti didn't.

 

I think I've seen in videos/read somewhere that she can't actually read music, which I find really interesting. It must take a pretty awesome singer to learn all her songs by ear....

[Prince Whiskers]

Does Celine know how to read notes? Pavarotti didn't.

 

I think I've seen in videos/read somewhere that she can't actually read music, which I find really interesting. It must take a pretty awesome singer to learn all her songs by ear....

She just "wings" it then.

[Krys]

she always has the demo tapes to refer to when she's learning her songs. therefore, there's no need for her to be able to read music

[Love,]

As a musician, I know that the pitch that Celine has, if any, is relative pitch.

 

You have to be born with perfect pitch, or also known as absolute pitch.

 

The website that the person who started this thread got information from is a marketing website for a "relative pitch" training CD set. LOL http://www.perfectpitch.com

 

Still, relative pitch is not easy to learn and acquire.

 

If you want to know more about perfect pitch and relative pitch, go wiki the terms .

 

[Angel2006]

I know it has already been established in this topic a long time ago that Celine doesn't have absolute pitch "perfect pitch", even though I remember reading that she does in at least one of her biographies? :hmm:I am pretty sure I remember reading that Therese Dion had perfect pitch and that she taught all her kids to have perfect pitch as well. David Foster has even apparently said that Celine has perfect pitch?

 

Anyways. My question isn't really about Celine, it's more about other people who have worked with David Foster. I am really curious to know if David has ever mentioned Whitney Houston, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson or anyone else he has worked with as having perfect pitch? Also just for curiosity, where and when has David Foster ever said that Celine has perfect pitch?

[PuraVida]

I know it has already been established in this topic a long time ago that Celine doesn't have absolute pitch "perfect pitch", even though I remember reading that she does in at least one of her biographies? :hmm:I am pretty sure I remember reading that Therese Dion had perfect pitch and that she taught all her kids to have perfect pitch as well. David Foster has even apparently said that Celine has perfect pitch?

 

Anyways. My question isn't really about Celine, it's more about other people who have worked with David Foster. I am really curious to know if David has ever mentioned Whitney Houston, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson or anyone else he has worked with as having perfect pitch? Also just for curiosity, where and when has David Foster ever said that Celine has perfect pitch?

 

Just from memory of all things David has said, I can't remember him saying anyone else has perfect pitch. Although I think I remember Barbra saying or being asked in some interview, and the answer was yes? But that's just a vague, hazy memory.

[sebulba]

You don't even have to be into or know music to have perfect pitch. And very little to do with singing. People with perfect pitch is a small percent of the population.

It's is pretty cool but on the other hand not that useful anyway. At least from my point of view.

I saw a video on YT talking about this and they said that perfect pitch is only learned when you are a couple of months old. IF your parents make you listen to old classical music like Beethoven or Bach or other complex music you can develop perfect pitch.After that you can't learn to have it. Only relative pitch you can learn after. That was the theory anyway. Also I don't think it is something you forget since you'll learn it at a really early stage of your life.

 

So I don't think she has perfect pitch since it's really rare. What speaks for that she might have it would be that she was brought up in a musical family and that she heard music from the day she was born. But it's more likely that she has relative pitch I think.

 

Although I think it's pretty funny that she can't read notes. Or in general I've seen on YT or documentaries it seems that many artists or bands doesn't really know let's say the more technical or theoretical side of music. They just write without knowing how or what they write seen from a technical stand point. That I find pretty funny.

Edited July 27, 2020 at 09:38 AM by sebulba

[couldawouldashoulda]

You don't even have to be into or know music to have perfect pitch. And very little to do with singing. People with perfect pitch is a small percent of the population.

It's is pretty cool but on the other hand not that useful anyway. At least from my point of view.

I saw a video on YT talking about this and they said that perfect pitch is only learned when you are a couple of months old. IF your parents make you listen to old classical music like Beethoven or Bach or other complex music you can develop perfect pitch.After that you can't learn to have it. Only relative pitch you can learn after. That was the theory anyway. Also I don't think it is something you forget since you'll learn it at a really early stage of your life.

 

So I don't think she has perfect pitch since it's really rare. What speaks for that she might have it would be that she was brought up in a musical family and that she heard music from the day she was born. But it's more likely that she has relative pitch I think.

 

Although I think it's pretty funny that she can't read notes. Or in general I've seen on YT or documentaries it seems that many artists or bands doesn't really know let's say the more technical or theoretical side of music. They just write without knowing how or what they write seen from a technical stand point. That I find pretty funny.

 

You are correct. Celine more than likely has relative pitch. If she had perfect pitch, she wouldn't go flat as she does many times during the first lines of MHWGO, the infamous opening few lines of SSDA at the Millennium Concert, and how she would sometimes go flat in the acapella section of ABM which then made it pretty obvious that she was lipping the big note because all of a sudden she went back to being in the right key.

