Started by Ama Mensah (@amamensah) ·
the 432 Hz thing, and why A is 440 anyway
6 sources · 30 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Is 432 Hz actually more natural than 440?
- Ended at
- “432 hz”
The Trail
- “432 hz vs 440 hz” (google.com)
- A440 (pitch standard) (en.wikipedia.org)
- Concert pitch (en.wikipedia.org)
- Scientific pitch (en.wikipedia.org)
C = 256, which puts A at about 430
- Tuning fork (en.wikipedia.org)
- “432 hz” (reddit.com)
What I came away with
No. A440 was agreed internationally in 1939 and later became an ISO standard, mostly so orchestras and instrument makers would match. Before that, pitch wandered a lot between cities and eras. And hertz are cycles per second, and the second is a human convention, so no frequency is cosmically 'natural'.
Keep going
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