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.