432 Hz compared to 440 Hz

I've been reading about alternate tuning and done some of my own research into the subject. The standard tuning for instruments is A = 440 Hz  This was decided in 1939 and this is the only official standard tuning around the world. My preferred tuning is A = 432 Hz which according to some studies is a more harmonious frequency, in tune with natural law. You can see for yourself with these two water sound images of the two frequencies.

Link to website of original creator of these images, Robert Boerman

Worth to mention is that there are many alternative frequencies for tuning. Some people say 444 Hz is the "sacred frequency" but so far there is no "right" or "wrong" tuning defined. There are claims that 432 Hz was the standard tuning for classical composers, but this is not true. There was no such thing as a standard tuning before electromagnetism was discovered in the 19th century, which enabled the precise measurement of frequencies. Old organ pipes are tuned to a large variety of frequencies. 

From Wikipedia:

"For example, an English pitchpipe from 1720 plays the A above middle C at 380 Hz, while the organs played by Johann Sebastian Bach in Hamburg, Leipzig and Weimar were pitched at A = 480 Hz, a difference of around four semitones. In other words, the A produced by the 1720 pitchpipe would have been at the same frequency as the F on one of Bach's organs."

With this being said, my own personal experience with the different frequencies has been clear. I feel a lot more relaxed when playing 432 Hz on my guitar, maybe partly because there is less tension on the strings. However, there is also a connection to sacred numbers. An lower octave is half the frequency and a higher octave is double frequency. The A string (second lowest) on a guitar that is the one being tuned is two octaves below the tuning A, which means four times lower frequency. For 440 Hz this becomes 110 Hz, but for 432 Hz it becomes 108 Hz, which is a sacred number. (See Wikipedia)

However, this discussion doesn't take something crucial into consideration: just intonation compared to equal temperament. I will attend to this topic in my next article. 

Performing vs Recording

When I started singing my strongest motivation was the chance to perform. Being in front of an audience and meeting them through music has always been a profound experience for me. I want to thank my music teacher Ingeborg Axner Franzén who has a deep and profound philosophy in her teaching.

I learned that a performance is always a meeting between the audience and the performers. Ingeborg helped me understand that the audience is part of the performance and actively create the music together with me. My song is something I wish to express to them, a gift of myself that I can share, but their attention is an equal gift in return because they create the space that I fill with music. Ingeborg and I would take different angles on every song in preparation of a performance and figure out what the essential message and feeling in the song I wanted to give the audience. This way, I've always been very conscious about the deeper layers of music.

In this video I'm performing two original songs:

On my own (starts at 1:50)

Unspoken Dialogue (starts at 5:10)

I started taking vocal lessons at the age of 13, just as my voice started to deepen. Now that I'm almost 26, it means half of my life I've been singing as a hobby, so it has become an intimate part of who I am. I've known Ingeborg, my music teacher, since I was 6 years old and started taking piano lessons from her. I still meet with Ingeborg whenever I go home to Sweden and continue to have coaching sessions, and we stay in touch through emails as well.

Ingeborg taught me different song styles, such as classical singing or being more raw and expressive, but always reminded me to go back and sing as Patrik would have done it. This way I could develop a versatile voice while still retaining a strong identity and unique style of singing. She noticed that I put particular attention on the lyrics when I was singing and so she helped me develop my lyrical singing, along with an appreciation for the melody. I am grateful to have a music teacher who never criticized me in a negative way, and instead pointed out something good before making a caring suggestion for improvement.

Now I have started to get into a whole different field, which is recording. Compared to a caring music teacher, the microphone can seem cold and critical sometimes, as it picks up any slight mistake I might make and mechanically repeats it to me when I listen to the recording. I've learned to be less self-critical through listening to my own recordings and realized that there is a great advantage to this medium: I can now enjoy my own music and have a self-referral feedback loop.

