Absolute pitch in Williams syndrome

Absolute pitch is reported to occur in 1 out of 10,000 persons, usually tho se trained in music before age 6. We demonstrate that the five individuals we tested, who have Williams syndrome, a condition caused by a microdeletio n of about 20 genes in the q11.23 region of one of their two chromosomes nu mber seven, possess near ceiling levels of absolute pitch despite their lim ited cognitive abilities. With these individuals, we also describe our prel iminary findings on relative pitch, transposition, and retention. We discus s the possibilities that (1) the incidence of absolute pitch among individu als with Williams syndrome is higher than that found in the general populat ion and (2) the normal early childhood critical period of absolute pitch ac quisition may be extended in individuals with Williams syndrome.