Hello all!

It has been some time since my last post. I have returned after noticing some very interesting phenomenon in a few of my recent lucid dreams: musical instruments work in lucid dreams. This may not seem interesting, but it raises a very important question, which will be the topic of the research here:


Do people have relative and/or perfect musical pitch when dreaming?

First, I will define some terms. For those well-versed in musical terminology, please feel free to skip the following section.

Spoiler for Terminology:


BACKGROUND

Before beginning my background, it is extremely important to note that I do not have perfect pitch. I play and listen to a great deal of music, but do not have outstanding relative pitch either.

I happened upon the notion in a non-lucid dream, in which I played a song on a piano, accompanied by a band. Upon awaking, I recalled both the key and melody of the piece. I realized I had never heard the song in my waking life, and so endeavored to transcribe it from my dream. Shortly after rising from bed, I sat down at my piano. The melody still vivid in my memory, I hummed an "A," the first note. I played an "A" on the piano, and was surprised to find the note I hummed and the note I played matched almost exactly.

Several nights later, I realized this could be tested empirically.

First, I tested my relative pitch by playing a piano while lucid. I found the instrument was very reliable in its ability to produce notes relative to each other; the keys could play a scale and sound perfectly in tune to one another. Harmonies and octaves sounded in tune, as well.

This established, I tested my perfect pitch 3 times. In each instance, I went lucid, sat at a piano, played a note, and hummed it. Immediately upon awakening, I recorded myself humming the same note, being sure to mention what note I played. (Note: I did have to hum one octave below the "middle C" range, as the bass range of my voice would not permit me to hum in a high register so soon after sleeping.) After waking for the day, I compared the recordings to actual, predetermined notes. In each of 3 trials, the recordings matched.

While such findings are promising, much more data is required before any trends can be observed or conclusions made. If people are, indeed, able to recreate notes in a dream, it may be suggested that dreamers could write complex compositions within lucid dreams, and perhaps improve relative pitch. With the collection of data, I ask for assistance of the Dreamviews community! I hope that any oneironauts interested in the relationship between music and dreams participate in this study. Once enough data is present, I will begin to compile it for convenient observation.



THE EXPERIMENT


To participate in the study, one need only do the following:

  • Become lucid
  • Play a note in your dream
  • Record the note upon waking
  • Compare the recorded note to the actual note
  • Report upon your experience here


Note: Please be careful to record your note soon after playing it in the dream, as to avoiding distorting the pitch in memory. I need not tell this community the difficulty of remembering details from dreams! I recommend keeping a recording device, such as your cellphone, next to your bed.

I would be extremely grateful for any who participate in or contribute to the study! Anyone capable of becoming lucid can easily contribute. If you happen to play and remember a note from a non-lucid dream, feel free to report upon that as well! Alongside your results, it would be beneficial to include any musical background you may have, such as instruments played, experience with singing, and known pitch recognition abilities.

Feel very free to respond with any questions or comments! All input is welcome. Good luck, and I look forward to reading your results!