Steinway L1037

Yesterday, I went to Sears Hall to watch Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037. I wasn’t really excited to see the movie because the subject of it didn’t seem all that interesting to me. In my opinion, watching a movie about the making of a piano sounded awfully boring. I always found the piano as an amazing instrument but I never really thought about how a piano was actually made.
This movie showed the artistry in making a piano and showed how every person who is involved with the production of the Steinway L1037 is a true artist. The movie showed everything from choosing the perfect wood at a lumber yard to stringing the chords and creating the perfect tunes. Like I said before, every person who was involved in making this piano is a true artist. Most of them you would never think of as artists. They just looked like carpenters or construction workers but throughout the document, they showed how important they all were during the production of the Steinway. I found it interesting how 5 or 6 men worked for hours just to shape the wood so it could form the shape of the piano and then would leave it in a conditioning room for a couple of weeks so it could settle and cool. When each worker was interviewed, they seemed to take great pride in what they were doing. The worker who caught my attention most was the one who put the strings together on the pianos. He told a story about how he was at a concert one time and he heard the piano. He told the people that he made that piano and they said his name was nowhere on the piano. He simply said he could hear his tuning and he knew it was his. I found his story to be interesting as well as many others.
The pianists themselves were interviewed and I found their stories interesting as well. One of the pianists, Harry Connick Jr., said a piano relates to a painting. His analogy of a piano relating to a painting made me realize how the production of a piano truly is like making a piece of amazing art. A lot of hard work goes into it and in comparison to a painting, you can actually play the piano as many times as you would like. The other famous pianists felt the same way. A majority of them said the piano almost speaks to them and that is how they know that the piano is for them. Every piano made is very unique. I thought they all sound the same but after watching the documentary, I found that every piano supplies different sounds and tones. Some are deeper and some play softer keys. Some of the pianists preferred the pianos that played deep sounds and made powerful sounds. Others preferred the ones that offered a calming tone. The way each pianist explained the piano made me think of how different each piano is. It is almost as if no one piano is similar in keys. They all play different tones and give off different powerful sounds.
The wood workers, stringers, tuners, and painters all contributed to the making of the Steinway L1037. The wood workers made sure the pieces were perfectly shaped and used their own talent to make the best shaped piano. The stringers made sure the piano was stringed well and made the perfect sounds. The tuners made sure everything was in synch and the painters made the piano look exquisite. Every one of those workers made what I believe is to be a truly beautiful piano.
Before I watched the movie, I thought making pianos was just a job for people. After I watched it, I realized people truly love what they are doing when they make the pianos. They take great pride in what they have created and consider themselves as true artists.

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