I'm glad there is - V

I listened to this twice on the way home on Saturday. It seems a part of the culture now, but I wish I could go back to 1969, with my 48-year-old ears, and hear this for the first time again. There is just SO MUCH here to delight the active listener. As a bassist, I can go through it and marvel at Sir Paul's playing; so active and melodic and ahead of many of his peers. The songwriting, well, not much to say there that hasn't been said elsewhere and with more eloquence. The guitar sounds! From clean to the dirtiest, all at the appropriate times. The singing, from all four boys. The Medley: pure inspiration, and I don't care how much of it was George Martin's idea. The metric modulations in "The End" and in the transition from "Mean Mr. Mustard" into "Polythene Pam" were the first I ever identified in pop music back when I was just learning what the phrase meant. I can't help but wonder how many times Freddie Mercury and the other members of Queen put this on their turntables before recording A Night At The Opera, and in particular, "Bohemian Rhapsody".

A recording completely of its time, yet still timeless.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig...

Ahh, nothing like being home again after an extended absence. Keeping busy with work, including updating the resume and preparing contact items for my existing customers. Also getting back into domestic duties, which feel surprisingly un-mundane right now. I made an heroic foray into the email in-box this morning, which had swollen to over 100 items in need of varying degrees and types of attention. Now down to only 3. I'm starting to formulate plans for a near-future trip to Iowa, for purposes both piano related and not.

Sadly, my Cubs appear to be backsliding into the bottom half of the NL Central, with uninspired play and silly mistakes abounding. I continue to blame Larry Rothschild (pitching coach), but that's an ax I've been grinding for years now. Here's hoping that in another month things will have turned around, in time for the game V and I will attend in Milwaukee to actually mean something, but it seems unlikely at present.

I saw the photo this morning of the assault-weapon-wielding protester at the Obama rally, and it made me shake my head. Can anyone truly see this as reasonable? I wonder: for people who support gun rights in general, but haven't given it any deep thought, does the image of someone toting an AK-47 at an outdoor public rally give them pause? Maybe there will be an effect from this photo that will surprise the nuts who support this piggyback fringe aspect of the gun laws. I'm no gun-control supporter, generally, but this is just plain silly.

Final Tanglewood post

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 75

Bernstein Pavilion, 8.50 a.m.

Waiting for the rest of the team to arrive at Ozawa for a final coffee run together. Last night was the last supper:


L-R: Steve Carver, John Stothoff, Yours truly, Emily Townsend

A nice gathering, with much talk of the future.

This morning I tuned the B in Maple one last time. This is a lovely way to wind up, as it was also the first B I put my hands on here, way back some ten weeks and 70 or so posts ago. Speaking of posts, I just noticed that I have surpassed 50 pages of writing in the Word document containing this blog; it’s been a great way to keep track of this amazing experience, and I’m hopeful that the writing bug will continue to afflict me in the months to come, back in Illinois.

In the spirit of keeping track, this was my reading list for the summer:

• Shopclass as Soulcraft; An Inquiry Into The Value Of Work, by Matthew B. Crawford
• The Lenox School of Jazz, by Jeremy Yudkin
• Slippage, by Harlan Ellison
• Foucault’s Pendulum, by Umberto Eco
• Four Freedoms, by John Crowley
• Girl With Curious Hair, by David Foster Wallace
• Armageddon in Retrospect, by Kurt Vonnegut

I hope to write a little about some of these in a future entry.

This will most likely be my final post from Tanglewood, as I leave very early tomorrow morning and will be spending most of the balance of today in preparations.

Wrapping up

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 74

Bernstein Pavilion, 8.44 a.m.

A grey morning, with sprinkles. Yesterday it was different at Ozawa Hall:




And tomorrow it should also be nicer, perhaps starting later this afternoon.

I’ve covered two pianos already this morning, the last two I really needed to check this week. I’ll probably tweak a couple later today and tomorrow, but for the most part, I’m done. One of the pianos this morning was a little exercise in speed tuning I set for myself, and I accomplished a complete tuning in 40 minutes. Not my best, to be sure, but not bad, and certainly better than I found it. Ten weeks ago I wouldn’t have been capable of that.

