Found a series of articles about listening to music tuned to 432hz rather than 440hz - 432hz is supposedly more… actually I can’t work out exactly why it’s good. Seems like pseudo science BS to me, but before i reject such a notion out of hand I thought I’d turn to the Dope. Anyone know about this stuff?
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/12/21/heres-why-you-should-convert-your-music-to-432hz/
This one’s the really hippie link:
http://omega432.com/432-music/the-importance-of-432hz-music
Both of those links are packed the brim with utter bullshit. Well, there’s a sprinkling of interesting, but horribly misapplied science in there.
If there is any reason to favour 432hz, those sites aren’t making any sound argument for it.
After skimming the hooey in the first link, I’d better stay away from “the really hippie link”. My head will asplode…
Here’s a quick review of the section headings:
DNA AND PHI
THE ALCHEMY OF SATURN AND 432 ALIGNMENT
STONES AND 432 GEOMETRY
INTRODUCTION OF 440HZ TO AMERICA (OK that section is just a bit of history)
432HZ/256HZ TWELVE TRUE FIFTHS TUNING (sounds neutral, but contains bullshit)
SPIRITUAL ASPECT OF 432 256 128
THE GEOMETRY OF 432HZ FREQUENCY
Utter, utter contemptible snake oil.
Wow. I came in here hoping for a geek out on pitch standards in classical music performance.
In summary (because I need to clear my brain of that insanity):
Today, the A above middle C is usually defined as 440 hz. Historically, however, it was usually between 410 and 430 hz in the 18th century. There was no standardization, just a sort of loose consensus on how to make your tuning forks. Over time, there’s sort of an upward creep. When you’re accustomed to A=430 hz, tuning slightly higher sounds “brighter” particularly in large ensembles. So through the late 18th century and 19th century there was a steady upwards creep in pitch standards. In the 20th century we had devices that could precisely measure the frequency of a tone, so there was eventually a consensus on A=440. Still, because of that desire for “brightness”, many major orchestras use 442 or 445 hz.
But if you’re primarily performing baroque music, A=440 isn’t historically accurate. And the 18th century instruments were crafted for a lower pitch standard. A=440 will put more tension on the instruments, which changes the tone (and puts more stress on a priceless antique!) So historical performance ensembles will use something like A=415.
There. My brain feels better now.
Oh good. glad you feel better now. 
And thanks for the informative post! I had no idea there has been a change in the definition of musical tones.
That’s really interesting lazybratsche. Thanks for that.
And who can remember the Intel iapx 432? Number didn’t do them any good on that one.
So we hear a heap of stuff about why a specific number has mystical powers. Then we use that mystical number to denote a physical thing. Frequency is measured in Hertz, or more clearly, in cycles per second. So where is the mystical value in the second? What if we had defined frequency using a different time unit? Instead of dividing the day into 24 hours of 3600 seconds each we had gone metric, with 10 deciles of 10000 moments each? Then the Hertz would have been about 16% higher in pitch. Given the Earth’s rotation isn’t constant there is a good case for not basing any time of frequency standard on it - and maybe we had decided to use some totally different definition of the base unit of time. 432 of whatever that was is going to be arbitrarily different in pitch.
It is as sensible as saying that 432 feet is a mystical special length, much to the consternation of those who believe that 432 metres is the mystical length. Clearly it is 432 cubits.
Listen to the bloke playing the same piece on the guitar at 440Hz and 432Hz from the first link. It just sounds wrong at 432Hz.
Great material in OP. I’ve already mailed the URLs out to a few people.
Thanks!
If these frequency-measuring devices weren’t available until the 20th century, how can you or anyone else say what concert pitch was in the 18th? Are there extant instruments from that period which don’t need retuning and demonstrably haven’t been retuned since then?
Better not tell them about microtonal music then…
Heretics! 435hz is the only God-given frequency! 432 is the Road To Hell. Or aliens. Or whatever.
Need we say more?
We’ve got plenty of 18th and 19th century tuning forks. Also there are organ pipes that have survived well (made of wood), and others that might deform but we can determine their original dimensions and thus pitch (those made of lead alloys).
We’ve got the tuning forks that they used to tune those instruments. If they’re stored correctly, those don’t really degrade much at all.
A tuning fork is a piece of cast metal. It is “tuned” by grinding the end to raise the pitch to the desired length. The only way I can think of age affecting the pitch is accidental damage, rust or corrosion.
I don’t know what metal 18th century forks were made of, but I have one 50 years old, 100% chrome-plated (so it can’t rust or corrode) and it looks like it is stainless steel underneath. It’s for sure that it hasn’t changed pitch in 50 years.
I have another one that was cast so accurately that it wasn’t tuned after being plated, or at least there is nothing exposed to reveal that. I guess the plating thickness had to have been compensated for in the design.
Just to be clear, microtonal music, like key systems, temperaments, modes, etc., are independent of whatever somebody wants to set a reference pitch at.
Although I won’t be the one to tell him, anyway.
432Hz resonates through the Universe… Why would you try and change nature? To disrupt the Harmony of Mankind, which has been using A=432HZ for thousands of years… "The Old Standard " or according to Prince and his new album Art Official Age track#4 “The Gold Standard”. Maybe everyone is stuck in this Artificial 440Hz Cage and does not want to see or discuss these facts about the magical and amazing 432.
‘If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.’ - Nikola Tesla
43,200 MPH = 12 miles per second is the Speed of the Sun
{hence the solar system}
43,200 Seconds = 12 hours of the Day
43,200 Seconds = 12 hours of the Night
86,400 Seconds = 24 hours
432 Multiplied by 2 (432 x 2) = 864
864 Thousand Miles = Diameter of the Sun (actually 864,938 miles)
432 Thousand Miles = Radius of the Sun (actually 432,450 miles)
432 Divided by 2 (432 / 2) = 216
216 Hundred Miles = Radius of the Moon
432 Squared (432 x 432) = 186,624
(Speed of Light 186,000 miles per second)
or
(Speed of Light is exactly 299792458 metres per second)
Great Pyramid of Giza, Coordinates is exactly 29.9792° N, 31.1344° E
“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” Albert Einstein
Thus proving the superiority of the imperial system of measurements–apparently, it’s what God uses.
Imperial? Feh.
US Customary. God is an American.