Reverse Well ??

[Richard Brekne]

Hi folks...

A couple weeks back I posted a few things about my experiences this past 
june at the Yamaha Academy in Hamamatsu. Amoung those was a quick 
reference to the temperment that they require of you there.  Off list I 
got a single note from Bill Bremmer.... you all remember good ol Bill 
now dont you :):).... Anyways.. it was short and sweet and simply stated 
that he thought it sounded like a recipie for the Reverse Well.

I got to thinking about this... and realized I'd never gotten around to 
picking apart his reverse well claim (about  Steinways recommended 
temperament)... so much to do all the time. Well I dont have Steinways 
recipie.. but I have the particulars from Yamaha... which I will give 
below.  If someone can explain how this leads to a reverse well tempered 
piano (if it doesn) I'd be very appreciative.

Here ya go.

First off... one starts at A3 and tunes up a 4th then down a 5th till 
you come around... two successive 4ths (up) from F to Bb and Bb to Eb 
before continuing the pattern to completion with again two successive 
4ths... Gb to B to E.  The manual throws in C40 to F45 in the middle of 
this routine.. but my instructors did not and I was scored only for the 
notes F33 to E44

Here are the specified beat rates that I mentioned they were realllllly 
picky about and very good at judging.


4th beat rates starting with F33 - Bb38 and ending at C40 - F45 are

0.73 / 0.77 / 0.81 / 0.85 / 0.89 / 0.93 / 0.97 / 1.3

5th beat rates starting at F33 - C40 and ending at Bb38 - F45 are

0.56 / 0.59 / 0.63 / 0.66 / 0.69 / 0.73

M3rds --- 

6.5 / 7.0 / 7.6 / 7.9 / 8.6 / 8.8 / 9.7 / 10.4 / 10.8

I do note that in the middle of this there are two M3rds with nearly the 
same beat rate... and I note that the increase in beat rates for M3rds 
is not exactly the most symetrical thing in the world.  But... reverse 
well ???

Cheers
RicB