Muriel at Star Pines Cafe photo4ByToddIgarashi

A 432 Tuning

After some discussion on A432 tuning, I’m considering recording all the tunes for my next project in this tuning. I recorded the first the other day, and it makes my guitar sound more resonant. What do you think?  There are lots of discussions online about 432 cycles per second as opposed to the standard A440, and also in the book by Chas Stoddard, A Short History of Tuning and Temperament.

I recorded two tunes on my Nightlight Daylight CD in A432, “Bells of Lingenfeld (to match the pitch of the ancient bells actually in the recording, which inspired the tune) and “The Sight” (written about the time when I inadvertently slipped into a state in which I could remember all my dreams in my lifetime as clearly as my regular life- it was a different place with a different type of chronology, and required different music, based on the golden ratio and with human flexibility but based around 432 tuning). I wanted to have Howard Levy play the theme on harmonica played into a coffee cup for a diffused sound. His harmonica doesn’t tune down to 432, so I digitally raised my part to 440, recorded his, and then dropped his part down 32 cents to match my original track with guitar and voice. I did the same with Roger on the oboe.  Here are just excerpts, the last tune on the “Nightlight” CD.  and second to last on the “Daylight” CD (no digital retuning required, since Victor Wooten is playing the theme on fretless bass.)    murielanderson.com/music/listen