I had an interesting epiphany tonight. I am watching Oprah and she had on a woman who as a photographic audial memory. In other words, she is able to remember everything she hears. She is able to do more than that, though. It goes into levels of being able to understand what she hears. She is able to play back any piece of music she hears, note for note.

I realized recently that I no longer have perfect pitch. I wondered if the strokes affected the part of my brain that allows for perfect pitch. However, after watching this woman on Oprah I am wondering if perfect pitch is nothing more than extraordinary memory. I've mentioned before that I had an above average audial memory before the strokes; it was nowhere near the level of the woman on Oprah, but I could remember tiny conversations for decades. Now that my memory is damaged, it must have taken the perfect pitch with it.

It was disconcerting the first time I realized that I couldn't tell whether an instrument was sharp or flat or in tune. It sounded flat, but not in the musical sense... in the audial sense. I think it is akin to seeing with depth perception; imagine having your depth perception taken away suddenly. That's very similar to the experience of having perfect pitch suddenly gone; the experience lacks the depth it once had. I have to say, though, that it's comforting to at least be able to identify the cause. Wait, no it isn't.