matthew wrote:The funny thing is this: 440 Hz is a purely arbitrary thing.
that's right. 440 Hz is just a standard that was set 1939. a lot of classic records have the A on 437 Hz. but the point is that if you have the absolute pitch you will always sing the A on 440 Hz (or on 437 Hz if you grew up with classical music). the other thing is a relative pitch: I give you an A on 420 Hz and you're able to sing or hear the exact scale from this tone.
wikipedia wrote:Persons who have absolute pitch may feel irritated when a piece is transposed to a different key or played at a nonstandard pitch. They may fail to develop strong relative pitch when following standard curricula, despite the fact that maintaining absolute strategies can make simple relative tasks more difficult. Inadequately trained absolute pitch possessors can find it quite difficult to play in tune with an orchestra which is not tuned to standard concert pitch A4 = 440 Hertz (442 Hz in some countries), possibly because their comprehension of musical pitch may be categorical rather than spectral.