![]() ![]() ![]() Should not our ears and chakras be the judge? I stick closely to the criterion, “if it sounds good, it is good,” so I’m open to considering the superiority of 432 Hz. Some classical musicians who play Bach, for example, tune to 415 Hz, not because it has magical qualities but because it’s the frequency Bach used, one semitone below today’s standard 440 Hz. It was just business, but why do the proponents of 432 Hz believe this is the superior frequency? In the video above, guitar teacher Paul Davids satirizes the reasoning (over the X-Files theme): something to do with “the natural harmonics found in sacred numbers” and the “psychic poisoning of the mass of humanity.” Davids quickly moves on to discuss the actual history of tuning, from the 15th century onward, when standards ranged from country to country, even city to city, anywhere between 400 and 500 Hz. (Learn more about the history of pitch in the video above.) The push for worldwide commercial standardization finally decided the question in the 20th century, not mind control. Retired dentist Leonard Horowitz, for example, has elaborated a theory that has “the Rockefeller Foundation’s military commercialization of music,” then Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, tricking the world into 440 Hz, “effectively persuading Hitler’s supposed enemies in Britain to adopt this allegedly superior standard tuning for the ‘Master Race.’” Meanwhile, on YouTube (and even in scientific journals), notes Thom Dunn at Boing Boing, pseudoscience about the “‘meditative qualities of 432 Hertz” proliferates, “which, of course, relates back to Horowitz’s theory that 440 Hertz is a weapon of Nazi aggression.” If this one’s new to you, you’ll find rabbit holes aplenty to fall into online. Or, if only we could change the frequency of standard musical pitch from 440 Hz to 432 Hz, we could throw off the yoke of Nazi mind control, experience pure meditative bliss, open our root chakras, and…. If only, say, we could rid ourselves of scurrilous figures behind the scenes, we could get back to the garden and make everything great. Instead of the painful, confusing tedium of historical detail that meets us when we try to understand the world, they offer spectacle, clear dichotomies of good and evil, the promise of redemptive resolution. Most electronic tuners will give you the option to set the Hertz.Conspiracy theories are like blockbuster Hollywood movies. For example, the New York Philharmonic uses 442 Hz. ![]() In 1955 A - 440 Hz was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization.ĭespite it being standard, there are still a number of orchestras that tune to different frequencies. The United States adopted A – 440 Hz in 1910 and many countries followed in 1939. He then traveled to different countries to analyze which pitches the forks were tuning to and offered A - 440 Hz as a compromise and standard. But in 1834, Johann Heinrich Scheibler invented a tonometer that contained 56 differently pitched tuning forks. Traveling vocal soloists would struggle immensely with the varied tunings from region to region.Įventually, tuning forks were invented but they also lacked a standard. The tuning could vary as wildly as a third above or below what is now standard. Primarily, cities would tune to the largest instrument-the organ-and well, every organ was made differently. Standard tuning is A - 440 Hz, which means that the A above middle C on a keyboard will vibrate 440 times per second.īut how did that become the standard? For centuries, tuning was ambiguous and varied from region to region. Only people with a discerning ear or perfect pitch will notice if the entire instrument is out of tune with standard tuning. Meaning, if an instrument is tuned consistently flat or sharp, it will still sound in tune when heard by itself. When you hear something that is “in tune,” what does that really mean? To most people, it means that what they’re hearing is in tune with itself. By Mark Wade, of Melismatics, Teacher and Assistant Director of Music Education at Twin Town Guitars ![]()
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