Why 432hz Tuning?

Are we sure that the algorithm used to adjust tuning to 432 Hz doesn’t also change the overtones? The study cited by the OP was double blind and used music that was recorded at 440 and adjusted to 432.

The study showed measurable physical differences for 432 tuning that we usually associate with relaxation as well as reported increased enjoyment of the music:

The subjects were more focused about listening to music and more generally satisfied after the sessions in which they listened to 432 Hz tuned music.

One study doesn’t prove anything but to say that 432 Hz tuning is nonsense when you don’t have any proof isn’t very convincing either. An open mind is a good thing.

Lots of Folk/Old Time fiddle music is played on a fiddle that is either "Cross-Tuned" (AEAE, GDGD etc.) or "Black Mountain-tuned", cross-tuned but with the high E string further tuned down so it is a Third above the A string. These alternate tunings certainly limit the instrument’s flexibility to play in different keys, but they convey a wonderfully folky/primitive flavor and easily allow for magical harmonies and unisons. In other words, a whole world of music opens up when you stop obsessing on perfectly 440 pitched music ensembles. Let a thousand flowers bloom.

I guess my whole point in posting this is the fact that 432hz connects us to the universe. It seems like the most natural tuning. I feel as a species we are losing our ability to be part of the whole. But you have to watch the video to understand that.

@edcyn , what does cross tuning have to do with reference pitch? I don’t think it does. Cross tuning “assigns” an open string pitch sequence other than what is standard. The reference tuning pitch that is used does not have to be different than A440. However, I do agree that being inflexible about the tuning pitch is not a good thing and flexibility does open up musical possibilities.

A couple of things to consider re the alleged superiority of A432:

First, with the possible exception of mallet instruments (and piano), there is no such thing as “perfect” A440 (or any other pitch) tuning. The reference (tuning) pitch can, and often does, vary during a performance, especially in large ensembles such as a symphony orchestra. It is more the rule, not the exception, that over the course of the performance of a symphony, for instance, the reference pitch in the ensemble rises. It is common for the reference pitch to start out at A440 (or…) as given by the oboe and as the instruments in the orchestra warm up, by the time the symphony has ended the ambient communal reference pitch has risen to A441, A442, or higher. Seems to me that for the alleged metaphysical effects of A432 to occur the pitch has to remain at exactly A432 without any deviation. Unlikely.

The reason that tests show a slight reduction in the listeners’ blood pressure with A432 tuning is, probably more than anything, the simple fact that lower reference pitch tends to make the overall sound of the music slightly warmer/darker. By contrast, higher reference pitch tends to make the music sound slightly more brilliant/aggressive. While A440 is the standard (mostly), some orchestras today deliberately tune to A441 or A442 partly for that reason. Lastly, even if the alleged effects of A432 tuning were in fact real one of the reasons that changing the accepted tuning pitch standard to A432 will never happen is that this change would render every non-string orchestral instrument in existence obsolete.

@frogman 

It's a simple matter of practicality. A lot of G and D fiddle strings simply cannot take the tension it takes to tune to the necessary A and E pitches.  I've had more than my share of G and D strings snap. It might happen immediately. Sometimes you'll open the fiddle case, the next morning, to find it happened some time during the night. Once or twice I'd put my fiddle away in AEAE (what is known as cross-tuning) and open up the case the next morning to find the neck had detached itself from the fiddle's body. I remember having my kindly old German luthier tell me "zeese sings happen" when I took the fiddle to him to have the neck glued on again.