Having (a) talked with acquaintances who have absolute/perfect pitch (b) read a fair bit of research (c) practiced the “trick” under discussion (d) had a brief mid-adolescent period where I experienced tones as having an extra layer of color/personality that was definitely distinct from note memory, everything points me toward the idea that it’s a different way of experiencing the sound itself. Like the difference between “they all look the same to me” vs frequencies having faces you recognized or if numbers came with fixed colors. Honestly the experienced part was a bit jarring and I think that’s part of why it didn’t take.
Having (a) talked with acquaintances who have absolute/perfect pitch (b) read a fair bit of research (c) practiced the “trick” under discussion (d) had a brief mid-adolescent period where I experienced tones as having an extra layer of color/personality that was definitely distinct from note memory, everything points me toward the idea that it’s a different way of experiencing the sound itself. Like the difference between “they all look the same to me” vs frequencies having faces you recognized or if numbers came with fixed colors. Honestly the experienced part was a bit jarring and I think that’s part of why it didn’t take.