This is great for songwriting, as I can sit and fiddle with different chords, song structures and instrumental parts and then listen to the wholeness. Transitions, how different parts fit together and the overall theme of the song becomes clear in a way that isn't possible otherwise when I listen to my recorded self. I can make changes to intonation, smoother transitions between verse and chorus or simply just enjoy the sound of my own music.

The Source of Music

Where does music come from?

The source of music is silence. Is this really true or just a poetic statement? I will argue my case through using the language of science. Music is composed of sound, and sound is nothing but waves. Two sound waves of the same frequency and amplitude with opposite phase cancel each other out and together create silence. This may sound really weird, but science confirms it and calls it "destructive interference". Below you can see how two identical waves can either amplify or cancel each other out, depending on their phase. Taking this a quantum leap forward, if all possible sound waves were to exist together, they would all cancel each other out and create... silence.

Animation courtesy of Dr. Dan Russell, Grad. Prog. Acoustics, Penn State.

In other words, silence is infinitely dynamic, since it contains all possible sounds. If you listen to the silence, then you have access to all these sounds and can create any piece of music. The natural question that follows is: How do you listen to silence? I would argue that it's not enough to simply be in a silent room, but that you have to also silence your mind while remaining aware. Being asleep, the mind is silent but there isn't any awareness. However, in the morning right before fully waking up (especially without an alarm after a good night's sleep) there can be a brief period where the mind doesn't hold any thoughts but awareness is still there. This can also happen just before falling asleep, when the last thoughts are gone but awareness is still there.

I experience this state of consciousness through Transcendental Meditation, a technique I've practiced for almost twenty years (since I was six years old). It takes twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening. I've found this technique to be the major source of inspiration for my music and songwriting.

When I perform, the silence just before the performance is what creates the connection between me and the audience, and from there the music is born. When I write music, I spend months and sometimes years taking in experiences of the world and soaking up impressions that in a short moment of inspirations gets compiled into a song. To respect and recognize this silent phase of songwriting, is to realize that spending two hours every week writing songs is only the tip of an iceberg for a dedicated musician. Being a musician is a calling that permeates my whole life.

Silence is not just the source of music, but is also an intimate part of any song. Without silence in between notes and words, music would just be noise. Imagine a good song you like with no pauses in between words or notes, and it all suddenly seems very jumbled together and not as enjoyable. A skilled musician can use the silence between words to accentuate what will come next and build up anticipation within the audience, making them wonder and long for what they are about to hear.

To further explain what happens between two sounds I'm going to use a model from Maharishi Vedic Science, called the Fourfold Structure of the Gap. (You can read more on page 9 in Dr. William Sand's Ph.D. dissertation.)



The first sound fades away into nothingness of all sounds existing simultaneously in a state of silence, and from this state the next sound starts to manifest. What makes this perspective even more interesting is that what goes into the gap - the first sound - is the exact cause of what comes next.

I have had this experience several times when I write music. A song starts in silence with infinite possibilities of what it could become. Then, I have a subtle impulse that makes me sing that first word, strum that first chord or play that first note, and from there the rest of the song flows effortlessly, like a stream bursting out from its spring. There is no doubt about what chord I shall play next, or which word shall follow the previous. They are all connected, and each one is unfolding from what came before.

What is your experience of the silence in music, and the music in silence?
(Comments are appreciated!)

Featured musician: Nick Tucco

Nick Tucco is a great drummer and composer of electronic music. I've been playing in a band with him for about a year. Here you find an interview with him and you can listen to one of his drum solos as well as video game style electronic music he composed.

What is your relationship with music?
I’d say on the practical level I play every day for about an hour, more or less. I’m always thinking about music and I always have a song stuck in my head. Not necessarily because I want to, but because it’s always been that way. It feels like music chose me, and forced me to play music, rather than me wanting to play music. I feel like this because the only way to get rid of the song stuck in my head is to play it.

