A-432 Search Leads to the Crystal Beach String Band

Jim Rhodes, the reluctant leader of the Crystal Beach String Band, told us how he got an order for our new CD in the mail. Apparently, our new fn found us through searching on the term A-432.

I don't believe there is anything on the band's web site about A-432. (I just looked.) The fan found the site address from another site, presumably. I make no assumption it was this one, though it may have been. (I've written about the band and linked from the post to the band web site.

From the activity of our new fan, I am leaping to a conclusion that A-432 is a stronger idea than many people think.

Those who are pursuing information and sounds in this tuning will go an extra mile or so to get what they want.

I also believe the band should put up at least a page about our tuning and why we use it. All in favor say Aye--(in 432!). 

Knilling Perfection Pegs to the Rescue

I may not have written much about the Bradivarius pick up I'm using on my fiddle. I am an advocate. It has given me a good reliable sound every time in every place I play.

The thing is, I'm no longer using one violin for A-432 and another for A-440. I had to retune my gig violin repeatedly.

Before this, I was using a Yamaha Sax microphone. I could switch it from one violin to another easily. But, it was a finicky device. Outside the gain sweet spot, it was too quiet, or howled with feed back.

To solve the tuning problem I got Knilling Perfection Pegs. Note: the web site is Flash driven.

They have worked out very well. I can easily tune up to 440 or down to 432 when I wish. It takes only seconds and is effortless.

I got my pegs on eBay for about $70. Then, I had a local luthier put them in my fiddle for another $35. Truly, one of the better investments I've made in my fiddle.

432, 440 or Fight

There was a slogan in the 19th century that encouraged the territorial expansion of America to the north west. 54--40 or Fight. (As I remember my high school history.)

Lately I have been switching back and forth between my 432 fiddle and my 440 violin, that it is just not a problem. I still like playing in 432 a little better.

I'm especially grateful that the Crystal Beach String Band is playing in A-432. It's our most unusual quality, I think. Besides just being a rather large string band, with six musicians.

The album is called The Cost. It's almost ready. By next week we should be making announcements.

East Tennessee Blues Texas Crapshooter and Beaumont Rag

The Crystal Beach String Band has almost completed the album. It represents the combined efforts of six musicians, and especially Jim Rhodes. Jim produced the album, spending long hours in the studio.

The results sound good. I've produced several albums myself, but none as large a project as this.

You can find one of the tracks on Fiddle Hangout. It's a medley of rags listed in the title of today's post.

 

100 Fiddle Tunes Announcement

My project of 100 Fiddle Tunes deserves its own site, so now it has one.

The current tune is Ebeneezer. I use that tune to teach Georgia bow.
It has a repeating figure that adapts well to the Georgia shuffle.
This makes a tough thing to master just a little easier.

100

NetworkedBlogs

Blog:

A-432 Fiddle Music

Topics:

fiddle tunes, a432 Mozart A, Verdi A 432

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Fiddle Blog Update

Over the past months, I've been reorganizing my fiddle publishing online.
First I started a blog on Publishing 100 Fiddle Tunes online in a year's time.

I've used the opportunity to publish revisions of some of the tunes in my book,
43 Fiddle Tunes in Tab. I like the way it's working out to the benefit of many.

Second, I've begun repurposing earlier writing in a new blog,
Fiddle & Violin. Many earlier articles are being reconsidered and rewritten
in smaller segments with fewer points.

This is another example of the fractalization of information that
characterizes the web.

Video Blogging in A-432

Lately my focus has been to get going with a new concept: 100 Fiddle Tunes published online in one year's time.

I got the idea from the movie, Julie & Julia. My full account of how this happened is on my online biz hobby blog at Julie & Julia Demo Blog Success.

Pursuing this project takes me to video land. The latest is Ten Penny Bit.

Ten Penny Bit Rhythm Trick from Elan Chalford on Vimeo.

Sally Gooden in A-432

Eck Robertson's version of Sally Gooden is the classic. His intonation is amazing. The drones really keep the A string and tone center sizzling.

He recorded with Edison Talking Disc way back in the early days. His was the first commercially released fiddle disc. (If it was a disc.)

It's a top 10 fiddle tune now. But, many fiddlers avoid it because of the fourth finger issue. That's where the drone comes from when you are fingering on the A string.

