In my more than ten years as a piano teacher, I have only come across one student with absolute pitch. It was very curious this ability she was hardwired with.

She could, indeed, recognize, and name, instantly, any note I played anywhere on the piano. It was truly uncanny: she didn't know the name of all the chords I would play, but she could name off each note without thought.

I imagined her able to hear any sound, anywhere as pitches of some great universal instrument: a ecstatic experience.

Not a complete bowl of cherries, however, she recounted how in her high school guitar classes that unless she was the one who tuned the instruments, all she experienced was great discomfort.