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Music Theory: 432 Hz Tuning -

Separating Fact From Fiction
Assaf Dar Sagol on Feb 27, 2016 in Music Theory &
Education " 89 comments

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In exploring the 432 Hz debate at

Ask.Audio, we soon realised this
topic wasn't going to be resolved
in one article. Here Assaf Dar
Sagol explores the fact and !ction
behind tuning to 432 Hz.

This article represents the views and

research of the author. If you're interested
to read the 432 Hz article by Lynda Arnold
which sparked a huge debate visit this
page: Music Theory: Exploring The 432 Hz
Tuning Debate.

432 Hz. The magic number everybody is

talking about. It is said to be the natural
frequency of the universe, to have cosmic
healing powers and to attract masses of
audience to our music. Just by tuning our
music less than a semitone below our
standard A=440Hz we are promised direct
access to the universe's hidden treasures.

There are many articles presenting so-

called “scienti!c evidence” in favor of 432
Hz. But how much of what are being
presented with is fact, and how much of it
is !ction? Let’s !nd out!

Fact #1

Fiction: Ancient instruments such as

Tibetan bowls, Pythagoras monochord,
ancient "utes, have been found to use 432
Hz as their base pitch.

Fact: Hertz is a modern term coined in

1930. Before that it was referred as “Cycles
Per Second”. The !rst time “Cycles Per
Second” could be accurately measured was
in 1834, when two instruments were
invented: the (remodeled) Savart Wheel by
Félix Savart, and the Tonometer by Johann
Scheibler.

Further than that—the measurement of

Seconds has only begun during the late
16th century.

Ancient Tibetans, Pythagoras and anyone

before 1834 could not have intentionally
tuned their instrument to measure 432 Hz
as this frequency scale simply did not exist
at the time. As for evidence, I could not !nd
a single solid evidence for ancient "utes or
bowls tuned to 432 Hz. If you !nd some -
please let me know!

Pythagoras was born 1500 years before the

idea of a second was conceived.

Resources:

http://hps4000.com/pages/special/sound_h
istory.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second

Fact #2

Fiction: Pythagoras’ A was 432 Hz.

Fact: Pythagoras’ tuning system is ratio

based. It is not based on an absolute pitch,
but rather on the relations from an
arbitrary reference pitch. We already know
Pythagoras could not have known what a
second is, so he could not know what Hz
meant. Indeed 432 is a multiplication of the
ratio between C and A, where C is 1 and A
is 27/16 which is the same as 432/256—
however this applies to any base
frequency and has nothing to do with a
speci!c Hz.

Pythagoras’s tuning system was based on

cycling perfect !fths. However, cycling
!fths will never get you to complete a circle
—unless one of the !fths is diminished. In
other words, the Pythagorean scale has to
be 'tuned-down' a little each octave in
order to maintain its consistency. This
makes the temperament uneven and
sound “o#” when playing music with
complex harmonies, and this is exactly the
reason it was abandoned.

The monochord

Listen for yourself:

Intonation: Pythagorean I…

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_
tuning

Fact #3

Fiction: Mozart used 432 Hz for all of his

music.

Fact: The only evidence for Mozart’s A

comes from an ancient tuning fork from
1780 with the tone of A=421.6 Hz. This
tuning fork belonged to the Viennese piano
builder Johann Andreas Stein, the leading
piano maker in Vienna at the time, who
was responsible for Mozart's pianos as well
as Haydn’s and Beethoven’s. It is likely that
they have all used A=421.6Hz.

Handel’s personal pitch fork was found 30

years earlier in England and was tuned to
A=422.5Hz - pretty close to Mozart! and
pretty far from 432 Hz.

Resources:

https://books.google.com/books?
id=hnkWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA333#v=onepage
&q&f=true

Antique Tuning Fork

Fact #4

Fiction: Verdi has used 432 Hz for all his

music.

Fact: Verdi used several tunings across his

life. As an opera composer he was aware of
the pitch in"ation (pitch standards rapidly
rising to achieve a brighter orchestral
sound) that was happening in his time, and
was concerned it was putting a strain on
singers voices as they struggle to hit the
high notes on a score.

Verdi has requested his Requiem to be

tuned to 435 Hz (according to the 1859
French “diapason normal” standard) and in
a later letter he has expressed a slight
preference for 432 Hz. Verdi is the only
known composer to even hint towards 432
Hz, and it was obviously for completely
di#erent reasons than cosmic spirituality.

Resources:

https://books.google.com/books?
id=t_iB90JnPrwC&lpg=PA17&dq=Verdi%20t
uning&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q=Verdi%20t
uning&f=false

Fact #5

Fiction: 432 Hz is the way everybody used

to tune in the past, but we have now
forgotten the ancient wisdom of our
ancestors.

Fact: Musicologist Alexander John Ellis has

searched, measured and documented
ancient pipe organs and tuning forks. Here
is a graph representing his most important
!ndings—as you can see the only mention
of 432 Hz was proposed in Italy in 1880 (by
Verdi), and we already know that this was
done for practical reasons rather than
spiritual ones. The fact is that before
standardization, the pitch of A "uctuated
heavily between 400 Hz and 460 Hz.

Historic tunings graph.

Resources:

https://books.google.com/books?
id=hnkWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA333#v=onepage
&q&f=true

Fact #6

Fiction: 432 Hz is the frequency of the

heart / brain / earth / sun / water

Fact: The frequency of the heart "uctuates

between approximately 1 Hz to 2.5Hz. It
does not have a steady frequency that can
be multiplied to achieve 432 Hz.

