Annie G. - age 6

Annie has a diagnosis on the autistic spectrum. Every week she would sing her favorite songs perfectly on pitch. After six weeks of piano instruction, Annie could name and identify the notes she learned on the piano, as the notes were played. Annie also demonstrated that she could "sight sing", i.e., she could sing notes on pitch when seeing their letter names.

Amani - age 6

Amani is severely autistic, having few self-help skills (e.g, she couldn't dress herself) In school Amani was assigned to a self-contained special day class made up entirely of students with special needs. At six, Amani could identify individual notes of three-note chords when they were played, regardless of what instrument they chords were played on.

Gavin - age 6

Gavin demonstrated he had perfect pitch by naming notes as they were played on a piano. Unfortunately, Gavin had few other skills associated with perfect pitch. However, it was still important to identify that he was musically gifted, so that he be made aware of his ability. We then can focus on his ability rather than on his disability.

Ruth - age 87

As a girl, Ruth had piano training. Although Ruth has dementia, she is able to remember the songs she learned in childhood. Long-term memory usually stays intact in dementia and Altzheimers patients. Ruth has relative pitch. When given a starting note, Ruth can name any other note.