Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037

NOTE BY NOTE is a documentary that is not a documentary: it is a love story the begins with the initial choice of wood form Sitka, Alaska, through the multiple aspects of creating the case, the soundboard, stringing and creating the hammers and pads, and finally the tuning of the piano before placing it before the public wither for sale or for storage in the Steinway Headquarters in New York for pianists to select for performances in the New York area. Each step of the process introduces the craftsman responsible for particular aspects of the building of this near sacred musical instrument: it takes a year to handcraft a Steinway piano.

Each step of the process of creating the piano, here the selected piano is numbered L1037, is explained and demonstrated but that is where this film is so very unlike other films that attempt to achieve the same 'this is how it is done' process: this is a story of a 'lover' passed from person to person until the wooden and metal and pad-filled 'box' is presented to the hands of a variety of musicians for the acid test. Throughout the film we are in conversation with such pianists as Hélène Grimaud, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Lang Lang, Harry Connick, Jr. and Hank Jones. But the real radiance of this film directed by Ben Niles is the series of tender tributes each of the workers adds when attempting to describe how working to build a Steinway is as rewarding an occupation as possible. This little film is a quiet love story and very awe inspiring.

Grady Harp

I can't play piano, but in the 1960s-70s I grew up with a 1913 Steinway on which my mother practiced for several hours every day. When my parents first got married they were close to broke, lived in a tiny apartment, and almost never ate out, but they bought that Steinway so that she could have a great tool for her profession. She played the hell out of it for half a century, then traded it in for a new one which sounds even better.

I'm sure that a lot of people have nostalgic stories like this. Sure, nostalgia is nice, but these pianos truly are wonderful, and this documentary shows why.

I think that as Americans we really shine when we MAKE big beautiful things, whether airplanes, rockets, or pianos. It's even better that in this case many of the workers are immigrants who came looking for jobs. The interviews make clear that they stay at Steinway because they truly love what they do. My mom's an immigrant, too, and it's wonderful that she's playing an instrument made in Astoria, New York.

Watch this video and you'll come away smiling. Afterward, if you have the opportunity to buy a piano, cough up the bucks for a new Steinway--you'll get an absolutely superb instrument, and you've seen some of the good folks who make it, right here in the good ole US of A.

You don't have to play a note of music to enjoy 'Note By Note:The Making Of Steinway L1037'. This is a loving Valentine to instrument making & music in general. We get to see the Steinway piano being produced over a one year period, from trees in the forest, to the finished product. The film is rife with interview footage with the workers who poured their life & love into this (and all of the)piano. The film also gets screen time with interviews with figures from the musical world (Harry Connick,Jr.Lang Lang,etc.). This film,like the piano itself is a labour of love & is well worth seeking out. Distribution is a bit limited,due to it's release on video,but will be well received when it is released on DVD.

If you were going to produce a documentary about the making of a piano, there are several directions you could go. You could produce an informative and dry blow-by-blow account, or you could do what this documentary does and provide enough technical details so as not to bore, but let the audience get to know some of the interesting people involved in the process.

The Steinway numbered L1037 is a 9-foot concert grand and the movie follows its year-long production from milling the wood to final roll-out. I had assumed that the making of a piano in the 21st century would be highly automated, but the amount of handcrafting involved in making this piano surprised me. Even the number L1037 is hand stamped into the wood. Steinway turns out about 2,000 pianos a year whereas other makers turn out up to a hundred a day.

As the movie follows the piano through its history we meet the craftsmen who lovingly work on it. Along the way we see people working on shaping the rim, sanding, fitting the soundboard, stringing the piano wire, finishing the wood, and tuning. When the plant lets out for the day and we see the workers heading home they look like working-class folk that you would see coming out of any manufacturing plant. But these people are highly skilled and specialized craftsmen who deal with millimeter tolerances. The recorded interviews document how devoted these workers are to their tasks and what a reverence they have for the product.

A number of musicians are interviewed about their relationships with their pianos. Among these are classical pianists Hélène Grimaud, the brilliant Lang Lang, and the fussy Frenchman Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Also featured are jazz pianists Marcus Roberts, Bill Charlap, and Harry Connick, Jr. After hearing these artist talk about pianos and do some playing I came away with a much better understanding of why each Steinway piano is a unique instrument. I got a kick out of people sitting down to play a few notes only to get up and announce, "This will not do." As fascinating as it was to hear the professionals talk, the most moving scene for me involved a teenager who, having selected a piano at a Steinway sale, awaited its arrival at his apartment with his parents and grandparents. I don't think I have ever seen a person so excited about getting a possession as this young man, and there was so much happiness in the room when he played for his parents and grandparents that it brought tears to my eyes.

The ending has Hélène Grimaud playing a transfixing performance of the Rachmaninov Prelude in G Sharp minor, Op.32, No. 12.

I am a woodworker with an appreciation for classical piano, so I may be biased, but I found this documentary absorbing from beginning to end.

Craftspeople, makers, and gearheads will appreciate this film as much as music-lovers. The intersection of art and engineering that produces a world-class piano is brought out in wonderful interviews with workers and musicians as well as in video of the construction itself.