How long have you been a musician?
This is my forth year playing. I started playing music during my junior year in high school. In the very beginning I started off playing Rock Band, the video game, on the drums, and I liked that a lot. But when I was able to do expert on the game I wanted to do more. Now I think it was stupid because I got really good at the game and if I had spent the same time on a real instrument it would have been something productive.
Around the same time I went to my first concert and saw Slipknot with a friend. It’s the best concert I've ever been to. It was so intense. I love their drummer, even before I went to their concert. After that it became an obsession listening to everything and memorizing everything in my head. I wanted to figure out how he played drums like he did and how he even had enough hands to do it.


How have you grown in your journey with music?
My physical skills grow slowly. Speed, creativity and everything like that comes with time. I want to get to the point where if I can think it, I can also do it. Complete mind-body coordination, just being one. I’ll never even get there, but I can just get closer and closer. It develops slowly.
Music has always been an outward picture of an inward condition, representing what’s going on within me. In high school I loved Slipknot and I felt like… I mean I didn't feel that angry all the time, but being stuck in high school and all there was some element of anger.

Who has been your greatest musical influence? 
My favorite musician nowadays is Dream Theater  Not many people are into them, but people who are into them are totally obsessed. They make very long, detailed, epic music. I feel like that has a parallel to me because I like things that no one else has the patience for but yet if you invest the time into it it’s worth it in the long run, for sure. Their music inspires absolute chaos while at the same time being totally controlled. I think that’s a good skill.
When I watch drummers in videos, and watch these super ridiculous metal drummers, their face is always so bored and calm and into it. I always imagined them in my head crazy and sweating and their whole body moving. When you actually watch them they’re very efficient and it’s just their fingertips doing all the work, and not their full body. In order to have that controlled chaos, you have to be able to keep your calm no matter how ridiculous or intense the music becomes.

Go to Nick Tucco's YouTube Channel for more videos!

What is it that you want to convey with the music you play?
It’s hard to answer because I want to convey what I couldn't convey with words. It’s communicating with a different language. It’s deeper and more direct. It’s sharing some of my inner thoughts and experiences. For some reason, I don’t know why, when I translate that into a series of noises and if someone else hears that, it makes them have that same feeling too. I don’t know why it is that way, but it is. It’s a way of communicating my inner feelings.

Describe your best experience with music
It was at the variety show in Fairfield, Iowa April 2012. It was in front of two or three hundred people. I’m still surprised that I wasn't nervous for that show at all and it was my third show ever. I think it was because the two before. The first one I was nervous because it was my first one and the second because I had no idea what I was doing. I came up to you ten minutes before and asked if you wanted a drummer and I just improvised the song, without knowing what you were going to play. I think it was because I did that ridiculous thing that the variety show was so easy, plus that we were so well prepared. I envisioned that moment for so long and I was more than ready for it for a long time. I had the feeling on stage that this is my shot at glory and I can take it and nothing can stop me.
The lights were really bright, so I couldn't see anyone. I didn't feel like I was in front of a bunch of people. That helped. Everyone had to pay attention to me and they had no choice, so I could do exactly what I wanted on stage and they would have to listen. That was the first time I've truly been myself, because I had the space to express anything and all these people would listen, no matter what I did.

Muse - Time is Running Out Song Structure

Measures        Guitar              Drums
    1               Interlude
    2               Verse 1           Simple beat
    2               Riff (Single)     Sidestick
    2               Bridge             Tom build
    2               Chorus            Crash
    1               Riff (Double)    Bell or splash
    2               Verse 2            High pitched
    1               Riff (Single)      Quiet
    2               Bridge              Tom build 16ths
    2               Chorus             Crash
    2               Post-Chorus     China
    1               Interlude           Simple beat
    1               Riff (Single)       Open hi-hat
    2               Solo                  Square to round
    2               Bridge               Tom build 16ths
    2               Chorus              Crash
    2               Post-Chorus      China
    1 (pause)   Outro                Heavy tom

Now you may wonder what this is all about. I'm playing with Nick Tucco and this is a song we've played for half a year and continued to improve. After a while we realized that it would be nice to get a clear picture of the structure of the song. As you can see, there are 18 different sections in the song with a maximum length of two measures. This means something new happens, musically speaking, very often and it can be challenging to keep up with. Seeing the structure makes it easier to come up with something creative for each part that fits with the wholeness of the song.

