This is another of the amazing trees on the Tanglewood grounds: the largest birch I have ever seen. It’s hard to get a sense of scale from the photo, but if you imagine a “normal” birch tree - rather slender, not terribly tall, perhaps you can encompass the entire trunk within the grasp of your two hands - this is a tree on steroids. The twin trunks are each about two feet in diameter, and the top of the tree is literally held together with wire.Very tired right now. After another full day, I came home, put on the shoes, and went for a run. Took a different direction than last time, with fewer hills, but I did more distance, somewhere around four miles. Made some dinner and called V, and now I’m just about toast.
My morning lot was to tune the last two uprights, and a challenge was set to increase my speed, but I’m just about at my maximum for my current skill set – around an hour and a quarter. Scott stopped by a couple of times, to urge me along, but also gave me some coaching on my technique, which was very helpful.
We’re now well into prepping the grands. Scott gives us more pieces of the set-up and regulation puzzle and then sends us out to our instruments to put the information into practice immediately. It’s a lot like being back in school, except now it’s not just practicing on a part of an old beater piano, it’s doing the “full monty” on an actual performance instrument, with real-world expectations both in terms of time spent and the result achieved. We’re being asked to develop skills of listening and touch very quickly. My head swims at times with new concepts, information, approaches, and technique. I have to say, it makes the day pass quickly, but it is exhausting, both mentally and physically. I’ll be ready for a break on Sunday.
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