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| Ah, Queens ... |
Coming across a blurb in magazine,
I remembered that ever since I moved to the New York area I have wanted to
visit the Steinway & Sons piano factory. An odd aspiration, I know, yet
ever since seeing a television program on the inner-workings of the factory, I
thought it would be a cool place to see in person. Actually, this interest in
Steinway’s originates from the summer I worked the William Kappell
International Piano Competition back in 2007 at the University of Maryland. For
two-weeks, as a member of the student stage crew of the Clarice Smith
Performing Arts Center, I worked rehearsals, recitals (by the likes of Philip Glass and Ahmad Jamal), and concerts--even the final night of completion. Throughout, we were immersed in piano music and
inundated with pianos—including those from Kawai, Yamaha, and of course,
Steinway. We weren’t piano-movers (c’mon those guys are huge) but on a daily
basis we would run the pianos in and out of concert halls and recital spaces
throughout the facility. And, since each participant selected a different piano
to use for the competition, we would even do grand piano swaps in front of the
audience—when smooth transitions are a must. So, while not being a musician I
don’t look at a Steinway piano as a top-of-the-line instrument from which to
produce remarkable sounds, I instead view it as an immense yet delicate machine—the
production of which must be a great story.
