Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037

Ben Niles, 2007
81 minutes, color documentary shot on tape
All ages

Anyone old enough to sit through a documentary, and that could be anybody, should be rapt at this account of the process and people behind a Steinway grand piano, from the multinational craftspeople who painstakingly ply their trade in a Queens factory, passing their art down from one generation to the other through hands-on training, to the musicians who appreciate in their own way the personality differences between one piano and another. "It was nice to see the Steinway being made—spray-painted and having its strings straightened," said a 10-year-old viewer.