#10 perfect pitch? no way!

I'd like to dedicate this post to Otto Murphy, a friend trying very hard to learn mandarin chinese.
During lunch today, Otto found enlightenment. Although his pronunciation is impressively authentic (he's lived in Beijing for the past 10 months), he still grapples with why the language is so difficult to learn and speak. Then, he advances a theory: "Hey Cindy," he says, "why do you think there are so many chinese people with perfect pitch? Could it be that the language itself is so demanding in terms of tonal accuracy?" It was an interesting theory, but I casually brushed it to the back of my mind because, well, I know plenty of chinese people who are disasterously tone-deaf.

Well, Otto's theory resurfaced again today when I was reading an article:

"Boy, 10, has learned ten languages"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-7035251,00.html
The surprising part of this article came not from the fact that Arpan Sharma, an elementary-aged boy, has taught himself Hindi,Spanish, Italian, German, French, Thai, Swahili, Mandarin, Polish, English, and Lugandan (the language of Uganda)--well actually, it is quite an impressing feat--but that he notes at the very end of the article that "his musical ear has helped him linguistically." This struck me as extremely relevant to Otto's comment, except instead of linguistic skills helping one's musical ones, the case here is in reverse. Maybe Otto was onto something.

I did a little research on the correlation between music and language, and was definitely surprised by the number of articles that came up on this topic.
One of the most informational:

Study: Language Determines Musical Skills
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20041115/pitch.html

advances research that suggest the very solid connection between language and music. In particular, it states that native speakers of tone languages such as mandarin, cantonese, vietnamese, and thai, tend to have a higher likelihood of having perfect pitch, that is, when the individual is able to " name or produce a musical note without benefit of a reference note." As a little background, tone languages are those where a slight change in pitch changes the entire meaning of the word. For example, in Mandarin, there are four pitches. The word--"ma"--can mean mom, hemp, horse, or scold depending on which of the four pitches is spoken.
This research also brings up the interesting point that it could be the native speaker's early exposure to the tone language, rather than the langauge itself, that helps them with their musical abilities.

"While early music lessons improved the likelihood of a student having perfect pitch, the language of the students had a much stronger impact on pitch ability. For students who began musical training between the ages of four and five, 74 percent of the Mandarin speakers passed the perfect pitch test versus 14 percent of the English speakers."

This then, makes me wonder if those who pick up mandarin as a second language can also gradually produce perfect pitches in the music arena. Could there be a mechanism in the brain that sets a critical period and limits for how long language can affect musical abilities?

Another study:

Research Shows Correlation Between Music and Language Mechanisms
http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/brain.html

found that "there is an area in the right half of the brain known to interpret written musical notes and passages of notes, that corresponds in location to the left-half area of the brain known to interpret written letters and words," suggesting the very intimate connection between music and linguistic capabilities. Does this connection suggest that the two skills, if developed under optimal conditions (ie, at a young age) can complement and even bolster each other?

Another interesting study worth reading:
"Music Improves Language and Memory"
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s911523.htm
Most interesting part of research: the research, Dr. Agnes Chan, believes that " learning music stimulates the left temporal lobe, which processes auditory input. This in turn encourages the development of a part of the left temporal lobe called the planum temporale, which responsible for verbal memory. In this way, verbal memory training happens as a sort of 'by-product' of musical training."
On this topic, I wonder if learning music at an early age will help with an individual's ability to learn a second language in the future.

I suppose the moral of this post is that ordinary conversation can lead to inspiring (hopefully) posts!

Oh, and Otto, don't feel bad. Even Arpan Sharma remarked that Mandarin Chinese (along with Swahili) was one of the hardest languages he had to learn.