New Feature: Piano of the Day!

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 44

Lenox Coffee, 7.05 a.m.

Piano of the Day, Boston 215 #1:



#2:



These pianos are located in the “Birch” rehearsal space, a short distance from Ozawa Hall and our piano tech meeting area. They appear nearly identical, but #1 is significantly older than #2, which I believe is brand-new. The photos don’t show it, but the room is open to the air for a good portion of each day, via a set of - literal - barn doors of the sliding variety which open up one entire wall. Nice for fresh air, not so much for keeping out humidity, wind, mosquitos, and other small critters. The 215 is Boston’s economy version of the Steinway B (215 cm=approx. 7 feet). These have been decent pianos for the festival, fairly reliable and ready to play right out of the box, not needing extensive regulation as the Steinways often do. they’re definitely not the instruments the S & S pianos are, though, in terms of sound or feel.

Yesterday was a very nice day and quiet around the grounds. I tuned both of the above pianos in the morning, and moved to the Chamber Hall for the early afternoon, to double check the A for tuning and playability; fine on both counts. Ended the day by tuning the M upstairs in the Carriage House, a piano I hadn’t yet seen on this rotation. Even though the weather was excellent, I gave myself my scheduled day off from exercise, opting instead for dinner at Miss Hall’s followed by another good chunk of Foucault’s Pendulum, one of my summer re-reads. It’s a very entertaining book, fairly dense, but I’m getting more deeply into it than I did on the first reading. I can’t say from first hand knowledge, not having read it, but from what I know of The Da Vinci Code, I believe this book has a similar story-type, but with bigger words. Definitely one of those books where it’s good to keep a dictionary handy.

Another good weather forecast for the day, so the plan is to schedule the remaining weeks’ work, hit pianos until three or so, then head out for a run before dinner. Perhaps I’ll even watch part of the All-Star Game this evening, to support Ted Lilly, the Cubs’ lone representative.