I would like to start this article in an unorthodox way and talk about my feelings concerning my doctoral thesis. Embarking on this scientific work, I sacrificed an enormous amount of time over the course of 10 years which I could have used more for artistic creativity. From today's perspective that seems crazy to me. That is because I have always identified myself more as an artist and less as a scientist. Also, the topic about pianists with relative and absolute pitch, and the urge to prove my theses about them, was so important to me that it became easy in the end to make the necessary sacrifices - for the sake of science and to bring the truth to light about these two hearing types.

 

The work was far from finished after my doctorate in 2018, and the interesting results needed to be made public in some way. While I gradually rediscovered the artist within me alongside my piano teaching activities, I took the initiative several years ago to translate the extensive summary into English and Croatian. Consequently, it also took a considerable amount of time to prepare the publication of the dissertation. It was important to me to present the research findings in three languages for the musical world simultaneously with the release of the book. Now, that project has come to fruition.

 

Accordingly, it took a long time to translate this summary. It was my plan to present the research results in parallel in three languages​. Many people told me just to ask someone to translate the summary. But both the expense and the risk that it would ultimately not be appropriate deterred me, given the many technical terms to interpret. I knew I had to do this work myself and then afterwards simply look for assistance in proofreading. At this point I would like to thank my friends John Lotherington for correcting the English version and Višnja Požgaj the Croatian version. Special thanks to my supervisor Prof. Dr. phil. Regina Pauls.