The 432Hz Tuning Theory Part 3.
[# it's worth noting from the outset: the only scale you'll find that has C=256Hz and A=432Hz is PYTHAGOREAN - and virtually NO-ONE uses that temperament now, not even New Age 432ers!]
This is hopefully my last post on the controversial "432Hz tuning system"... or maybe there should be a fifth, and a flat seventh. I'm no bliss ninny, and I feel I've wasted more time and energy than this fallacy warranted. The pics in Part 2 show non-ET fretting for scales (shall we say 'rational'?) based on ratios, in an attempt to get closer to true notes, to avoid the compromises in equitempered scales with their harmonically sharp and flat 2nds, 3rds, 6ths and 7ths. I kinda feel this may be missing the point - if you want to play pure ratio music, why not use simpler design for an eloquently simple system - but I understand some musicians have the talent and the brainpower to revel in this sort of thing!
(and so, thus far.. ..mathematically how it just doesn't add up; how merely shifting the pitch from A=440 to 432 achieves little as it retains the inherent out-of-tuneness of ET; how C=256Hz gives an A of 430.5 or 426.6 depending on which temperament is used; etc... I've covered all that, about how it partially works with Pythagorean Temperament, keeping 256 and 432 but losing the 'Om' C# 136.1; and anyway which can't be played on modern instruments fixed to ET without a massive rebuild and/or retune, such as flute, clarinet, saxophone, xylophone, keyboards and fretted string istruments - but what gets me peeved most of all is that the Charlatan who claims to have "invented 432" not only shamelessly uses an undisclosed version of ET (where the numbers mysteriously add up without explaining how) under the guise of the otherwise non-existent q.v. "harmonic equal tempered tuning" which, if it exists at all, is probably just modified to make the numbers work and has no provable basis in musicality. It is one of the many "Golden Elements" they claim to be in tune with, empowered by, and able to harness. One last thing about this Shamanic Trance Music Con-Person Amanda Bossman or whatever... among their many "attributes" listed on their website is Semantic Artist - in other words, a word juggler (read: bullshit artist).... Aha! Something without inconsistencies! You could visit any of their many sites for a good chuckle - some of the creative jargon (read: invented terminology) for New Age techniques and their 'mastery' of various forms of "scientific mysticism" are extraordinary fabrications. Pages and pages of esoteric potpourri but unlike any other website about temperament which always presents detailed information, these sites waffle on without one single chart or descriptive break-down of the scale, showing formulae of how it's calculated)
But to go out on a positive - from what I have learnt about ratios, shrutis and pure tuning from my lifelong interest in classical Indian music, also bhajans and kirtans, and most recently at the many sensible, rational, non-New Age musician's sites while doing this research, I now feel even stronger about avoiding when I can, the impure notes of equal temperament in melody, whether singing or playing an instrument capable of microtones - to find more expression through beautifully harmonious note couplings - especially the 3rd/5th and 5th/b7th with 15 cents increase from the normal 300 in ET. So pure, so powerful! If you don't play guitar yourself, see if you can get a musician friend to try this out and show you.
I first learnt this decades ago, but only now the exact values. It's not an invention- the classical 'Indian' tuning based on harmonic ratios that are real was historically used and still is to this day since before modern tuning was invented and widely adopted. You can do this on any guitar with open pure tuning and barre the chords, but I mainly use it with slide guitar, playing just the top two strings, with a partial open tuning that's a quick and easy variation from regular EADGBE. Tune the B 13.7 cents flat (the Waves app has optional markers on the tuning guage for it), making it a perfect major third (I'll explain later) and the E next to it down to a D 2 cents sharp, a perfect fifth. This D in the partial G open tuning is now a Perfect Fifth because the fifth in standard Equal Temperament is actually 2 cents flat of the natural harmonic note. Ignoring the lower E and A strings (you can always tune them to D and G if you want to barre 6-note chords ie. DGDGBD) you can now easily play a Perfect Major chord across the top four strings.
