reverse well explained (no graphs, only one number)

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 10/26/00 10:23:57 AM Central Daylight Time, 
drwoodwind@hotmail.com (Ron Koval)writes:

<< Ok, ladies and gents, let’s see if I can shed some light here…. >>

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!  Ron!

I couldn't have done nearly as well at explaining this and apparently I 
haven't.  I do have to apologize to Conrad on this because I always assumed 
he knew exactly what I meant by Reverse Well.  To me, it is a 
self-explanatory term, but I guess not to most people.

I would only argue one point and that is that sometimes, some tuners do tune 
a temperament that is wildly or blatently irregular and unequal.  Once, in 
Louisiana, I was asked to tune a Yamaha console for which the last tuner (a 
highly respected RPT) had attempted the ET with pure 5ths.  Sadly, the 
attempt ended up being a really exaggerated RW.  If this tech had *known* 
about HT's and cycle of 5ths temperaments, I'm sure he would not have left 
the piano that way and would have retained the customer that I now have had 
for several years.

Here is an alternative way to listen to temperament.  Owen Jorgensen says 
that it is not a valid way to listen to a temperament but when he told me 
that once at a Convention, I responded, "You just wait and see if *they* all 
don't do exactly what you think they shouldn't do!"  Today's tuners are 
trained to listen to 3rds chromatically to test for evenness.  So, the first 
thing they do is listen to an HT that way and usually freak out at what they 
hear.

In my instructions for the EBVT, I include the following description of the 
way 3rds will sound.  It will generally apply to most HT's.

<<The following is the way the 3rds played chromatically will sound from 
F3-F4.  Just imagine all values inverted and you have Reverse Well.

F3-A3: slow
F#3-A#3: fast
G3-B3: slow
Ab3-C4: quite fast
A3-C#4: moderate, about the same as ET
Bb-D4: moderate
B3-D#4: very fast
C4-E4: slow, half the speed of ET
C#4-F4: very fast>>

So, to spell it out, when I listen to detect an RW, I expect and often do 
hear this:

F3-A3: fast, the kind of sound you would associate with getting out
           of bed on the wrong side, cutting yourself while shaving, drinking 
           sour orange juice and cold coffee with rancid cream in it.
F#3-A#3: slow and gentle, an antedote for the above.  Enough reason
               to call in sick and go back to bed or go fishing and enjoy the
               beautiful day.
G3-B3: fast  (see F3-A3)
Ab3-C4: moderate, sometimes nearly pure
A3-C#4: usually moderate but could be almost anything
Bb-D4: usually pretty fast
B3-D#4: the sweetest, most gentle beating you have ever heard, too bad
             hardly anything is ever written in this key.
C4-E4: the shrillest, fastest, most sour sound in the entire universe.
           The kind of sound that would drive anyone with any sensitivity 
           to music right out of the room.  Most people just learn to ignore
           it and this is the reason why pianists learn not to listen and why
           most people claim that they don't know the difference whether a 
           piano is in tune or not.
C#4-F4: the sweetest, most gentle beating you have ever heard, 
             sometimes pure, a good reason to "jump into" 5 flats or
            to modulate up that 1/2 step to end the music in a more
            harmonious key.  (Isn't "Body and Soul" in this key?)

Believe it and FILE it!
             
Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin