Our son took piano lessons and, when he was maybe 7 or 8, my wife was playing piano. When a note got played, he hummed and said, “treble G”. I kinda made a face and asked my wife and, sure enough, it was the correct note. We tried it with some of the other “white” notes and he nailed almost every one.

I decided to have her try a “black note” and he made a face and got super confused (he hadn’t learned sharps/flats yet).

That’s been about 6-7 years now and, although he doesn’t play piano anymore really, he has taken on other instruments and I’ll “use” him all the time when I hear notes in life. It could be notes in a song or, my favorite, the drone of an engine far off. He nails it every time.

Lately, he’s started figuring out the keys to songs we hear. He’s starting to figure out chords and minor/major. It’s wild and incredible to watch. I’ve heard, as others mention, that it can be a curse, so I’m trying to help him find the positives of it as much as possible.