[jpatdeleon09]

1595862391[/url]' post='2388174']

You are correct. Celine more than likely has relative pitch. If she had perfect pitch, she wouldn't go flat as she does many times during the first lines of MHWGO, the infamous opening few lines of SSDA at the Millennium Concert, and how she would sometimes go flat in the acapella section of ABM which then made it pretty obvious that she was lipping the big note because all of a sudden she went back to being in the right key.

 

i thought she didn’t hear the band well at first that’s why she got off key but when she put her finger to her in ear monitor maybe to hear the band better.. well, it got better lol

 

i think i started to noticed her being flat or off key.. it was back in 2015, especially the part in Jazz medley the french one - the end part, it sounded off key.

Edited July 27, 2020 at 04:16 PM by jpatdeleon09

[Angel2006]

Did David Foster actually ever really say that Celine has perfect pitch though? It has been mentioned on here that David has said that Celine has perfect pitch, but has he really? I am very curious to know this, because of all the people in the world, he would surely know.

[ajguerras]

Wasn't she reading the music when she sang IFFS at the Oscars???

[Céline RO]

Wasn't she reading the music when she sang IFFS at the Oscars???

 

She was reading the lyrics not actual sheet music.

[jpatdeleon09]

Maybe there are musical notes in the lyrics sheets that’s why she can follow the band and she’s on key. Since she didn’t rehearse much that night for that song. It’s like all of a sudden she was chosen to sing that song.

[Céline RO]

Maybe there are musical notes in the lyrics sheets that's why she can follow the band and she's on key. Since she didn't rehearse much that night for that song. It's like all of a sudden she was chosen to sing that song.

 

She said she knew the song but wasn’t 100% confident with the lyrics. I highly doubt she had musical notes written anywhere as it would have only made things even harder for her, especially since (as we’ve established) she doesn’t have perfect pitch. It’s no use just having letters/symbols written on a sheet if she doesn’t know what that note sounds like. She probably just learned the melody and followed the band like she usually does.

[jpatdeleon09]

1595912931[/url]' post='2388195']

She said she knew the song but wasn’t 100% confident with the lyrics. I highly doubt she had musical notes written anywhere as it would have only made things even harder for her, especially since (as we’ve established) she doesn’t have perfect pitch. It’s no use just having letters/symbols written on a sheet if she doesn’t know what that note sounds like. She probably just learned the melody and followed the band like she usually does.

 

Doesn’t she play piano, guitars? I think she know notes... but we don’t really know for sure if it has some musical notes in that lyrics sheet but mostly it has musical notes in lyrics sheets

Edited July 28, 2020 at 06:02 AM by jpatdeleon09

[justinecoria]

Charlie Puth has perfect pitch, and he's often off-key. As said before, having perfect pitch and singing on pitch are different things. Charlie Puth even said that it's kind of a curse, because he can hear all the wrong notes he sings. He's very thankful to autotune, because he can now have the songs the way he would like them to sound.

If Celine had perfect pitch, we would know about it. End of story. It doesn't even matter if she's 100% on key or not.

[Angel2006]

All we need to know is if David Foster actually said that Celine has absolute pitch, "perfect pitch"? Then we would know for certain, because that's very big proof right there. David Foster is famous for his perfect pitch, if David said she has it, than she has it. Celine plays piano by ear only for the person who was wondering, she doesn't read music notes, but I believe she knows what the notes are called and the sounds associated with them because Celine has demonstrated in an interview what 1 octave and a half lower sounds like without any preparation or guidance.

 

Rene has also said before that Celine plays like a classical pianist on the piano, but that he could never convince her to play on her albums or onstage. I think it would be pretty hard to play classical piano music by ear, without having perfect pitch. Celine is also tremendously good at imitating sounds. I've heard her imitate sounds that have blown me away sometimes. Once I ever hear her imitate the sound of biting into a potato chip and it sounded exactly like she was really biting down on a chip, but she wasn't.

 

There has also been other things over the years that she's down relating to sound and imitating. Celine also has a very good memory for music and I think I already remember reading that Celine has perfect pitch somewhere before and that her mom taught it to her and to all her brothers and sisters. I don't know if they all have perfect pitch, but I know Therese's and Daniel had it and Jacques has it, but I think I remember hearing a story that Therese taught all her children to have perfect pitch on the stairs of there house? Does anyone else remember this, or am I just crazy? LOL.

[québecflower]

She said she knew the song but wasn’t 100% confident with the lyrics. I highly doubt she had musical notes written anywhere as it would have only made things even harder for her, especially since (as we’ve established) she doesn’t have perfect pitch. It’s no use just having letters/symbols written on a sheet if she doesn’t know what that note sounds like. She probably just learned the melody and followed the band like she usually does.

Celine knows how the notes sounds, if you ask her , she will give you the exact thing you asked of her. Dan Bigras, a Québec singer's, said so in an interview. Edited July 28, 2020 at 10:14 PM by québecflower

[Céline RO]

Celine knows how the notes sounds, if you ask her , she will give you the exact thing you asked of her. Dan Bigras, a Québec singer's, said so in an interview.

 

So, if I ask her “Céline, please sing an F#4” she could instantly do it without any hesitation? I doubt it but, if you say so...