There's another way to get the same effect. Play the melody notes on the D string in 4th position and drone the open A.

That's what I do in this video.

Because of the A-432 tuning, that frequency is fully realized in this tune.

Angeline the Baker aka Corn Dog

Here's a video I made with my new Flip. I'm still getting use to this process.

As I listened to other fiddlers on Youtube this morning, I can hear that my
tempo is a little on the slow side. Guess I need to practice a bit more!

A-432 at the Fiddle Camp

While clearing out some stored papers, a page of notes turned up from last year’s Sunshine State Acoustic Music Camp. I thought they would be worth sharing.

Sunday’s session, at the Sunshine State Acoustic Music Camp, is the last one for intermediate to advanced fiddlers. The group joined me in tuning to the natural tuning of the Mozart A-432.

I gave a little explanation of the history of tuning. Then, we just did it.

We went on through the two hour session normally. The time zipped by easily while we played tunes. I put students in the “hot spot” one at a time for individual intense coaching. I answered questions.

All this sounds quite ordinary, but it was not quite the way it normally is. Usually the last session sees the students just about burnt out from all the intense playing and instruction through the weekend. They are only partly there and tend to drift away.

This time the group was definitely more animated and attentive than in past years. The session went strong until the final moment. It was just as solid and focused as the first session.

Did the tuning of A-432 have an effect? I can’t answer that. I can just observe the subtle difference in how things were as compared to last year and previous years. Things were better.

The French Baroque A-392

The current issue of Strings, June 2009, asserts in a small review of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos that the conductor on this recording chose to perform them “in the French Baroque pitch of A = 392 Hz....”

I have some reasons to doubt that A as a frequency of 392 Hz was commonly considered anything but A flat.

Elsewhere I've written how C-256 Hz was common in the time of Bach. I've made the case that this pitch reduces mathmatically to one cycle per second.

Taking that pitch and multiplying by 7 we get the seventh, B flat. Then multiplying again by 7 we get the seventh of B flat, A flat.

That’s 49 vibrations per second. Double that for the octave and you have a tone that is 98 Hz. Double that and it’s 196 Hz. A final doubling gives you 392 Hz.

In short, if middle C in the time of Bach was 256 Hz, then the tone produced by 392 Hz would be perceived as an A flat.
I have a slightly extended version of this discussion at the Music Lesson Plan blog.

The Money Tunes in A-432

Currently my Big Project is preparing a 90 minute presentation of The Money Tunes. I will talk and play, talk and play at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Clearwater on Feb. 13.

I started this project about two and a half years ago. Right after attending the T. Harv Eker Millionaire Mind Intensive, I went through my fiddle tune collections. I was looking for tunes that had something to do with money in the title.

From American old time tunes and Irish jigs and reels I found many tunes that fit this criterion. I arranged them in an order of no money to a great fortune. The idea is to find out what lessons may be learned about money, as suggested by the titles and associate the lessons with the tunes. It’s a left brain/right brain idea.

In a few cases I altered the title to a more positive association with the issue. Thus, Boys My Money’s All Gone, which suggests a busted gambler, became Shopping Spree, where you have compensation for the lack of money.

About that tune, I have this confession. thirty years ago I started learning this tune as it appeared in the book, Beginning Old Time Fiddle. This collection of tunes is the only one I know that has both tab and standard music notation together.

I liked the tune, but dropped it. I was just too broke that week to think about it.
Now when I play it I think Shopping Spree. That feels better. And it really is a satisfying tune.

The experience of pursuing The Money Tunes project led to an increasing fusion of American and Irish fiddle styles. I found myself extending shorter tunes. I applied Texas changes to an Irish reel. An old time tune in A minor was transformed into a Bluegrass tune in D minor. That sort of thing.

Why did I do that? Grassapelli, my alter ego, said it was a good thing to do for this musical concept. (I’ll write about my relationship to the entity Grassapelli Gandharva at another time.)

One more thing about the money tunes. This is what got me into A-432 tuning. The Mozart A, or Verdi A, is set at 432 Hz. This pitch fits perfectly into the tuning of Middle C-256. That Middle C was discovered as standard in the time of Bach.

Presently there is a strong movement advocating this pitch as being a healing factor and more consistent with our natural state. You will find several MySpace musicians passionate about this tuning.

