Little Musicians

It may not give your child perfect pitch, but early exposure to music is still worthwhile

Some families value looks, smarts or athletic skill, but people in my family--otherwise cursed with averageness--have only one shot at perfection. Flowing through our gene pool is a high incidence of perfect pitch. That's the rare ability, found in 1 person in 10,000, to sing a given note at exactly the right pitch every time. In a musical family like mine, the person with the best pitch is the quarterback, the beauty queen and the genius rolled into one. We sing a lot in my family, and those members with perfect pitch always get to carry the tune.

In a recent...

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