[Harp-L] perfect pitch Harp-L Digest, Vol 183, Issue 25

[Richard Hammersley]

This article is pretty good

https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb05/pitch.aspx

Don't forget people also have to learn the names of the notes. And to
attend to the fundamental pitch in the waveform rather than the overtones
(easier hearing a flute than a bass clarinet). I started on harmonica
because it was easy to play in tune at least until the overblowers came
along and improved everything. :)

The downside of a rigorous musical training in childhood can be struggling
to appreciate other musics in adulthood that do not use the standard 12
tone system. Early blues for instance is not just 'simple' tunes with blue
notes but uses timbre, rhythm and bends, glissandos etc to musical effect.
Middle Eastern and South Asian musics have different note systems. Free
music can in one way barely be about pitch at all. So absolute pitch limits
in one in some ways.