Recording with Big Brother!

Praise the Good (Rock Version)

Vocals & Songwriting: Patrik Siljestam

Electric Guitar: Andreas Siljestam

Drums: Nick Tucco

You can find the chords and lyrics for this song right here!

This song was recorded on September 1, 2012, when my older brother Andreas was in Fairfield to visit me. He had his own electric guitar as a teenager and got really good at that time, but after a while he sold it and stopped playing. This was a chance for my brother to dust off his old guitar skills and play in a band once again, borrowing my electric guitar Angel (read more about her here).

I wrote the song originally, and when I showed the chords and song structure to Andreas he immediately came up with an awesome strumming pattern. I was surprised at how easily he could hear how the guitar would fit with the rest of the song. He also had some great suggestions in the song structure - a pause before the higher pitched verses, silent guitar during the last verse etc. Seeing the wholeness of a song like this and grasping in one's consciousness how a song could develop is what differs a great musician from someone who just plays music, at least to me.

"What is meant to be heard in music
Must be heard within you
Before anyone else can hear it."
- Nadia Boulanger

We recorded using a Blue Yeti Pro recording microphone that plugs straight into the computer. It's a great mic that I recently got so I hope to be uploading more content soon.

My Companions

These two beauties are my loyal companions and I've even named them! As a musician I definitely have a relationship with my instruments, kind of like having a pet. I need to make sure I spend time with them, take care of them and take them out onto stage as well, and in return I get their unconditional love and support.

The classic acoustic guitar I call Brownie because she is more of an earthy, homey guitar and has a very warm, soothing sound. I got her as a birthday present seven years ago, when I was 18. I've played her at least a couple of times every week since then, sometimes several hours a day. Whenever I travel somewhere for at least a week I bring her with me and she's been with me through Europe, Africa and America. I really feel like she is a troubadour's guitar and perfect for the campfire. Her sound has developed over time and become more full, as the wood gets more in tune and adapt to her musical vibrations.

In the town where I live and study, Fairfield, Iowa, there is a quirky music store scrambled with instruments, called Field of Dreams. I looked at various guitars the man was selling, while wearing my blue suit with belonging vest. As I saw her and tried playing a little bit, I fell in love. She was larger than the other guitars with a color that matched my outfit perfectly. Although she was the most expensive guitar he had, I could not settle for less.

Angel, as I named my electric acoustic guitar due to her celestial color and ethereal sound, had been waiting for me for 16 years when I bought her. I looked up her serial number and found out that she was made in Korea in May of 1996. I was the first owner so the original strings and stickers were still on. She had been played by many people, but no one had been willing to pay the price until I came.

A friend of mine told me that starting with a classic guitar is the best. The reason is that the strings are higher off the fretboard, the neck is thicker and the strings are further apart so your fingers have to learn precision in order to play clean. Brownie doesn't have any dots on the fretboard either to indicate where the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th fret are so I had to learn that intuitively instead. Now that I play both guitars, Brownie is great to practice difficult riffs and licks in order to really get to know them.

The reason I got Angel was because I started to play with a drummer, Nick Tucco, and amplifying Brownie with a microphone just wasn't working. Until then I had mostly played ballads, folk, pop and a little bit of classical rock but with a real good drummer I was inspired to get myself into hard rock, metal and other types of music that require an electric guitar. 

Angel has inspired me to play the guitar like a voice, instead of just a backup instrument for my vocals. I've learned a lot during the almost 6 months I've been playing her and recently got a recording microphone which will allow me to upload music where Nick and I are playing together. The main reason I used to play music was because I wanted to express, but now my consciousness has shifted and instead I mainly play music because I want to explore, although the value of expression still remains.