Talk:Donald Triplett

"Savant" abilities
"Triplett was noted for his savant abilities, particularly the ability to name musical notes played on a piano, and the ability to perform rapid mental multiplication."

Donald's rapid multiplication skills are of course a savant ability. He is also reported to have an extraordinary memory, being able to recite Bible texts he had heard in the church. But naming notes played on the piano does not belong to this category. This is called "absolute pitch" or "perfect pitch", it is unusual, but definitely not a savant ability. Young children at pre-school age seem to have the ability to memorize pitch, but then most people lose it. Children growing up in a musical environment often keep this ability in adult life. Autistic people seem to have it more often than the "neurotypical." Contrary to a common prejudice and despite being found often in families of musicians, absolute pitch is not a "musical" gift: In itself, the ability to identify pitch is not musical, it does not make you a better musician, because music is about meaningful relations between notes, not isolated notes. In Donald's case the crucial point is: As an isolated, context-free, self-sufficent activity, i.e. an activity without a "meaning", his propensity to name notes struck randomly on the piano by another person was typically autistic. -- 93.208.63.237 (talk) 09:46, 2 November 2021 (UTC)