MUSICAL MEMORY - online book

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	MUSICAL MEMORY. f
	almost unconsciously, other sounds. This is sometimes the case with choristers, who, by singing at daily church or cathedral services,, acquire a fixed impression of their intoning note, while players of string instruments often permanently memorize their "A" for a similar reason, but such acquired pitches are apt to disappear or become uncertain when frequency of repetition is interrupted or altogether ceases. The fact that many highly trained musicians do not possess this sense of absolute pitch, while many persons, otherwise unmusical do, proves it to be a natural and accidental fineness of ear with a peculiar retentive capacity for definite pitch, which does not necessarily carry with it anything else characteristic of the musician. Like other powers it generally appears first as a germ, which must be judiciously exercised and developed in order to be brought to maturity, and its growth may be rapid or slow according to the endowments of the individual. The remarkably early age at which it sometimes manifests itself in a high degree of perfection, of which Mozart was a notable example, bears evidence to the possession of phenomenal gifts rather than to any: exception in the law of development of the intellectual powers.