Posted by Erik on February 10, 2001 at 16:45:52:
In Reply to: changing instruments w/ PPitch posted by Perfect Pitch (ugh) on February 09, 2001 at 10:35:46:
I don't have perfect pitch, and so this is simply something that came to mind when reading your post.
>[I] choose a fingering based on the pitch I hear, not where the note is printed in the clef.
Say those without perfect pitch choose their fingering based on the position of the note in the staff (essentially the opposite of your method). When they switch tubas, they need to use a different fingering for the same note. After a while of practice, this new fingering is associate with the note, so that someone who was used to playing CC and fingers a 1st space A 1-2 now associated that same note with the Eb fingering 2.
Since those who use the above method associated different fingerings with different printed note, should it not follow that someone who reads music as you do "simply" associate different fingerings with different sounds? Hearing an A would make you think 1-2 on CC or 2 on Eb. That is how I would think you'd go about learning new fingerings. As to how to keep them straight, I am not sure. Somehow my brain makes a file in my head for one set of fingerings and another for another. To translate between the two takes time, but accessing each individually take very little effort. This is sort of like a second language--you might start thinking in the new language and converse in it with ease, yet translating between languages is not automatic. I have no idea why perfect pitch would cause your two fingering "languages" to be confused. I guess you'll just have to follow the approach the Tom Mason listed.
Erik