I understand there’s a specific sound musicians needs. How was that note determined and set?
In: 1
People have decided to define the A above middle C as a frequency of 440hz (hertz). This means the tone played by a piece of metal (like a xylophone for instance) vibrating 440 times per second is an A.
People could have just as easily defined A as 450hz, or anything else for that matter. In fact in the past (baroque, but I might be mistaken) people tuned instruments to A = 420hz. In many orchestras A can also be tuned to 442hz or similar.
In conclusion we just arbitrarily defined A to be 440hz.
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