Another source of information about this subject (PDF): http://www.wam.hr/sadrzaj/us/Cavanagh_440Hz.pdf
The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
31–40 of 332 posts
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#32As a Frenchman, I chuckled at "In Britain, however, the French standard was interpreted in an erroneous way, due to which British orchestras commonly tuned to A = 439 Hz." NOTE: I hope the word chuckle isn't interpreted as condescending, I only meant that this story is almost a perfect parable for our relationship with Great Britain throughout history, one of mutual defiance and refusal to acknowledge the other party…
'mocking' the French has been a mainstay of British humour for a very long time, including many classic Monty python caricatures.
I put mocking in quotes because it's always in good humour. There has always been a string English / French rivalry and I guess this has morphed to poking fun at each other.
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#33> the BBC required their orchestras to tune to 440 Hz instead of 439 Hz because 439 is a prime number, and the corresponding frequency is hard to generate electronically. I followed, until this. Earlier he debunks the significance of 432 per second (including that it's a sum of four consecutive primes), because a second is an arbitrary length of time. But now he says that 439 per second is difficult to generate elect…
From other sources it doesn't seem clear if this actually was considered in the decision, but it describes how they got the tone: > The B.B.C. tuning-note is derived from an oscillator controlled by a piezo-electric crystal that vibrates with a frequency of one million Hz. This is reduced to a frequency of 1,000 Hz by electronic dividers; it is then multiplied eleven times and divided by twenty-five, so producing the…
The world is so ... physical. :) Thanks.
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#34The King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza is tuned to 440 Hz, so I'm going to go ahead and say 440 Hz is correct.
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#35The King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza is tuned to 440 Hz, so I'm going to go ahead and say 440 Hz is correct.
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#36Just wait until the conspiracy nuts learn about the tunings that affect the distance between notes, not just the shift! (I'm surprised my double music major is useful somewhere).
Just curious - what exactly is a double music major? (I always have heard of double majors as being separate subjects.)
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#37For any Pantera fans here, Dimebag is said to have tuned somewhere between 425-435 Hz for all of their albums after Cowboys From Hell.
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#38> the BBC required their orchestras to tune to 440 Hz instead of 439 Hz because 439 is a prime number, and the corresponding frequency is hard to generate electronically. I followed, until this. Earlier he debunks the significance of 432 per second (including that it's a sum of four consecutive primes), because a second is an arbitrary length of time. But now he says that 439 per second is difficult to generate elect…
I found a plausible explanation here:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/27140/message/1296951241/More....
tl;dr: The BBC reference pitch was generated by dividing and multiplying a 1MHz crystal oscillator. A440 was achievable by this means; A439 was not.
Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#39> the BBC required their orchestras to tune to 440 Hz instead of 439 Hz because 439 is a prime number, and the corresponding frequency is hard to generate electronically. I followed, until this. Earlier he debunks the significance of 432 per second (including that it's a sum of four consecutive primes), because a second is an arbitrary length of time. But now he says that 439 per second is difficult to generate elect…
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Re: The “432 Hz vs. 440 Hz” conspiracy theory
#40A cool video on "music temperament" as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRlp-OH0OEA