Notes from the Berkshires:Day 1

6/1, 9.17 p.m.

I woke early today, partly due to anticipation, and partly due to the sounds of traffic on the road in front of the house, which is quite busy. Gathered at the main gate of Tanglewood at 8.00 with John (who is also my roommate for the summer) and Emily, the other two piano tech interns, and Scott, the technician who will be supervising us for the next two weeks. We toured the grounds, which are in a spectacular setting, and saw all of the performance venues, the admin buildings, and the rehearsal spaces. The tour took the better part of three hours; the grounds are quite extensive. Then we dove in on some of the upright pianos, as they are unpacked and ready to be tuned, while the majority of the grands are still on their sides. There will be 80-some instruments for which we will be responsible over the next months, ranging in size from small studio uprights to several 9-foot concert grands. Most of the grounds are not well air conditioned, so keeping all of those pianos in good playing condition will be a challenge.

I tuned two pianos today in the space of about three hours – quite fast for me. The tunings were meant to be “rough”, as in, they aren’t expected to be 100% precise, or to last very long, but it’s a starting point. I also experimented with a different approach to the tunings, which may work for me, given time. In the middle of the afternoon we gathered for more of a “class” session, oriented around listening to our work more like musicians, as opposed to technicians. Very interesting, with a couple of group experiments that I found to be revealing in terms of what I think I hear as opposed to what actually is going on. We’ll be doing more of the same for most of the week, from the sound of it; dividing our time between working and interacting in more of a classroom environment.

I’m feeling energized, but also exhausted, and a little overwhelmed at the scope of what we’ have to accomplish this summer.