Here I am at the end of the first term, and I really feel as though the final week of class, including exams, couldn't have gone any better so I'm feeling really good heading into a 3 week break for Christmas.
I did have a laugh today as I reassembled our project piano for evaluation by Anne and contemplated taking an 'after' picture to go with the 'before' picture already on Facebook, but I'm afraid that after just over 3 months of non-stop work it looks exactly the same. She's not much to look at but she has a hell of a personality, an inner beauty. On reflection I feel that Amanda and I successfully tore apart, reconditioned and and reconstructed B2093843 but there is still some work to do on making it sound beautiful and I think we'll get a chance to do some that after the break. Right now it functions properly but it doesn't sparkle and that's what I really want to learn how to do, that magic.
Last time I was home for the weekend I did some field work with John Lillico, who's an old time tuner living in Oakville, with whom I've struck up a bit of a relationship. He's blind and everything; picture an old blind piano tuner in your mind and you've got him. We went to Sheridan College and tuned a bunch of Yamaha uprights not too different from my project piano, and of course I broke a string. Slightly embarrassing but John was really good about it and explained to me that it's a bit of a design issue with this particular model that leads to regular issues with strings breaking. Anyway, I did a half decent job on my tuning and John said that while I still have much to learn my work is good enough for a practice room piano, which was really great to hear. After 4 months I can do some work that will pass as professional. My point, and I do have one, is that I played my piano after tuning and it didn't sound retched, and then I played John's. His was sweet. As soon as I played a chord it was as though the piano lifted off the ground a few inches and that's just more of that magic that I want to learn.
But that will all wait for 3 weeks. Aside from tuning at home a bit and making some visits to retailers I will be off the pianos until Jan 7.
Happy Holidays everyone.