Today we get an opportunity to purchase Tanglewood-related items at the gift shop at a 30% discount, bringing it near the realm of the affordable for the itinerant piano technician. Also later, a last meal with the team. Really winding down now.

PotD – the C & A B in Ozawa Hall I:



II:

Lasts

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 73

Bernstein Pavilion, 4.46 p.m.

A couple of missed days, due to primarily laziness, but also schedule and lack of internet access. Nothing terribly important to report, other than a lot of “last”s, as the week winds down and I perform certain tasks and activities for a final time.

Monday was our trip to NYC, where we visited Steinway Hall, including the Concert & Artist section in the basement, where virtually every major pianist of the past 100 years has set foot in order to test and select pianos for performances and recordings. Tone of history in a very modest, unassuming location in a basement in midtown Manhattan. We also visited a few other dealerships along “Piano Alley” on 58th St. and also wandered around Central Park for a short time. The weather was truly summer-like, very hot and humid. We left to beat the traffic and were back at the grounds around 6 p.m.

A very nice lunch and visit with my Aunt Dianne yesterday. My dad’s sister, she has been a musician and teacher for most of her career, and is recently retired. Had a good time catching up on the activities of my cousins, whom I haven’t seen in quite a long time.

Finalized plans for the week, including keeping up with a couple of pianos which see significant use between now and Saturday. Otherwise, it’s really a matter of finding things to do, as most of the pianos are idle at this point. Looking forward more and more to being home, but not perhaps to the drive: 14 hours is going to be more of a challenge for me at 48 than it was at, say, 25.

New coffee

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 70

Dottie’s Coffee Lounge, Pittsfield, 9.41 a.m.

It’s a grey-ish morning, but I’m still on my normal Sunday schedule, with a new wrinkle – a coffee shop I had known about for some time, but hadn’t visited. If their hours of business were more agreeable to my morning schedule, I would have been here much sooner, and that would have been an improvement over the Lenox shop in terms of value and atmosphere. A decent Americano, and Talking Heads on the sound system, even.

Had a very nice, if brief visit with friends D and G yesterday afternoon; gave them a tour around the grounds, introduced them to Steve, and then headed down to Lenox for a late lunch. Afterwards, I went to the grocery store, then for a run, and then home for a relaxing evening and an early crash. Touring around the Tanglewood facilities, I was reminded of the tour I was given back on June 1st, how odd it felt to be leading others around, and how it seems like that was so long ago. D is doing well, with some work coming in and some more on the horizon, which gives me a good feeling about getting back and getting A is A running again.

The rest of the plan is for one last Berry Mtn. hike, and also a final stop at the Olde Forge. Tomorrow is our team trip to NYC and Steinway Hall. One week from today, barring any alterations in plan, I will be home with V enjoying the Sunday Trib and home coffee.

Bear sighting?

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 69

Bernstein Pavilion, 12.08 p.m.

Yesterday’s technical session was very good. Lots of excellent information presented about Steinway (also Boston & Essex) regulation, with good visual aids and some work inside the piano as well. Eight attendees all told, and we were each given as a party favor the new CD-ROM of the Steinway Technical Reference Manual – no small gift, that. By the end of the day we were all pretty fried, and a few of us headed to the brewpub for refreshments.

This morning I tuned in the Chamber Music Hall (both the B and the 163), and after a cup with SC went to Hickory where I found the 163 there to be significantly flat, due to our recent spate of dry weather, no doubt. One thing that has definitely improved during the course of the summer is my ability to tune at an accelerated rate. The 163 in the CMH this morning was really just a touch-up, and I got through it in about 40 minutes. Otherwise, I’m consistently completing decent tunings in 90 minutes or a little less, with more accurate and detailed work still taking me closer to two hours. Much faster than when I arrived here 10 weeks ago!

I’m hanging around the grounds now waiting for the arrival of friend and former CSPT classmate DS and his wife, here for this evening’s Shed concert. I’ll give them a tour of the grounds, hopefully have them meet the other techs, and then perhaps head out for lunch with them up in Lenox. After that, I plan to head home for a run. The weather today is nearly ideal, and many people are already arriving for the afternoon and evening activities. There was a report of a bear sighting near the grounds this morning, but I haven’t seen any evidence that it’s curtailed the movement of people out and about.