So why the B @ 13.7 cents flat? Because it's making a major third interval that is Perfect, unlike the ET third which "beats" because it is 13.7% out of tune (sharp). If you don't understand that last part of the sentence, just go with this for the time being or go to wikipedia. You now have, in order across the strings, D-G-B-D making a Perfect Major chord starting from the extra bass note (a fifth). Barre it across the twelfth fret with the slide, gracing up from just below the fret. It will sound terrible at first until you get it right over the fret and BLAM! Isn't that just the most beautiful chord you've ever heard?
Part of this is from the extra harmonics let through by the use of slide, especially at the octave where they are the strongest. Normally, fingering a barre chord there will bar the harmonics (pun intended) from resonating, cutting them off. Here, they are not only let through under the slide because of the light pressure, but with the perfect tonic, third and fifth all resonating purely together, there is nil beating. None, zero, zilch, diddely-squat, sweet FA. Perhaps the only time most people have ever heard anything like it would be hymns sung by monastic choirs (without the pipe organ) in an abbey; any good Barbershop Quartet; or at least modern a cappella groups. Singers in such scenarios naturally gravitate towards notes that fully resonate with each other when free from the dictated pitch of an instrument.
Now the best bit.. just using the top unwound strings at the 12th fret, what you've got right there is a B4 and a D4, the third and fifth of Gmajor, 3 semitones apart, but unlike there being the usual 300 cents between them as in ET, with this Pure Tuning it's more like 315, what it should be for a Perfect Major Chord. And when you slide it up 3 frets, you've got a fifth and a flat seventh, also 3 semitones but 315 cents apart instead of 300 ET. You need to play this slightly sharper (above the fret) to get it right because of the flatter B string. But listen to that power! It oozes out naturally because to get that sort of interval, first of all, you can't use EADGBE (there's no minor third between the strings needed for both previous intervals) and even if you did, you'd have to play the slide diagonally to change 300 to 315. I repeat, If you don't play guitar yourself, see if you can get a musician friend to try this out and show you. It has to be heard to be believed!
What's this got to do with A=432Hz? Sweet FA, zilch, zip, nil, NOTHING! Because it sounds so good regardless of what pitch it's played in. To say 440Hz makes you ill and 432Hz is better is about as silly as saying music sounds better or worse in certain keys, like D# is really "gay", or Gb is '"stupid".
The vibe of music is all about the performers' consciousness - their expression, frame of mind, heart, mood, and hey, even their state of health. To say that A=432Hz promotes Universal Harmony because it contains ॐ=C#=136.1Hz is just fodder for gullible bliss ninnies who also believe that unicorns fart rainbow glitter. No-one can put a label on the Absolute Truth by designating a specific frequency. That is absurd and totally contradictory to the transcendence of the Supreme Whole that Om represents. The sacred syllable ॐ not only encompasses all vibrational frequencies, it simultaneously represents them and eludes confinement to any one level or note.
All types of people enjoy music - whether they be religious, agnostic, or atheists. Everyone is free to listen to whatever suits their tastes, and I really don't have a problem with that although at times I sound like a zealot. What irks me though is when self-glorifying New Age Charlatans pimp the music scene with their branded 'spirituality', preying on the gullible bliss ninnies that maintain this pollyanna industry.
For those seriously interested in becoming 'spiritually charged', ie. closer to the Supreme Lord, there are authorised processes which involve spiritual activities and producing vibrations, such as chanting the Lord's Holy Name , prayer and meditation, reading and reciting scripture, singing songs of praise, etc. One cannot obtain the Lord's mercy simply by dialling up some frequency on a machine. It takes work and a loving attitude. God is not a menial order-carrier who can be controlled by a proclaimed mastery of any 'spiritual powers' or mystic opulence. Those rascals who promote themselves as Seers and Masters whilst charging a price are simply engaged in manipulating material energy for some personal benefit under the guise of 'spirituality'.
