Is there any truth.......

Mesh
.....to the theory that 432 Hz is the natural "musical pitch" and gives more clarity than the standard 440 Hz?
 

My theory is that some people's brains don't have the throughput to function properly above a certain pitch.

Is there a difference between A=432 and A=440? Most definitely. A difference of 8Hz at that particular A. A noticeable emotional or other difference in the music as far as a listener or musician is concerned? I doubt it, and if there is then anyone so afflicted should probably stay away from strings, guitars, brass, most woodwind, analogue synths etc. because those instruments rarely produce exactly the same pitch for any given note twice in a row. Fretted string instruments are impossible to intonate so that every note is exact, and fretless are at the mercy of tiny shifts in finger placement and pick/bow use by the player.

Once upon a time A=454 was common. The last users of A=454 were the Salvation Army brass and concertina bands, who gradually abandoned it when brass instrument manufacturers decided to cease making A=454 instruments around the end of the 19th century. So modern brass and military bands who play music from before c.1900 are playing slightly flat compared to their predecessors

Does it matter? Not much.

One reason for guitarists tuning down that doesn't seem to get mentioned much has nothing to do with A=anything. It's because some keys and chord shapes on the guitar allow a guitarist to play stuff they can't so easily in other keys, or even play at all. The same reason for using capos really. So if the riff works best played using the first position E chord fingering for example, but the singer can't comfortably get the high notes in E but can in D tuning the guitar and bass down a tone solves the problem.

It also makes heavier strings much easier to vibrato and bend and vibrato (or tremolo as Leo Fender misnamed it) bridge setups like the Bigsby and Strat systems easier to set up and operate.

Moshkito

Mesh

Moshkito
Hi,
 
Perfection is in the ear,

.....and if your hearing is impaired??

Tell Beethoven that!
 
Again, you are judging YOUR music by your mind ... not your feeling ... is my way of saying it. (words might not be right for you, sorry!)

Well, Beethoven is dead and he was a musical genius......obviously, the lack of hearing didn't affect him. The question I asked was for those of us that are still alive.
 
Actually, I'm not judging anything (BTW, thanks for that analytical evaluation on my mind/feelings........feels good to be finally liberated!!), but rather only wanted some clarification on your statement: "Perfection is in the ear".
 
The question is quite simple.......how does one achieve "Perfection" in the ear when they have impaired hearing?
 
(Would really appreciate you sharing your personal memoirs on how you achieved this perfection and possibly might also help others get to that height?)