Press Porch and Productivity

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 67

Bernstein Pavilion, 3.11 p.m.

Piano of the Day:



This is the Steinway Model L that lives in a space called the “Press Porch”. Connected to one of two old residences on the grounds, it is used for pre- and post-event broadcasts and at times for the media to meet visiting guest artists, conductors, and other dignitaries. It’s one of my favorite pianos here to tune, and also one of my favorite locations. It doesn’t get used often, though, which is a shame.

I’ve had a pretty productive day, starting with a tuning on the B in the Chamber Music Hall (actually needed, as it was in use on the recital last night, and during the night it got quite chilly, sending the instrument south of 440), followed by a brief session with Steve on the M in Manor House room 6, where he helped me to diagnose a sostenuto problem I discovered late yesterday. Of course, he was able to identify the cause immediately, just by the noise being made. Someday…

From there I went to the Ash building for tuning and an hour of regulation work before lunch. Mostly successful. After returning to the grounds, we met as a team briefly, and then I went off to tune in the Maple space. This is a piano which I will be tuning tomorrow morning for evaluation by Steve, and I wanted to check it today to make sure it wasn’t doing anything funny. Good thing I did, as it really needed to be raised in pitch as well, probably for the same reason as the B in the Chamber Music Hall. So I got that out of the way, leaving tomorrow morning open for a fine-tuning.

The weather is cooperating once again, and I plan on a run after heading home shortly. Tomorrow after my tuning evaluation we will spend the rest of the day on a technical presentation from Kent Webb of Steinway, visiting from New York for the day. He’ll talk about action regulation, and a few other area techs will join in for the fun.

First call for work after my return to Illinois came today – a good sign.

Weightlessness

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 66

Bernstein Pavilion, 1.06 p.m.

The performance of the Mark Morris Dance Group last night was excellent. Unfortunately I was driven from Ozawa Hall by a literal swarm of mosquitos before the end of the first half, bug spray notwithstanding. I can now say that I’ve seen Yo-Yo Ma perform live and in person, however, no small experience. The dancers were extraordinary; I’m always struck by the sense of weightlessness on display at such a performance. An illusion, and a carefully crafted one, but no less entertaining for all that. It also inspired in me a desire to re-investigate yoga as an exercise alternative.

A good session on voicing this morning in Manor House 7 on the Aspen L. Steve demonstrates good hammer-filing posture and technique:



A closer look reveals felt taken from previously-oversized hammers. Enough, even, to assemble a small sheep:



Proper relaxation techniques are essential to quality voicing work:



Small frustrations are beginning to pop up. In addition to yesterday’s unnecessary tuning in Maple, the concert for which I tuned yesterday in the Chamber Music Hall turned out to have not a single piece on the program that used piano. Sigh. I’m also swearing at pianos more often than I normally would. Still and all, I continue to learn new things every day, and the good far outweighs the not.

Dryness

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 65

Bernstein Pavilion, 6.42 p.m.

Two beautiful days in a row! I think the last time this happened was some time during the first two weeks here, near the beginning of June. For a change, it was actually pleasant to walk across the lawn by the Shed, instead of taking the “dry cut” around the paved/gravel pathways that skirt the grounds. No soggy feet – yippee!

I managed to squeeze in two tunings before 9.30 this morning, in a space where it appeared there was going to be a rehearsal using both at the same time. Got them tuned together, and reasonably well, only to discover later as I walked by that it wasn’t two pianos, but a piano four-hands part. Oh well – it never hurts a piano to put it in tune. After that Steve, John and I went for coffee, and I continued on with pianos in the Press Porch and the Chamber Music Hall, where I checked out the tuning I had done yesterday afternoon, and brought in a few unisons that had drifted, in preparation for a recital there early this evening. From there I headed to the East Barn, and touched up the tuning on the Boston there. That took me until about 2.30, at which point I couldn’t stand it anymore and headed back to Pittsfield for a run. I managed the long one again, third time in a row, but my legs were complaining by the end. In a good way, though. Stretched, showered, and hit Miss Hall’s for dinner before coming back here where I’ll attend the open dress rehearsal for the Mark Morris Dance Group.