[# it's worth noting from the outset: the only scale you'll find that has C=256Hz and A=432Hz is PYTHAGOREAN - and virtually NO-ONE uses that temperament now, not even New Age 432ers!]
This is hopefully my last post on the controversial "432Hz tuning system"... or maybe there should be a fifth, and a flat seventh. I'm no bliss ninny, and I feel I've wasted more time and energy than this fallacy warranted. The pics in Part 2 show non-ET fretting for scales (shall we say 'rational'?) based on ratios, in an attempt to get closer to true notes, to avoid the compromises in equitempered scales with their harmonically sharp and flat 2nds, 3rds, 6ths and 7ths. I kinda feel this may be missing the point - if you want to play pure ratio music, why not use simpler design for an eloquently simple system - but I understand some musicians have the talent and the brainpower to revel in this sort of thing!
(and so, thus far.. ..mathematically how it just doesn't add up; how merely shifting the pitch from A=440 to 432 achieves little as it retains the inherent out-of-tuneness of ET; how C=256Hz gives an A of 430.5 or 426.6 depending on which temperament is used; etc... I've covered all that, about how it partially works with Pythagorean Temperament, keeping 256 and 432 but losing the 'Om' C# 136.1; and anyway which can't be played on modern instruments fixed to ET without a massive rebuild and/or retune, such as flute, clarinet, saxophone, xylophone, keyboards and fretted string istruments - but what gets me peeved most of all is that the Charlatan who claims to have "invented 432" not only shamelessly uses an undisclosed version of ET (where the numbers mysteriously add up without explaining how) under the guise of the otherwise non-existent q.v. "harmonic equal tempered tuning" which, if it exists at all, is probably just modified to make the numbers work and has no provable basis in musicality. It is one of the many "Golden Elements" they claim to be in tune with, empowered by, and able to harness. One last thing about this Shamanic Trance Music Con-Person Amanda Bossman or whatever... among their many "attributes" listed on their website is Semantic Artist - in other words, a word juggler (read: bullshit artist).... Aha! Something without inconsistencies! You could visit any of their many sites for a good chuckle - some of the creative jargon (read: invented terminology) for New Age techniques and their 'mastery' of various forms of "scientific mysticism" are extraordinary fabrications. Pages and pages of esoteric potpourri but unlike any other website about temperament which always presents detailed information, these sites waffle on without one single chart or descriptive break-down of the scale, showing formulae of how it's calculated)
But to go out on a positive - from what I have learnt about ratios, shrutis and pure tuning from my lifelong interest in classical Indian music, also bhajans and kirtans, and most recently at the many sensible, rational, non-New Age musician's sites while doing this research, I now feel even stronger about avoiding when I can, the impure notes of equal temperament in melody, whether singing or playing an instrument capable of microtones - to find more expression through beautifully harmonious note couplings - especially the 3rd/5th and 5th/b7th with 15 cents increase from the normal 300 in ET. So pure, so powerful! If you don't play guitar yourself, see if you can get a musician friend to try this out and show you.
I first learnt this decades ago, but only now the exact values. It's not an invention- the classical 'Indian' tuning based on harmonic ratios that are real was historically used and still is to this day since before modern tuning was invented and widely adopted. You can do this on any guitar with open pure tuning and barre the chords, but I mainly use it with slide guitar, playing just the top two strings, with a partial open tuning that's a quick and easy variation from regular EADGBE. Tune the B 13.7 cents flat (the Waves app has optional markers on the tuning guage for it), making it a perfect major third (I'll explain later) and the E next to it down to a D 2 cents sharp, a perfect fifth. This D in the partial G open tuning is now a Perfect Fifth because the fifth in standard Equal Temperament is actually 2 cents flat of the natural harmonic note. Ignoring the lower E and A strings (you can always tune them to D and G if you want to barre 6-note chords ie. DGDGBD) you can now easily play a Perfect Major chord across the top four strings.
