When I'm playing my favored new style of pieces these days, i.e., simple, lyrical, and slow, I sometimes just stop dead upon hearing a particular, singular note. It's usually a pianissimo "lift off" note at the end of a phrase or a note or chord at the end of a particularly sweet cadence in harmony that enthralls me. It's a note that sounds settled and oh-so-satisfying, like when the last puzzle piece fits into the remaining vacant slot in a puzzle. When I hear it just so, I don't want to move, but stay wrapped up in the echoing, resonating, settled sound for an eternity...and then I move on with the piece, or my day.
Now that I have about two week's playing experience (it seems like an eon!) with The Duchess downtuned in pitch from A440 Hz to A432 Hz, every few days I hear such a special note and the difference it has made to my hearing of all music. It's something new that was not there when she was tuned to A440. (To get a sense of what this sounds like, you might like to try listening to the wonderful collection of online music on YouTube, prepared by Italian music producer Halidon, all in 432 Hz and predominately romantic or classical genres of music.)
The newness is something I dreamed about in my quest in 2021-2022 to find and then help with some tone and quality decisions in the rebuild of my ideal grand piano, but something of my dream was not quite there when The Duchess was delivered. I surmise now that what was missing was 432 Hz tuning. The piano delivered? Close--but no cigar. (First view of The Duchess arriving, April 28, 2022)
I've noted in previous blogs other of my responses to the lowered pitch, and except for the first evening I played her tuned to 432 Hz, I have not noted any flatness that I have read some others note.
Kalliope still calls on me almost daily to express in poetry what I feel and learn in my piano journey and adventure. About 432 Hz I have not yet poetically "hit the note on the head" so to speak, but I am circling the heart of the matter, being as thoughtful, careful, and gentle as I can be with words, rhyme, and meter to express what I feel and how The Duchess reflects my pianistic desires back to me.
Writing poetry is the sweetest of endeavors, and as my tuner-technician-cellist and evidently idealistic new friend David Amendola says, it's my "attempt to harmonize the world."
* * *
432 Hz (From Vol 3 Poetical Musings, in progress) There is a special kind of joy that comes along with music. Some deeper well, a new-felt beat that then our heart directs. There is even more in store in the process of discovery, when dawn unwraps the freshest bud and we finally see and hear. Thinking then I was at the end of all of music’s mystery, had plumbed its depths and known its power, then came another key. Could there be more to explore? A level never known? A pleasure not yet imagined? An even deeper sound? Could I be ready as the student when another teacher arrived, who saw in me a yearning soul and recognized my drive?
GLOW (From Vol. 3)
I want to glow when I read music
and sing a painterly song,
hear the bud open to the sun
and dance on the waves of dawn.
I want to swim the skies like the lark,
and float on the boat after sex,
sparkle like a brand new friend,
and taste what my soul reflects.
I want to feel more than the richest man
could ever hold in store,
and bathe in a cool deep pail
full of rainbows and love galore.
# # #
(If you resonate to this blog, please join our mailing list above.)