There’s definitely a sense of “time to go” circulating around the grounds, and through the piano team. Unavoidable, I suppose, and I’m as susceptible as anyone, especially given what V’s been going through and my desire to be there to help her. In some ways, next weekend can’t come soon enough.

Work and Music

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 64

Bernstein Pavilion, 10.48 a.m.

Had a very relaxing weekend, with my usual exercise and a bit of traveling around for coffee and beer. I’ll miss the Olde Forge, but it will be great to get back to Firkin in Libertyville as well. The weather cooperated for the most part, or at least enough to let me get my hike in yesterday morning. Also hit the bookstore one last time, to pick up something to get me through the rest of the evenings at the apartment.

This week I’ll be concentrating on getting all of my pianos as playable and stable as possible, with the idea in mind that they need to be in great shape and well in tune when I finish up next Friday. That means regular visits to the performance venue instruments, particularly the Bs in the Chamber Music hall and Maple studio. Fortunately, the instruments are generally tending to stabilize, although pitch is still somewhat of a mystery; one would think with all of this rain and humidity things would always be sharp, but in fact I’ve done more pitch raising than lowering. Probably has something to do with the unusually cool temperatures.

There are also good concerts to see this week, starting tonight with an all-Stravinsky concert featuring the Firebird, Pulcinella, and the concerto for piano and winds with soloist Peter Serkin. This will be my first TMC fellows orchestra concert (as opposed to the BSO). Tomorrow we’re invited to the dress rehearsal of the Mark Morris Dance Company performance which features Emmanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma. Should be a treat. On Friday Kent Webb, a technician from Steinway will come to deliver a couple of tech sessions to the team, and then a week from today we’ll pile into SC’s car for a trip to Steinway Hall in NYC.

Things are moving very quickly.

"P"otD

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 62

Bernstein Pavillion, 10.00 a.m.

Yesterday turned into a ridiculously rainy day; flash flood warnings and all. I was quite busy in spite of that, until early/mid afternoon, when I ran out of schedule space. Managed good work in the Chamber Music hall, Manor House, and on the harpsichord in Birch before calling it an afternoon and heading home for a late lunch and some reading. Returned for an artist’s piano selection only to find that he was delayed by the weather, and might not arrive until much later. Steve, Emily and I repaired to Chez Carver for a light dinner, good Belgian beer and conversation until around 8.00.

This morning the sun is shining, and the sky is blue – we’ve gone from one extreme to the other yet again. No complaints here. I spent 2+ hours in Maple, tuning the B that appears to be the one in use now; surprisingly, even with all the rain and humidity, the pitch had sagged to a shade under 440, so I raised it and tuned it, and checked out all the functions. By the time I finished tuning there were fellows arriving for a rehearsal, so no further work was possible at that point. Back to the courtyard to wait for a team meeting and then over to Birch to tune the harpsichord again for the afternoon’s rehearsal before leaving the grounds for the day. Another perfect afternoon for a long run, and I’m going to take full advantage; it won’t be long before I’ll be back to running on flat roads exclusively, so I’ll enjoy the hills while I can.

If all goes well, and I can keep my pianos in good shape, Steve says I should be able to take off for home two weeks from today. The next two weeks will be full of work, and will go very quickly, and that’s good – this Fellow is ready to be home again.

“Piano” of the Day I:



II:



III:



The harpsichord, in the piano room in Ozawa, after my first attempts at tuning it. Two manuals, able to be coupled to play unisons on two sets of strings, plus a 4’ set of strings wwhich can be engaged and coupled to the upper manual. Tuning is actually a breeze; after tuning a temperament (using primarily 4ths and 5ths), one simply tunes pure octaves out in both directions from the middle on the lower manual, then couples the upper manual and tunes the unisons created by the coupling. Tuning the 4’ (which I haven’t done yet, as the shift rail is frozen by humidity and unusable) involves tuning more pure octaves from the top (uncoupled) manual, which plucks both strings. It’s a nice change from piano tuning, and something I wouldn’t mind doing more of down the road.