Detective work

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 39

Lenox Coffee, 7.08 a.m.

It appears that I’ve fallen into a definite routine here – each morning when I look at the time on my computer as I type my first lines, it’s within a minute or two of the same time. Perhaps that means a change is in order. Or not. I have been told more than once that I’m a guy who likes his routines…

Experienced my first quasi-emergency yesterday, as a piano evidently started to malfunction just before a masterclass was slated to begin. Not dire straits, as the problem piano ws not the primary instrument to be used in the class, but still disconcerting to the accompanist who was playing at the time. Unfortunately, no specific symptoms could be offered, so it became an exercise in What-could-cause-such-a-problem, and going through a number of regulation issues that could possibly perhaps contribute to part of the problem. Detective work. With Steve’s help, I arrived at a three-pronged strategy aimed at friction and repetition issues in general, and worked on the piano for a couple of hours. Today will tell if the desired effect was achieved.

I realized yesterday that I’m really out of touch with what is going on in the world, when someone mentioned the Palin resignation and I must have given them the blank stare. As I peruse CNN this morning, though, I feel that being out of touch for awhile isn’t necessarily a bad thing; the MJ hoopla, more celebrity deaths, the McNair murder/suicide, economic woes continuing – not a bad time to be immersed in Steinways and Music in the Berkshires. Of course, the Jackson saga will still be ongoing when I get back to the world next month, no doubt, so I’ll get my fill then. MADE FOR TV, as Owen Meany would say.