The 432 HZ Debate.
I am an active classical musician, so I know about vibrations. Some vibrations are good and some vibrations are less good. The good vibrations are the vibrations that make us feel good; meaning, peaceful, calm, relaxed and sociable. The less good vibrations are the vibrations that might make us feel agitated, stressed, antisocial, depressed, and even confused. Yes frequency vibrations can do that.
It's called brain entrainment. In other words, thoughts, feelings and emotions are electro-chemical frequency waves that will synchronize to the environment. Music is the oldest direct attempt to entrain people's thoughts using sonic vibrations. Electromagnetic frequency waves from WIFI and other wireless systems will also entrain the brain. We might want to know what those frequencies are and how they are affecting us.
Cymatics is the study of a frequencies effect on various media. For example we might send a certain frequency, such as a note on a trumpet, through air, then water, then oil, then sand and study the effect it has on each of the media. We notice that all frequencies are not created equal. There are resonant frequencies and there are discordant frequencies. The resonant frequencies organize the media into geometric patterns. The discordant frequencies do not organize the media into geometric shapes but disorganize the media into chaos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LuwzGOfvQY
Years ago I became aware of the 432hz verses 440hz debate. It seemed strange to me that it was impossible, as a trained musician, to tune perfectly in the 440hz tuning matrix. I also found it strange that 440hz was the universally accepted tuning note when there should be differences of opinion. I began to study the 440 tuning matrix more closely. Here is what I discovered.
First I will show the 432 tuning matrix and why I believe that 432 is true A. Middle C is 256 hz. We can start with the number 1. That is 1 vibration per second. One vibration each second (or 1 hz) can be produced by clapping your hands once each second. Now an octave is a 2:1 ratio which means that every time you double the rate of vibration the note sounds an octave higher. So lets double through the octaves until we get to middle C on a piano. It would look like this:
C Octaves 1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256
We can see that middle C is mathematically in tune with the second hand on a clock.
Now in music we have an interval called a perfect 5th. A true perfect fifth is a 3:2 ratio. Therefore we can start a new octave series this time beginning on the number 3 and this will give us our G octaves. G is a perfect fifth from C because it is a 3:2 ratio and because we can count through the music alphabet C-D-E-F-G and that is five letters. Here are the octaves of G:
G Octaves 3-6-12-24-48-96-192-384
So G 384 hz is a perfect 5th above 256. To be sure just divide 384 by 256 and you will get 1.5.
If we wanted a perfect fifth above G then we would start our octave series with the number 9. The octaves of D would looks like this:
D octaves 9-18-36-72-144-288-576
If we wanted a perfect fifth above D then we would start our octave series with the number 27. This would give us the octaves of A:
A Octaves 27-54-108-216-432
And if we wanted the octaves of E which is a perfect fifth above A then we would begin with 81 hz:
E Octaves 81-162-324-648
During the Renaissance
time period in European history beginning in the 1400's and lasting through the 19th century one of the most remarkable discoveries was made. It was not the printing press or the telescope. It was the string family of musical instruments. It consisted of the violin, the viola, the cello, and the bass. We will go through the tuning of the open strings of each of these instruments to show how they fit beautifully into the 432 matrix.
The violin is tuned in perfect fifths. The open strings are as follows.
G 192 - D 288 - A 432 - E 648
The viola is tuned in perfect fifths and is a fifth lower than the violin. It's open strings are as follows.
C 128 - G 192 - D 288 - A 432
The cello is tuned in perfect fifths and is an octave lower than the viola. It's open strings are as follows.
C 64 - G 96 - D 144 - A 216
The bass is tuned in fourths
E 40.5 - A 54 - D 72 - G 96
The average human hearing range is about 30 hz through 12,000 hz.
Now lets compare those numbers with the 440 hz tuning matrix. Notice that these are repeating decimals. The question is how can we tune a pure tone to a frequency which is a repeating decimal? The answer is you can't. It's not physically possible. The best you can do approximate the note. Now what should be a pure 3:2 ratio perfect fifth is altered. It's out of tune. That is why all music tuned in 440 hz is out of tune.
Violin: G 195.5555555555556 - D 293.33333333334 - A 440 - E 660
Viola: C 130.3703703703704 - G 195.55555555556 - D 293.33333333334 - A 440
Cello: C 65.1851851851851852 - G 97.7777777777778 - D 146.66666666667 -A 220
Bass: E 41.25 - A 55 - D 73.3333333333 - G 97.777777777778
It's out of tune with the seconds of the day. It's out of tune with it's self. It can never be in tune. Not only that but artistic expression has been confined to just 12 possible tones and their octaves. This is a prison for the mind. There should be infinite frequency possibilities should there not? Every musician could create their own cymatic scale much like every crypto enthusiast with coding ability in theory could create their own cryptocurrency with the features they want to see.
A = 440 hz is to music what a Federal Reserve Note is to money.
Conclusion
Everything I have presented here has been common knowledge for hundreds of years. My question therefore is, why, when we know there is a better way do we not take the better option? Why do we continue to do what we know is wrong when we know the right way? Why must we cater in law to the easily manipulated majority?
Generally people do not like to be told they are slaves. They do not like to be told there is a better way. They do not like to be told they are controlled by unseen forces.
"My question therefore is, why, when we know there is a better way do we not take the better option? Why do we continue to do what we know is wrong when we know the right way? Why must we cater in law to the easily manipulated majority?"
Perhaps the powers that be prefer the masses to live in dis-harmony...
Congrats for the great post! I play using 432hz tuning since years and I can say it sounds and feels different. Please take a look at my post about my band, playing 100% 432 https://steemit.com/music/@andrew0/the-dharma-fire-band-music-giveaway-project
I already put a link to your post there, too ;)
Yes! Been trying to tell @resus and @uglycasanova this. You did it very well. Have you tried 528? Been said to have healing effect, I don't know but i like the way my acoustic guitar works on that frequency!
My calculations show that 528 gives an A of 445.5 which is very close to 432 transposed up a half step. I consider this to be a very fine tuning, much better than 440.
As a bass player I thank you for this great article
This was fascinating. Have you heard of lucy tuning, ie tuning the key and tempo of a song together based on their ratio? I feel it would go well with this topic. I'm going to try to write something using both ideas when I get home from work today.
I have heard of that and it is a fascinating subject worthy of study. 60 beats per minute is the key of C in 432 of course. That doesn't mean that you couldn't play in another closely related key such as D, F or G at 60 bpm. 90 bpm is the key of G etc. After a while if you are aware of it you can start to hear it.
I also use 432Hz exclusivly. Not going back...
Awesome.