Downey woman with autism finds pitch-perfect outlet

Sep. 09, 2011 by Bethania Palma

DOWNEY –When she was a little, doctors weren’t sure Gabrielle Poveda would ever talk.

Now she sings — in Italian and Japanese.

And when Poveda, known as Gabby, hears a phone ring, she’ll often yell out “F sharp!” or some other note.

Gabby’s uncanny abilities have earned her a nickname among the singers at Long Beach City College: “Miss Perfect Pitch.”

That’s because Poveda can sing any note you ask her to. Perfectly. Without hearing it first.

She has perfect pitch, also known as absolute pitch, a talent possessed by less than 3 percent of people in the North America.

Her choir teacher at Long Beach City College often has to shush her to allow other students to find the notes at the beginning of class.

“I’m known as the warm-up spoiler,” she said.

You wouldn’t know it by listening to the bubbly 20-year-old, but doctors expected her to have trouble interacting with people.

At the age of 3, Gabby didn’t talk much and she was diagnosed with autism, a disorder that causes impaired communication and social interaction. But her mother soon realized that singing and art were therapeutic.

“I was the only one at my elementary school that was into Beethoven, classical music and jazz,” Gabby said.

And drawing is like meditation, she added. It helped her stop flapping her hands, a nervous tick that would sometimes distract classmates.

“She loved art so art became a good outlet for her to communicate,” said Michelle Gil, Gabby’s mother.

During Gabby’s childhood, Gil read all she could about children with autism. She daily spent one-on-one time with her daughter, pushing her to communicate.

Now Gabby is a member of the Studio Singers, a choir at LBCC, sings in multiple languages and even speaks Japanese.

But Gabby can do much more than hit notes with her soprano voice and sing Baroque pieces in Italian.

She became a huge anime fan when she was 8 and taught herself to draw the stylized cartoon characters. She began picking up Japanese vocabulary by turning on English subtitles as she watched her favorite shows.

Now after taking college courses at Long Beach City College, she describes herself as conversational in the language.

Blue-eyed Gabby– who is Cuban American — likes to go to Little Tokyo in L.A. and surprise native speakers with her Japanese skills.

“My goal is to become a singer in Japan and do animation as a side career,” she said.

In July she sang anime theme songs onstage at the Anime Expo singing competition, AX Idol, at the L.A. Convention Center.

“I didn’t win the title, but the stage was good enough for me,” she said.

By all appearances, Gabby’s mother, made all the right moves, one expert said.

“The more help they get early, the better off they are,” said John Visbal, CEO of California Autism Foundation. “It sounds like the work her mother has done is really paying off.”

Gabby’s ability to concentrate on things that interest her may be due in part to autism, Visbal said.

“People with autism tend to have a higher focus,” he said. “She’s able to really intensely focus on something and block out other things.”

Her teachers have taken notice.

“You just forget that she has (autism), she has such a drive and she’s so focused,” said choir teacher Skye Angulo. “She’s just a wonderful student and has such a great attitude. She sets a great example for the whole music department.”

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