Brainwaves or Neural Oscillations range

between approximately 1 Hz and 70 Hz
and are not tuned to 8 Hz or other
divisions of 432 Hz in any way.

The Schumann resonance is a set of

electromagnetic oscillations that originate
from earth. One of them currently
resonates at an average of 7.83Hz and not
8 Hz. which if multiplied by 55 gives us an
A=430.65 Hz. Close, but no cigar.

Astronomers at Stanford have recorded

super sonic oscillations from the sun at
around 5.964 GHz. They had to slow them
down (change their pitch) by 42,000 times
to accidentally hit the frequency of 142 Hz -
and not 144 as claimed by some which
would again bring us a frequency of
A=426Hz.

Water molecules can vibrate in a wide

band of extremely high frequencies close
to the infrared spectrum (90–110 Tera Hz).
The band is wide enough to not favor any
speci!c frequency, let alone 432 Hz.

Natural frequencies.

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_wave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumann_re
sonances

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/singing/

http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/magnetic_el
ectric_e#ects.html

Fact #7

Fiction: Goebbels and the Nazis tried to

take over the world with A440Hz.

Fact: In fact, it was the British Standards

Institute who arranged an international
conference in London 1939 where it was
internationally agreed for A=440Hz to be
the standard.

Resources:

http://www.wam.hr/sadrzaj/us/Cavanagh_4
40Hz.pdf

Fact #8

Fiction: Cymatics—the unexplored

scienti!c realm, provides images as proof
for 432 Hz being the frequency of
water/universe.

Fact: There have been several videos and

images out there presenting beautiful
cymatic imagery as proof for the 432 Hz
theory. However these images are
produced by resonant bodies (water or
metal plates) which can be tuned to
resonate at di#erent frequencies.

Chladni Plate

This means that metal plates or bodies of

water that are tuned to resonate at 440 Hz
(just like a string on a guitar) will produce
lovely cymatic shapes at… you guessed it,
440 Hz!

The geometric shapes are created due to a

well known phenomena called standing
waves.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Chladni

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wav
e

Fact #9

Fiction: Your music will sound better at

A=432Hz

Fact: Musical aesthetics is a "exible thing.

Musicians are not obligated to use 440 Hz
as their base frequencies, and many
orchestras around the world use di#erent
pitches according to the music they are
about to play. It is generally agreed that
baroque music is to be played at around A
415Hz, classical and early romantic eras at
around 425 Hz and later repertoire at 440
Hz and up.

Tuning to di#erent pitches has subtle

e#ects on the timbre of acoustic
instruments, but makes no di#erence to
electronically generated sounds.

Resources:

http://www.the-
compound.org/writing/classicaltuning.pdf

In Conclusion

432 Hz seems to be just another number

without any special signi!cance over
others. Tuning your music to a speci!c
frequency will not unlock cosmic powers,
or make your music sound better or worse.
Having said that, there is no rule or law
that requires musicians to stick to the
standard tuning of A=440Hz. Serious
musicians should all use alternate tunings
for viable reasons such as the instruments
timbre and build, the musical demands
and the historic background of the
composition.

On a personal note, while working in

Polyverse Music, I have been receiving
requests to enable 432 Hz in our new plug-
in “I Wish”. Even though I do not believe in
432 Hz, I do believe that musicians should
be able to tune to any base frequency they
like, which is why we have decided our next
update will include a master tuning setting.
After all, i see no reason not to tune to 432
Hz.

Have fun, create and experiment, and don’t

let standards hold you back!

Interested in music theory? Check

out the Music Theory video courses in
the Ask.Audio Academy (featuring
musicians like Jordan Rudess!)

! music education music theory

tuning forks

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Assaf Dar Sagol

More articles by this author

Assaf Dar Sagol is the co-founder and CEO of

Polyverse Music. A company that creates
unique plug-ins in collaboration with world
renowned artists. Their !rst release is I Wish
By Infected Mushroom. Assaf has produced
and arranged albums for all major record
companies in Israel, working with top notch
artists and professionals of the ... Read More

DISCUSSION

Tyler
Thank you for injecting reason into this
"argument."

Feb 27, 2016

Milton
These facts are well known and just plain
ignored by many 432hz advocates so still
not sure why this is considered a 'debate'
any more than a 'Flat Earth' debate. When
433hz sites start correcting errors that will
be something. Nonetheless kudos for
these succinct and accurate corrections!

Feb 28, 2016

Milton
432 not 433. Although 433hz is of
course the actual magical
frequency.

Feb 28, 2016

cadgbd
Nature is not static or linear.
There is no "magical frequency".
Furthermore people's ears and
bodies resonate at slightly
di#erent frequencies. 432 hz is
merely an approximation, a happy
medium if you will, which singers
!nd more comfortable than 440
hz.

It is impossible to build an
instrument that vibrates at that
precise frequency due to the
margins of error in calculation
and construction and variations in
temperature and humidity, etc.

432 hz is close enough to the

comfortable singing range for
most people. Nothing is perfect or
exact. There is no one magical
frequency. The only way to hit
such a frequency is to sing
Portamento and you will be
bound to hit it or the overtones at
some point while sliding up and
down the scale.

It comes down to what is more

comfortable for the singer versus
what makes the concert piano )
sound brighter. Everything is
based upon the voice, the primal
instrument upon which melody is
based, even guitar leads mimic
the voice, not the concert piano.