Good afternoon!
I recently stumbled onto an interesting interview concerning modern musical tuning and health. Now I’m not a musician but I do appreciate the properties of music especially on health and mental performance and have been interested for example in music therapy, the Tomatis method, Rife frequencies, the “Mozart Effect” (minus the sales pitch exaggerations) and the research of Dr. Georgi Lozanov on music and “superlearning”. Some types of music (e.g. baroque) are good for learning and some are not (e.g. rap) because of the rhythms and frequencies involved.
In nature we find mathematical patterns all around (ex. Fibonacci sequence, golden mean ratio) and this can be said about the music, harmony, frequencies and resonance in the universe. God is indeed the First Mathematician one could say. It is believed that Bach wrote his music using mathematical patterns.
We enjoy certain frequencies (e.g. sound of birds) and we hate others (e.g. screeching chalk on a chalkboard). Certain types of music help us get into certain moods (e.g. sad, excited, relaxed). For instance Baroque music can be relaxing to listen to while Gangster rap is not. Mozart symphonies and Gregorian chants for example re-energize the brain while rock music and rap sap mental energy according to the research of Dr. Alfred Tomatis. The greatest scientific genius we’ve had in the past 100-150 years, Nikola Tesla who was the true father of radio not Marconi, strongly believed in the importance of studying frequencies and resonance for different applications (e.g. energy, health). Raymond Rife, another genius, demonstrated that healthy cells and cancerous cells generate different frequencies. There is a link between health and frequencies if you can believe it.
That being said… I found out recently that the 440 Hz La note tuning (I think international ISO?) standard was not always used. It is fairly recent in history as an international standard. 1950s or 1975 according to some but it seems those dates are contested. Some past composers like Verdi used 432 Hz tuning in the past but it was not universal as a standard. 432 Hz is supposedly a resonance frequency which is more natural (a water resonance frequency) than 440 Hz. There are some conspiracy theories about the adoption of the 440 Hz standard. Supposedly Joseph Goebbels and the Rockefellers, each on their side of the Atlantic Ocean, were trying to promote 440 Hz but some dispute the claims. Supposedly 440 Hz tuning is more likely to increase aggression. Fact or fiction? Hmmm… not impossible. I think such men could have been shrewd enough to think up such an idea. That’s all I will say about it. As a music lover who strongly believes in the right use of music and the beneficial health properties associated with certain types of music and frequencies I do question the international standard of tuning to 440 Hz when 432 Hz would supposedly be better for ear, body and mind… it would be more “in tune” (pardon the pun) with nature and how we were created by God.
Here’s a short video playing same sounds using different tuning… play the video, close your eyes and see which one you prefer… the first tune or the second tune? (Note : I use the video for comparing sounds… I do not necessarily advocate everything that may be affirmed in the videos put up by the channel user)
Whether or not there is some truth to the Goebbels/Rockefeller conspiracy theory this is an interesting quote from the philosopher Plato (understood in its context… not against innovation itself but against music corrupting behavior):
“This is the point to which, above all, the attention of our rulers should be directed, –that music and gymnastic be preserved in their original form, and no innovation made. They must do their utmost to maintain them intact. And when any one says that mankind most regard, “The newest song which the singers have,” they will be afraid that he may be praising, not new songs, but a new kind of song; and this ought not to be praised, or conceived to be the meaning of the poet; for any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole State, and ought to be prohibited. So Damon tells me, and I can quite believe him; he says that when modes of music change, of the State always change with them.”
source : The Internet Classics Archive | The Republic by Plato
Some people on Youtube have converted music to 432 Hz. Here’s Mozart’s famous 40th symphony in 432 Hz:
Using Audacity or Foobar, which are both free to download, one can adjust the pitch of the recorded sound to 432 Hz tuning instead of standard 440 Hz tuning. I now use Foobar (equipped with a special add-on) in order to playback my MP3 files using 432 Hz tuning. There are articles on Internet as well as Youtube videos showing how to convert the music. Just Google.
Some also advocate having C at 528 Hz which means tuning A to 444 Hz. 528 Hz would also supposedly be a more natural resonance frequency. Supposedly John Lennon intentionally tuned the piano to have C at 528 Hz for his most famous song “Imagine”. I find that interesting even if I may not everything believed or taught by some of the promoters of 528 Hz tuning (e.g. Dr. Leonard Horowitz).
Whether or not those things can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt one can try and experiment with one’s MP3 files and change the tuning to either 432 Hz or 444 Hz for A as opposed to the less natural 440 Hz and hear the difference. I’ve tried both 432 Hz tuning and 444 Hz tuning and have preferred them both to 440 Hz.
