432 Hertz Tuning: Hype or Healing?
Background Feature by Yogendra
(2021)
432 vibrations per second - in recent years there have been more and more voices claiming that precisely this frequency has a multitude of wonderful effects on people. It is said to heal, relax, lighten the mood, open the heart, promote inner development, release blockages, connect with heaven and earth, harmonise body and soul, resonate with the human body, promote healthy cell metabolism, synchronise the brain hemispheres and harmonise the DNA. The explanations offered for these miraculous powers range from the pulsation of the earth in the Schumann resonance of 8 hertz, the orbital period of the earth around the sun with an octave frequency of 136.1 hertz, the claim that Mozart and Verdi composed in 432 hertz, the findings of Rudolf Steiner and the supposed perception limit of the human ear at 16 hertz, to ancient knowledge of the Hebrews, Egyptians, Sumerians and Indians (who allegedly have always tuned their sitars to the earth tone C-sharp at 136.1 hertz). What's going on here?
Let's start with the Indians. The erroneous belief in a universal Indian fundamental tone of C-sharp probably goes back to Hans Cousto. Inspired by a "vision on mushrooms", Cousto understood planetary rotations and orbits as extremely slow oscillations, which can be converted into audible tone frequencies by multiple octavation / doubling. He first published his ideas in 1979 in his book "Farbton, Tonfarbe und die Kosmische Oktave" (Tone of Colour, Colour of Tone and the Cosmic Octave). For the earth year tone, he calculated a C sharp with a frequency of 136.1 hertz - somewhat lower than the C sharp based on A at 440 hertz. This slightly lower C sharp is the fundamental note of Indian music, Cousto wrote. In a 2017 interview, he tells how he came up with this claim: "I happened to be reading a book by Ravi Shankar at the time, My Music My Life, and there he describes exactly how the Indian C sharp is tuned a little lower than our European C sharp, that this is precisely the keynote 'Sa'." Unfortunately, Cousto has misread thoroughly. In the first section of "My Music, My Life"Ravi Shankar writes: "SA itself does not have a fixed pitch like middle C in the Western scale. It corresponds more accurately to what the Westerners call the moveable DO." And in the fourth section he says about the tuning of sitars: "Depending on the size and strength of the instrument, the SA may vary anywhere from B natural to D natural." The then very well-known music journalist Joachim-Ernst Berendt, in turn, adopted Cousto's freely invented assertion of the lower C sharp as the fundamental of Indian music in his 1983 bestseller "Nada Brahma - The World is Sound" - and thus contributed enormously to the creation of this legend.
In fact classical Indian music tradition knows precisely defined interval ratios, but no absolutely defined fundamental with a specific frequency. The fundamental SA is freely determined by the soloist according to the pitch of the voice or the nature of the instrument. All accompanying musicians tune to the individually defined SA. And all other tones are defined in relation to it. This was also common practice in Europe for centuries. There was simply no way to measure and record frequencies exactly. The pitch of singers fluctuates depending on the time of day and the personal mood, string instruments react to temperature and humidity, wind instruments change pitch depending on the embouchure, and even organs, which have been in use since the Middle Ages, change their pitch over time. For a long time, there was no question of a precisely determined frequency of the fundamental tone, but of the good harmony of a specific ensemble.
It was not until the invention of the tuning fork in 1711 that it became possible to always tune to the same precisely defined tone - which made it much easier to play together in larger ensembles in Western classical music. In different regions and musical styles, however, very different tuning tones continued to be used. Thanks to historical tuning forks, we know that the tuning pitch A towards the end of the 18th century was roughly between 400 and 450 hertz. It was not until the 19th century (with the strengthening of the nation states and increasing international integration in musical life) that binding standards for the A tuning pitch were defined. France legally set it at 435 hertz, while in Great Britain 452 hertz was first set as the Philharmonic Pitch and later 439 hertz. Finally, in 1939, the forerunner of today's International Organisation for Standardisation unified the various regulations to a general standard of 440 hertz. This agreement is still valid today and is above all a pragmatic compromise that facilitates cooperation and marketing for the music industry worldwide. However, it is not binding on anyone. Classical symphony orchestras today, for example, usually play on slightly higher pitches, while early music ensembles use much lower historical pitches. And in Indian classical music, every soloist still tunes as he or she sees fit.
Our brief look at history and to India shows that people have always and everywhere sought and found musical sounds that were so gratifying that they dedicated their lives to them. The exact frequency of the fundamental does not seem to have played a significant role. The wonderful thing about music is its variety - the timbres of voices and instruments, the rhythms, melodies and harmonies, their connection with words, their unfolding in space and time, the resonance of our bodies, the touching of our souls, the feeling of freedom and transcendence that it conveys – not the exact frequency of the fundamental. Those who believe that 432 hertz is the only healing and blissful fundamental vibration of everything, are possibly buying into a short-lived hype and fail to recognise the infinite complexity of music. But those who feel their well-being is enhanced by sounds tuned to 432 hertz should enjoy it to their heart's content. Long live diversity!
All stringed instruments and drums at India Instruments can be flexibly tuned to 432 hertz, 440 hertz or other desired reference tones. Harmoniums or shrutiboxes, however, are difficult to retune - so a decision has to be made when buying them. Since the late 20th century, the few Indian manufacturers of harmonium reeds have only produced reeds according to the 440 hertz standard. Other tunings are probably not economically viable. That is why we supply all harmoniums and shrutiboxes with standard tuning around 440 hertz. However, we also offer shrutiboxes in 432 hertz in our regular range. Harmoniums in 432 hertz are also available as custom-made instruments. These instruments are manually tuned lower by grinding off the reeds at their base. However, the thinner base makes the reeds less stable and more prone to getting out of tune. The second disadvantage is that playing together is only possible with instruments that can be tuned very flexibly, or with instruments that are also tuned to 432 hertz - and these are rare. Thirdly, it may become more difficult to sell the instrument when it is no longer needed. And finally, it must be remembered that the exact number of vibrations of the metal reeds is influenced by temperature and blowing pressure. Harmoniums and shruti boxes that we have set to 432 hertz at 20 degrees room temperature and moderate blowing pressure sound lower when it is considerably warmer and they are played with high pressure - and higher in cold surroundings. We therefore recommend the purchase of harmoniums and shrutiboxes in 432 hertz only after thorough consideration of pros and cons.