Product Description

The most thoroughly handcrafted instruments in the world, Steinway pianos are as unique and full of personality as the world-class musicians who play them. However, in this age of mass production, their makers are a dying breed: skilled cabinet-makers, gifted tuners, thorough hand-crafters.

Note by Note follows the creation of a Steinway concert grand, #L1037, from forest floor to concert hall. Each piano s journey is complex, spanning 12 months, 12,000 parts, 450 craftsmen, and countless hours of fine-tuned labor. Filmed in key Steinway locations the factory, Steinway s reserved Bank, and the rooms of private auditions Note by Note is a loving celebration not just of craftsmanship, but of a dying breed of person who is deeply connected to working by hand. In the end, this is an ode to the most unexpected of unsung heroes. It reminds us how extraordinary the dialogue can be between an artist and an instrument crafted out of human hands but borne of the materials of nature.

Featuring famed pianists such as Harry Connick, Jr., and Lang Lang, NOTE BY NOTE follows the year-long, hand-crafted creation of a Steinway concert grand piano from forest floor to concert hall.

Product Description

While in the 21st century many musical instruments are mass-produced on an assembly line, at the Steinway Factory in Queens, NY, grand pianos are still made largely by hand, much as they were centuries before, and each piano develops a tonal personality very much its own as it slowly takes shape in the hands of expert craftsmen. Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 is a documentary from filmmaker Ben Niles that follows the meticulous process of creating one of these remarkable instruments, from the harvesting of the wood in the Pacific Northwest to the final touches before the piano is sent to the sales floor of a music store. Along the way, Niles talks to many of the people who have had a hand in the making of this piano, as well as those who later hear music being performed on the instrument. Note by Note was screened in competition at the 2007 Silverdocs Film Festival, a competition founded by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi