1 Jul 2025

Shower Thoughts: What is perfect pitch?

From Nights, 8:40 pm on 1 July 2025

Every Tuesday, we find experts to answer curious questions about the world and how it works.

Tonight: what is perfect pitch, and can you acquire it? Are some people simply born with the ability to identify musical notes when they hear them? Is it a blessing, or a curse?

Wellington composer Michael Nicholas Williams joins Emile Donovan to explain - and to test his own perfect pitch.

closeup of ear

Photo: Karolina Grabowska / Pexels