Well, the actual question was "Ok, so explain A 440?" asked by a dear yoga colleague, I think she was just trying to be sassy (she's a Berklee grad!), but nonetheless, it's sort of an interesting story.....
A 440 is the frequency & pitch of the note A. More specifically it's the tone our ears hear when an instrument plays the note A above Middle C. (we can get to middle C later, just know that if you look at a piano this very special A is located 6 white keys above the middle C)
There was actually a time when if I played an A in Vienna (so Bach of me) it would vary slightly in pitch to the same A in Florence! This variation could even happen in the same city because people had no Standard Reference for determining the Exact pitch of a note. So eventually we decided upon the idea of a Standard Tuning and assigned the specific frequency of 440 Hz to the note A.
And It wasn't until the 20th century that people Standardized Pitch! ie: agreed on the frequency that made the A on one instrument sound exactly like the A on another instrument.
(certain instruments are tuned differently but that's a whole other story)
*Note that prior to this A 440 business, ensembles would choose one instrument (usually the organ) in the group for the reference pitch so that everyone could play happily in harmony.
Standard Pitch is also known as Concert Pitch. That pretty note the Orchestra plays before they perform? You are hearing them tune to the note A 440! And it's now also pretty much standardized in the making of instruments. Ah -it sounds oh so lovely.
BUT WHAT DOES 440 MEAN?
440 refers to the oscillations per second. In other words each note we play has a certain vibration aka frequency -
Every sound wave vibrates at a specific number of cycles per second. We have standardized A to vibrate at 440 cycles per second. You will often see Hz after 440. The Hz is short for Hertz which is an international unit (like meters or kilos) that means the frequency or oscillations/ cycles per second of the sound wave.
WHO DECIDED THAT A WOULD EQUAL 440?
Well, we now know why we had to standardize pitch and what the 440 is all about
A brief history as to Whom is responsible for this ingenuity.....
Between the years 1495-1812 historians can prove as many as THIRTEEN different Hz for that little note A. Some say there were even more - Things were getting a little crazy! (the ranges varied from 394 - 489 - yikes!)
Somewhere in there, 1711, to be exact, the tuning fork was invented, still no one really cared. As long as the ensemble was in tune with each other, everyone was happy
It wasn't until 1834 when someone said, "Can we just make A = 440" and be done with this?
The A 440 was chosen based on the scientific research of some smart physicists in Germany
But still, most of the concert halls and opera houses were using a higher pitch standard. Then? the singers started to complain (maybe that's why they get a bad rap...) because having the note A at a slightly higher frequency was reportedly creating vocal strain. So, France & Vienna they agreed upon A 435. yay!
But wait you said 440?
In addition to the physicists research, 440Hz was also based upon the tuning of A to the organ at the Queens Hall in Britain around 1896.
The actual tuning was at 439, but they rounded it to 440 to make life easier; ie: a more round number
In 1939 an international conference made an official recommendation for everyone to agree on A 440
Finally A 440 was deemed officially official in 1955 by the International Organization for Standardization and re-affirmed by all in 1975.
THANKS for your question K. H. - hope that answers it!
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