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