Re: [Harp-L] A-432

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

The history of pitch standards is far more complex than Trip's friend suggests. The Nazi story is not supported by the timeline of A440, which was standardized in the United States as early as 1926.

>From the Wikipedia A440 article: "Prior to the standardization on 440 Hz, many countries and organizations followed the Austrian government's 1885 recommendation of 435 Hz. The American music industry reached an informal standard of 440 Hz in 1926, and some began using it in instrument manufacturing. In 1936 the American Standards Association recommended that the A above middle C be tuned to 440 Hz.[1] This standard was taken up by the International Organization for Standardization in 1955 (reaffirmed by them in 1975) as ISO 16.[2] Although not universally accepted, since then it has served as the audio frequency reference for the calibration of acoustic equipment and the tuning of pianos, violins, and other musical instruments."

For more historical depth on the subject, try:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#History_of_pitch_standards_in_Western_music
Winslow  
zzzz 
________________________________
From: Trip <trip.tunes@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "<harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] A-432


Hello all,

For those who have asked why the heck would you want to drop tune to A432 the following is from my friend who asked me about the possibilities.

"Well, tuning standards varied widely among composers and orchestras until the 50's when A440 became standardized, at least in the US. Verdi, for example, and others preferred a flatter standard like 432 because it produced softer and sweeter tones. A strange but serious anecdote to this story is that a high-ranking Nazi official believed that 440 music would elicit more aggressive responses from the audience and he was able to convince the government to impose that tuning as the nation-wide standard sometime in the early 40's, I believe. To get a little more heavy about it, the frequencies of notes and overtones in the 432 spectrum have a higher incidence of falling in line with the numerical sequences of Phi, aka the Fibonacci sequence or the Golden Ratio; i.e. the ratio of what we tend to find aesthetically pleasing in nature. Me personally, I've often played with my guitar tuned that way and I like the sound and it's easier to hit notes, but I've always been held back slightly by not being able to incorporate my harps into it. So I'm interested in seeing if I could customize just one set of harps to use for my own purposes. That's the long answer. "

Sent from my iPhone
-- 
Trip Henderson 
https://soundcloud.com/trip-henderson
www.youtube.com/user/TheWhistlingWolves





> On Dec 23, 2014, at 10:26 PM, Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 2:28 PM, Trip <trip.tunes@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> some string band players are tuning down to A-432
> 
> âMy questions are:
> why do they want to tune down?
> why do you want to accommodate with a special set of harps?â
> Robert Hale
> Serious Honkage in Arizona
> youtube.com/DUKEofWAIL
> DUKEofWAIL.com
> 
>