So why the B @ 13.7 cents flat? Because it's making a major third interval that is Perfect, unlike the ET third which "beats" because it is 13.7% out of tune (sharp). If you don't understand that last part of the sentence, just go with this for the time being or go to wikipedia. You now have, in order across the strings, D-G-B-D making a Perfect Major chord starting from the extra bass note (a fifth). Barre it across the twelfth fret with the slide, gracing up from just below the fret. It will sound terrible at first until you get it right over the fret and BLAM! Isn't that just the most beautiful chord you've ever heard?
Part of this is from the extra harmonics let through by the use of slide, especially at the octave where they are the strongest. Normally, fingering a barre chord there will bar the harmonics (pun intended) from resonating, cutting them off. Here, they are not only let through under the slide because of the light pressure, but with the perfect tonic, third and fifth all resonating purely together, there is nil beating. None, zero, zilch, diddely-squat, sweet FA. Perhaps the only time most people have ever heard anything like it would be hymns sung by monastic choirs (without the pipe organ) in an abbey; any good Barbershop Quartet; or at least modern a cappella groups. Singers in such scenarios naturally gravitate towards notes that fully resonate with each other when free from the dictated pitch of an instrument.
Now the best bit.. just using the top unwound strings at the 12th fret, what you've got right there is a B4 and a D4, the third and fifth of Gmajor, 3 semitones apart, but unlike there being the usual 300 cents between them as in ET, with this Pure Tuning it's more like 315, what it should be for a Perfect Major Chord. And when you slide it up 3 frets, you've got a fifth and a flat seventh, also 3 semitones but 315 cents apart instead of 300 ET. You need to play this slightly sharper (above the fret) to get it right because of the flatter B string. But listen to that power! It oozes out naturally because to get that sort of interval, first of all, you can't use EADGBE (there's no minor third between the strings needed for both previous intervals) and even if you did, you'd have to play the slide diagonally to change 300 to 315. I repeat, If you don't play guitar yourself, see if you can get a musician friend to try this out and show you. It has to be heard to be believed!
What's this got to do with A=432Hz? Sweet FA, zilch, zip, nil, NOTHING! Because it sounds so good regardless of what pitch it's played in. To say 440Hz makes you ill and 432Hz is better is about as silly as saying music sounds better or worse in certain keys, like D# is really "gay", or Gb is '"stupid".
The vibe of music is all about the performers' consciousness - their expression, frame of mind, heart, mood, and hey, even their state of health. To say that A=432Hz promotes Universal Harmony because it contains ॐ=C#=136.1Hz is just fodder for gullible bliss ninnies who also believe that unicorns fart rainbow glitter. No-one can put a label on the Absolute Truth by designating a specific frequency. That is absurd and totally contradictory to the transcendence of the Supreme Whole that Om represents. The sacred syllable ॐ not only encompasses all vibrational frequencies, it simultaneously represents them and eludes confinement to any one level or note.
All types of people enjoy music - whether they be religious, agnostic, or atheists. Everyone is free to listen to whatever suits their tastes, and I really don't have a problem with that although at times I sound like a zealot. What irks me though is when self-glorifying New Age Charlatans pimp the music scene with their branded 'spirituality', preying on the gullible bliss ninnies that maintain this pollyanna industry.
For those seriously interested in becoming 'spiritually charged', ie. closer to the Supreme Lord, there are authorised processes which involve spiritual activities and producing vibrations, such as chanting the Lord's Holy Name , prayer and meditation, reading and reciting scripture, singing songs of praise, etc. One cannot obtain the Lord's mercy simply by dialling up some frequency on a machine. It takes work and a loving attitude. God is not a menial order-carrier who can be controlled by a proclaimed mastery of any 'spiritual powers' or mystic opulence. Those rascals who promote themselves as Seers and Masters whilst charging a price are simply engaged in manipulating material energy for some personal benefit under the guise of 'spirituality'.
No comments:
Post a Comment