Why do we tune to 440 hz

According to this, each orchestra would have been tuned to a different pitch from each other. However, since the 18th century, a tuning standard was established for Western music.

The A above the middle C on the piano also known as A4 has been the tuning standard. The range of A4 lies between and Hz. The unit of Hertz Hz which measures a cycle per second was named after the physicist Heinrich Hertz. He proved the existence of electromagnetic waves in With the advent of the tuning fork in the early 18th century, aficionados like Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven tuned their orchestras to a different pitch.

This pitch differed based on whose tuning fork was used. Very slight differences in the pitch can be heard. A is also known as the Stuggart Pitch, which corresponds to the audio frequency of Hz. A is commonly used as the concert pitch in the UK and the US.

However, in certain parts of Europe, it varies from to Hz. A Hz is also used commonly as a tuning reference for intonation regardless of the fundamental note or key. There have been long-standing debates on which frequency is the better of the two, and just like any other debate, there are varying opinions on this as well.

Both frequencies are fine. I like this argument. In fact, I think it should be the mindset when it comes to most differences in life! Tuning frequencies tend to be quite arbitrary. Digital Audio Basics: Audio Sample Rate and Bit Depth May 10, Learn the basics of digital audio and how a computer handles sound, from audio sample rate to bit depth.

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Useful Links. Top Products. Learn More About. Subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us. All rights reserved. Terms of Use. Privacy Policy. Do Not Sell My Information. As an international performer, it is necessary to be flexible with pitch. Our students here at ANAM also need to have an awareness and flexibility regarding the non-standardisation of international pitches.

An oboe built by a maker in France is nowadays built to play at Hz. Whilst this appears to be a gross imprecision, it is a manageable difference. I correct the pitch difference when travelling between Europe and Australia purely by blowing my reeds in to the required pitch. With a good concept of the new pitch, this is achievable, especially when I need to increase the pitch. As I decrease the pitch, I blow in a new reed especially for that lower pitch.

I think at this point that it is also important to highlight how small a few hertz are. Internationally, we are talking a difference of three hertz, Hz.

This is a stark contrast to the variations available in the Renaissance and Baroque; the implications for HIP specialists are another story indeed. If I need to play an E flat in a C minor chord, I need to adjust it considerably for it to be perfectly in tune according to what we call temperament. I play with many different orchestras, and I need to be always changing.

The Australian World Orchestra is a brilliant example. How have you found that audiences react to the different tunings — can they even hear the difference? What are the differences that we might not expect? It would appear to a listener perhaps as a colour timbre or a feeling. As I mentioned earlier, pitch has increased due to a desire to create a brighter sound; a sound that can carry to the back of a large concert hall.

I would imagine that concertgoers may sense that a higher pitch creates a more brilliant and exciting sound. Please read our Commenting Policy first. If you look down the right paths, it becomes clear that governments and various security apparatuses have used music to control us using music.

If musical performances were to sound the same the world over, some standardization was required. As early as , the Music Commission of the Italian Government declared that all instruments and orchestras should use a tuning fork that vibrated at Hz, which was different from the original standard of Hz and the competing Hz used in France. In , the American Federation of Musicians endorsed the Italians, followed by a further push for Hz in the s.

In , a worldwide agreement was signed. This frequency became the standard ISO reference for tuning all musical instruments based on the chromatic scale, the one most often used for music in the West. All the other notes are tuned in standard mathematical ratios leading to and from Hz. This tone standard is now universally accepted, which is why a piano in Toronto sounds exactly the same as a piano in China. Weirdly, no one can say for sure why this frequency was chosen in the first place.

In fact, there those among us who vehemently disagree with this standard. They point to how this pitch can be connected to everything from nautilus shells to the works of the ancients, including the construction of the Great Pyramid.