The Money Tunes has been a major influence on me in recent years. And, it’s not completed yet. I’ll feel like it’s where it needs to be when real stuff that you can hold in your hand embodies every aspect of it.

A-432 Movement is Growing

At some point I'll compile a list of sites that are exploring and advocating the Mozart or Verdi A-432. Several are offering music in this tuning on MySpace.

One of the sites that looks very interesting is Harmonic Renaissance. "Bring Back A432," they ask. I'm in favor of that.

Tonight the Crystal Beach String Band is gathering for its first practice since November. We play in that tuning. We sing in that tuning. It is good!

If you haven't heard some of my original fiddle tunes in A-432 on YouTube, click that link.

And, last minute, here's another: 432hz.net for Natural Tuning Consciousness.

Elan

Playing in Bands

After the crumbling dissolution of my former band, FiddleMatrix, I paused.

There is a saying: When one door closes, go and stand next to it waiting for opportunity to knock. At the right time, something new will show up.

For me the new was the Crystal Beach String Band. After just one rehearsal I did a gig with them at the Witchs' Brew in Palm Harbor.

We have continued working together and the band is now playing in the tuning of A-432!

It feels very good to create music with them in this natural tonality.

The next new thing was Gypsy Star. This is all original music by Billy Kean. We will do our first public performances later this month. The band is a reformulation of his previous band of the same name.

The band broke up under a combination of Billy's dissatisfaction with the sound and some soap opera thrown in for good measure.

This band is not in A-432 yet. Still the music is fun. Like Jessie Cook and Loreena McKennitt.

Finding Luanne Oakes

Many times in writing about the Mozart A-432, I refer to Dr. Luanne Oakes. Finding her online is not as intuitive as it could be.

She use to have her own web site, but now, apparently, does not. While it was up I got a terrific CD, Jade Wu Life Force.

I use it as ambient sound, to raise my mood. Also, it is a good CD for breathwork.
It is not the best intro to her work, though. For that I recommend Spiritual Alchemy.

That was my get acquainted with A-432 album from Nightingale-Conant.
It has extensive discussion of the matter as a healing frequency, lots of stories, much insight into self-healing and self-actualization.

It also includes individual sound-scapes that balance and strengthen each chakra in the body. My experience with these sound-scapes convinced me of the efficacy of A-432.

Below is a hint of what it is:

A-432 Keeps Growing Converts

A while back I thought I was done. I was wrong.

Interest in the Mozart A-432 is growing. I'm starting to compile a list of web sites that discuss the matter. If you know of one, clue me in.

As a search term, I'm also using C-256. That's middle C. It's completely compatible with A-432.

Over the time that I've been using this tuning for my daily practice, I have gradually increased the time I put in without feeling any additional stress.

Also, the fiddle I've been using continues to get a richer and richer sound. It isn't a quality violin by any means. I think it was a student violin that a craftsman re-graduated to improve the tone.

I used it last night at a gig at the Tampa Club. It was a small gathering with a "bayou" theme. The fiddler makes it a party.

Several times the group put down their eating utensils to give applause. There were several moments when I was so impressed by the sounds coming from the violin, I thought I reached a new level of artistry.

I owe a lot to the A-432 tuning.

Moving to Fusion Fiddle

Convergence was a big word not long ago. Now I'm doing it too.

Look for any further comment about A-432 in my other Blogger blog:
Fusion Fiddle.

Hear a current example of A-432 tuning on SnapVine:
Squirrel Jump.

Tuning to the Bone

Recently, while talking with Stephanie at Lyndon LaRouche's office, she revealed that the A-432 tuning harmonizes with the outer physical body. C-256, a natural resonance in this tuning, matches the rate of vibration for our bones.

It might be a stretch to think that every bone in every person's body has a natural frequency of 256 Hz. If so, it could be one more good reason to use this tuning.

Other Fiddle Blogs

The theme and purpose of this blog is to advocate the tuning pitch of A-432. We can call it the Mozart A, the Verdi A, or the organic A. It's all A to me.

Much of what I wish to say about music belongs elsewhere. That's why I have made two other blogs.

Fusion Fiddle describes my playing, my esthetic, and my intention. General opinion's and tips belong there.

My new band Fiddle Matrix is using a blog to help organize our practices and communications.