Historical Documentation of Reverse Well

[John M. Formsma]

Bill,

I have read your past messages concerning Reverse Well, and had no idea what
it was.  However, this time reading it, something clicked.  Please tell me
the following is correct.

Reverse Well means the reverse of how a good Well-Tempered tuning should be.
That much I've kinda understood all along.  :-)  Is a Reverse Well tuning
one in which the more remote keys have slower beating thirds than the more
commonly played "easier" keys?  That is to say, in a Well temperament, the
C-E, G-B, D-F#, and F-A thirds are always favored over the other thirds,
right?  So, in a reverse well, wouldn't these same thirds be beating faster
than they should be, and the more remote key thirds slower than the favored
thirds?  Is that it??

I have noticed in my own Equal Temperament tunings that sometimes the Ab-C
third in the temperament ends up beating noticeably slower than its neighbor
A-C#.  Is this what you are talking about--that the thirds which have more
"energy" are the wrong ones??

John Formsma
Blue Mountain, MS

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
Of Billbrpt@AOL.COM
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 1999 10:18 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Cc: Vince@byu.edu
Subject: Historical Documentation of Reverse Well


Dear List,

A colleague recently sent me the quote below that shows that as tuning was
evolving toward a more widespread use of ET, it was also found to be a near
impossibility.  Although, it was not called, "Reverse Well" in this quote,
the observation is clearly the same as I have been making for years.

It is easy to dismiss any and all other kinds of temperament ideas in favor
of the "universal" one, the "ultimate compromise", the "neutral palette",
(put in your own favorite argument), etc.  Then, say to yourself and
everyone
else that small errors do no make any difference, just as long as it seems
"kinda, sorta, pretty even" (as our retired local symphony conductor used to
say).

Would or could these variances result in a true Victorian style temperament?
I think they could just as easily as a backwards version of it.  And that is
why I think it is important to learn how to tune a Victorian temperament
properly, even if you never plan to use it.  I find Reverse Well on just
about every piano I am going to tune or test just out of curiosity.
Recently
I found it on an electronic keyboard.  That was the real puzzler.

Why? How could the programmer have made a cumulative set of errors that
would
result in a temperament that runs 180 degrees contrary to virtually all
music
which will be played on it?  Just think about it.  As technicians we have
all
been taught to believe and trust in ET and reject automatically any notion
of
tuning anything else but in reality, most of us may have tuned and have
listened to and enjoyed moreover, music from pianos tuned by ourselves and
others that is a backwards version of a Victorian Temperament and have never
realized it.

<< In 1832 Jean Jousse wrote, concerning equal versus non-equal temps: "Each
of these temperaments has its advantages and disadvantages.  The advantage
obtained by the equal temperament is that every interval and chord is
produced so near perfection that none of them sound perceptibly imperfect;
but it has the following disadvantages:  first, that it cannot be obtained
in
a strict sense, as may be proved, not only mathematically, but also by daily
experience; therefore the best equally tempered instruments are still
unequally tempered, and, what is worse, oftentimes in the wrong places.">>

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin