A Little Bit of Skepticism

Hello everyone.

I have found plenty of sites claiming that A = 432 is the most natural pitch to tune to, I found it odd that this website claims that A=424 is the most natural pitch to tune to. Which one is the correct, natural pitch?

I have seen no logical evidence as to why either or these pitches is the most natural, or any official scientific reports that show that the above frequencies do sympathetically resonate within the human body.

Sure, you have your own ears/bodies that tell you that A=424 is more natural sounding/feeling that A=440, but a simple placebo effect is likely the cause of this, let me explain.

In music, either relatively speaking (talking about intervals) or specifically speaking about pitch, pitches that are lower will be more calming (what is often cited as the benefits of these tunings) than intervals that are higher pitched, and intervals that are higher pitched are brighter sounding.

For example, a major third interval is usually perceived as a brighter interval than the minor third. (as the major third is wider, or, one of the pitches is HIGHER than one of the other pitches in the other interval.<br />

You can also see this effect when changing keys, keys that are higher pitched are brighter, keys that are lower pitched are mellower.

So, as you can see, all this, along with the fact that two pitches that are very close to each other both have followers claiming them to be natural, is a lot of evidence that this notion of either A = 424, or A = 432 being the most natural, is simply a placebo effect.

Now, if the pitches claimed to be natural were father apart, I could definitely see it, for example, the Solfeggio tones, however, let me throw out a whole new can of worms...

Even if A = 424 is the most natural frequency, this would only be beneficial in the key of A, or, more generally, keys that use A a lot.

Now, you may be saying; "Yeah, but all the other pitches are still based off that natural A though, it doesn't matter if you don't use it."

And that shows some serious lack of understanding of acoustics. You see, regardless of what tone we base A off of, most western music now a days uses what is called; "12-Tone Equal Temperament (or TET)" This means that the octave (more on that later) is divided into 12 equal tones. You see, tuning systems are defined by which intervals they use, not what frequency that are based off of, for example, you are proposing; "12-TET, based off of A=424"

And, that is all fine and dandy, until you realise that there is nothing natural at all about 12 tone equal temperament, except for the octave. What is an octave anyway? An octave is the most simple interval in all of music, this is because the ratios between the two frequencies that make up an octave is the most simple, 2 to 1. (or 2/1) This means, 880 is an octave above 440, as 440 X 2 = 880. Now, when we divide the octave into 12 equal parts, none of the other intervals in this tuning system can claim any such simple ratio as the octave does, and are irrational, as they cannot be expressed as a simple fraction.

Rational intervals are not simply natural because they combine in simple ratios, every time you pluck a guitar string, you are in fact hearing overtones that vibrate in simple ratios. Moreover, choral groups, which are not confined to one tuning system often naturally sing these simple ratios without even knowing it, in fact the distinct sound of a barbershop quartet owes much to the fact that they use harmonic sevenths often, which are like nothing in 12-tet. (the closest thing would be a minor seventh)

Intervals that combine in simple ratios are more consonant (at rest, resolved, etc.) sounding than those that are not, moreover, because they are related so closely, the sounds kind of blend in together, and start to sound like one single note. (this is why we don't really hear the overtones of instruments as different pitches) This is especially true with the most simple interval, the octave, which explains why we assign notes that are an octave apart the same letter name.

So, as you can see, the only pitches that are really "based off of" A are those that combine in simple ratios with A.

For more proof, consider this. If you have an acoustic piano, depress the A below middle C without making a sound. Now, play the A above middle C, and let go, keep the other A depressed.

You should hear a note ringing in the background, this should stop as soon as you let go of the A below middle C.

If you try other notes, you will see that this doesn't work. (or at least, not nearly as well) The only other note that might do this well would be an E, as A to an E approximates a perfect fifth (3/2 ratio) close enough that you might resonate the A.

One more thing, this website claims that Bach, Beethoven, etc. used A = 424, this is a flat out LIE. (Other websites claim that Bach and beethoven used A = 432 hz.... Once again, an unfounded claim) Before A = 440, there was no standard pitch to tune to in Europe, and pitch varied A LOT, as we can see by comparing organ tunings. If certain pitches were more natural than others, you would think people would be naturally drawn to them, however this is not the case. There has in fact been a trend for the pitch of A to rise over time; some orchestras in Europe now use 441, 442, or even 443 HZ for A. The only thing close to a standard pitch was A = 435 in France. Once again, not 424, not 432.

This website also claims that all of nature is in tune with the natural frequencey. I have actually tested this out myself with a frequencey analysis program, and this claim is also a complete lie. The pitch, just like in western classical music, varies. Ok, I'll accept that maybe I overlooked something in the analysis, (sound is more complicated that you would think) but I have yet to see ANYWHERE where there is a documented study that shows animals all are in tune with 424, 432, or what have you. I don't need to prove anything, the proof of burden is on the one making the claim. Therefore, until you give me evidence for your claims, I have no reason to believe them.

This is more of a rant than a well thought out essay, so I will be glad to clarify anything you are confused about.

At the very least, I hope you can now use Just Intonation music as a great source of music thearapy. It is very resonating indeed, as it does not contain beats (fluctuations in amplitude, caused by music that is not tuned in simple ratios) Just Intonation is music that uses intervals tuned in simple ratios, by the way.