[jpatdeleon09]

1595998592[/url]' post='2388242']

So, if I ask her “Céline, please sing an F#4” she could instantly do it without any hesitation? I doubt it but, if you say so...

 

of course she knows musical notes. I think it’s important for a singer to know this. Playing instruments should know some musical notes. So, let’s not assume that she doesn’t know anything.

Edited July 29, 2020 at 05:26 AM by jpatdeleon09

[Céline RO]

of course she knows musical notes. I think it’s important for a singer to know this. Playing instruments should know some musical notes. So, let’s not assume that she doesn’t know anything.

 

I never said she doesn’t know notes. What I said is that I doubt that she would be able to sing any note she is given perfectly without any hint or cue note just by knowing the letter/symbol. That’s one reason why in recording sessions when the writer is telling her what note to hit they actually sing the note to her or play it on the piano instead of just telling her the note.

[jpatdeleon09]

1596005822[/url]' post='2388251']

I never said she doesn’t know notes. What I said is that I doubt that she would be able to sing any note she is given perfectly without any hint or cue note just by knowing the letter/symbol. That’s one reason why in recording sessions when the writer is telling her what note to hit they actually sing the note to her or play it on the piano instead of just telling her the note.

 

Well, doubt or not. Still, we should not should assume that she can’t read notes. Playing instruments needs some learning in notes too? She can play piano and guitar. She sure can read notes for sure.

 

Recording sessions? She surely knows that David made All By Myself a key higher lol

 

Well, it’s your own opinion anyways...

Edited July 29, 2020 at 08:44 AM by jpatdeleon09

[Céline RO]

Well, doubt or not. Still, we should not should assume that she can’t read notes. Playing instruments needs some learning in notes too? She can play piano and guitar. She sure can read notes for sure.

 

Recording sessions? She surely knows that David made All By Myself a key higher lol

 

Well, it’s your own opinion anyways...

 

Again, I never said anything about her not being able to read notes. All I said is that I think she wouldn’t be able to produce a note she reads without being given a reference note.

[jpatdeleon09]

Again, I never said anything about her not being able to read notes. All I said is that I think she wouldn’t be able to produce a note she reads without being given a reference note.

 

LOL “never said anything about her not being able to read notes” - “i think she wouldn’t be able to produce a note she reads”

 

it’s the same haha

 

anyways, again it’s your own opinion

[sebulba]

All we need to know is if David Foster actually said that Celine has absolute pitch, "perfect pitch"? Then we would know for certain, because that's very big proof right there. David Foster is famous for his perfect pitch, if David said she has it, than she has it. Celine plays piano by ear only for the person who was wondering, she doesn't read music notes, but I believe she knows what the notes are called and the sounds associated with them because Celine has demonstrated in an interview what 1 octave and a half lower sounds like without any preparation or guidance.

 

Rene has also said before that Celine plays like a classical pianist on the piano, but that he could never convince her to play on her albums or onstage. I think it would be pretty hard to play classical piano music by ear, without having perfect pitch. Celine is also tremendously good at imitating sounds. I've heard her imitate sounds that have blown me away sometimes. Once I ever hear her imitate the sound of biting into a potato chip and it sounded exactly like she was really biting down on a chip, but she wasn't.

 

There has also been other things over the years that she's down relating to sound and imitating. Celine also has a very good memory for music and I think I already remember reading that Celine has perfect pitch somewhere before and that her mom taught it to her and to all her brothers and sisters. I don't know if they all have perfect pitch, but I know Therese's and Daniel had it and Jacques has it, but I think I remember hearing a story that Therese taught all her children to have perfect pitch on the stairs of there house? Does anyone else remember this, or am I just crazy? LOL.

I don't know and I've not seen or heard David Foster say she had perfect pitch. But what I was thinking was that maybe if he said she had perfect pitch that it was in the context of recording a song. Like Celine delivers what is asked from her.

[sebulba]

So, if I ask her “Céline, please sing an F#4” she could instantly do it without any hesitation? I doubt it but, if you say so...

Also if she had perfect pitch she would be able to recognise every single note if you were to play five or six random notes at once on a piano for example.

Since it is pretty rare to have perfect pitch I think it would have been common knowledge by now if she really had perfect pitch. But idk...

[couldawouldashoulda]

 

 

LOL “never said anything about her not being able to read notes” - “i think she wouldn’t be able to produce a note she reads”

 

it’s the same haha

 

anyways, again it’s your own opinion

 

You’ve never studied music, have you?

[jpatdeleon09]

1596023973[/url]' post='2388270']

You've never studied music, have you?

 

Nope, but Céline did for sure

 

but i want to learn to play piano. I can play piano using one hand only by listening. So, if i listen to a movie score. I can play that on piano by just listening to the tune but first i need to find the note on the piano keys after finding them all.. i can play it smoothly It’s hard to use both hands. By the way, I’m playing piano on Garageband on my iPad lol

 

i can even play the intro of Incredible. I didn’t even look on the internet. I‘ll just play it until i find the right note on the keys on piano

Edited July 29, 2020 at 12:22 PM by jpatdeleon09