For as long as I can remember, I've been able to instantly recognize all the white keys on a piano without any reference. It works for other timbres too — even something like the squeak of a chair. But I’ve never been able to distinguish flats and sharps. If I hear a C♯, my brain just tells me it’s a C. This might stem from a bad habit: I’d sing a C even when the score said C♯.
(Edit: When I say I would sing a C even if it’s C sharp I meant that i think of it as a C in my head as I play that note. I play piano religiously when I was a kid and I thought if I think of it as C sharp that’s two words and it ruins the rhythm a little bit. I just tried the perfect pitch test online and identified 20/20 correctly of all 12 notes I guess I don’t have this problem anymore but i still WANT relative pitch !)
Recently, I’ve been trying to develop relative pitch. But whenever I try to use a movable-do system or imagine the tonic as “do,” my brain just won’t have it. It keeps telling me, “That’s not do, that’s a G.” I can force myself to think of it as “do” for a few seconds, but then my brain subconsciously flips it back to the absolute note name.
It’s like my imperfect pitch is actively preventing me from hearing relationships. I can’t be the only one who’s struggled with this. How do you work around it? I wouldn’t say I have perfect pitch cuz I only have a 50 percent success rate which is practically useless that’s why i really want to learn relative pitch.Whatever I have I just want to turn it off.