relative pitch

American  

noun

Music.

1. the pitch of a tone as determined by its relationship to other tones in a scale.

2. the ability to identify or sing a tone by mentally determining the distance of its pitch from that of a tone already sounded.

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Etymology

Origin of relative pitch

First recorded in 1925–30

Compare meaning

How does relative-pitch compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• perfect pitch vs. relative pitch

Example Sentences

Most of us have excellent relative pitch, which means that we can tell whether one sound has a different frequency from another.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

The notation gives an accurate indication of relative pitch: letter A at the top of the scale, for instance, represents a musical note a fifth higher than N halfway down the alphabet.

From BBC • Oct. 22, 2013

Before starting into an a cappella song, Ms. Meath often located its key signature by feel, rather than with a relative pitch.

From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2011

Since different voices are differently pitched the device is rigged to ignore absolute pitch but to respond to relative pitch variations which occur in sequence in certain word combinations as pronounced by most speakers.

From Time Magazine Archive

However, most musicians can be trained to recognize relative pitch.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones