OUR traditional tuning of music to 440Hz is actually a nazi plot to induce "fear and aggression".
That's one of the suggestions posited by Elina St-Onge in her fascinating, if slightly fanciful, article in 2013 on the power of frequencies. Check it out here.
We've been talking a lot about frequencies these last few weeks so we thought it was worth revisiting this article. The central notion put forward is that 432Hz is actually the frequency we should be using because it is "mathematically consistent with the patterns of the universe" and would actually make us happier.
440Hz is the musical note A above middle C and has been generally used as a reference point to tune pianos and stringed instruments. St-Onge points to research by Dr Masurau Emoto that says our emotions can actually give off frequencies and be captured and crystalised. She says if were were to tune all our instruments using 432Hz we would in fact be much happier about life because our vibrations would be in sync with the positive vibes in the universe.
Interestingly, pitch and frequency have long been at the centre of controversy over the years. In his book "This is Your Brain On Music" Daniel Levitin states that the church once banned the musical interval of an augmented fourth - the distance between the notes C and F-sharp - because it is so dissonant and disturbing that it must be related to the devil.
It also banned polyphony because playing more than one note at a time would "cause people doubt the unity of God". Fun chaps.