hi, first post

I took piano lessons from childhood through high school, and have been very intermittent with it since then (about ten years have passed). Recently, my sister has decided to buy a piano - she mostly missed out on lessons, but has decided now is the time to learn. I applaud this move, as she is the only one of us with an ear. I haven't been of much help to her in as far as shopping advice is concerned, though. That's when I happened to hear about this book. I purchased it for a Christmas present immediately after reading the synopsis on the website, and, since it's not Christmas yet, I began to read it myself.

Immediately I notice the wonderfully flowing prose and...HOLY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES THERE'S A RIGHT AND WRONG WAY TO SIT AT A PIANO??? 11 years of piano lessons and this never came up.

Anyway, reading this book, vicariously feeling Perri's passion, I'm inspired to finally move upwards and onwards from where I was as a player 10 years ago. And to make sure I can finish the book, I'll probably need to buy another copy.

I'm also going to start trawling these forums to see what other apparently basic information I've missed.

cheers

PS. It really is a rare pleasure to be able to tell an author how much you liked her book.

michael:

Hello, I'm new here. I came across this forum after reading your book. I'm halfway through your book. I'm so curious of what will happen to your piano. I hope to visit Beethoven and try on the piano there! unfortunately, i'm living in Singapore and NY is like miles away.

welcome to pianoworld, yourobsessions! have a look around. if you are at all interested in the piano, you'll find your niche here.

Congratulations on a truly outstanding contribution to the piano literature! I really enjoyed your book which was absolutely riveting thoughout. Also, it was a particular pleasure to observe the very high level of factual accuracy maintained even in quite technical subject areas.

As a Grotrian-Steinweg owner myself it was of course most interesting to read your story as it had a particular resonance for me; I posted a little about my piano at: http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/12614.html#000015 .

All the very best for your next project!

thank you, gs223, for your kind words. i tried very hard to make sure i had all my facts straight. i hope you are right about the accuracy.

Hi Perri,

Answering my own question: I went to the publisher's website and it has June 2009 as the date the paperback version of "Grand Obsession" will be released.

thanks for the update, octavia.

Are you ever coming to Chicago??

you need to remind the local ptg chapter and the local grotrian dealer that they were interested in doing a "grand obsession" event.

maybe for the paperback release?

Dear Pique,
I'd like to add my comments to those praising the book. I got it for Christmas and found it so satisfying on so many levels - the writing was terrific, I imagined I was hearing the various tones and tunings as you went through this odyssey. Really, thank you so much for this wonderful book.
I do have a couple of questions. I searched PW for the Schubert concert tuning and found one entry from a year ago. Are there any CD's or anything that would give some approximate sense as to this sound? I am so intrigued to hear it first hand. Also, I do hope you get to Chicago. PianoForte is the Grotrian dealer here.
BTW, how did the subjects of the book like it (Marc, Carl, Tom, etc.)?
thank you again

carpediem

p.s. what does "pique" mean?

hi, carpediem,

thanks for your generous praise.

i don't think you could hear the sct in a recording. i also think you have to be playing the piano yourself to have the experience i had.

we saw in nyc at the pianothon last year that everyone in the audience could hear the difference, but for me, listening rather than playing was a different experience. the experience i described in the book i have only had while playing the instrument, not just listening.

i believe the experience is that of how the soundwave patterns affect us physically.

there is a lot we don't yet know about the sct, and what it is, exactly. marc and tom plan to convene with me at my home this spring to conduct some controlled experiments to figure out more about it.

you should let the chicago grotrian dealer know you'd like me to come. if they invite me, i'd love to.

marc, carl, and tom all love the book. all of them bought lots and lots of copies to give to their friends and family. carl sells the book at beethoven pianos and i understand pushes it on everyone who comes through the door.

marc's wife left me a long voicemail message after she read the manuscript that i'll save forever, gushing about how perfectly i captured marc, and how she'd like to strangle him herself sometimes. lol.

i insisted that all the principle actors in the book have a chance to read what i wrote before we went to press, so that they could comment, raise objections, and make corrections.

a couple of people had problems, but i did address their concerns.

those three you mentioned were completely thrilled, which was very gratifying for me, as they remain very important people in my life.

oh, and p.s.

pique' is my initials!

I know what you mean by playing being a different experience. I don't know if it is because, when you are playing, you are so close to the instrument, or if it is because, in my (brief) experiences playing stringed instruments, and longer experience playing French Horn in school band, and even longer experience singing in groups, I learned to become very aware of the intonation as coming from me when I played/sang.

On my little Nordiska grand, I was very aware that thirds seemed...too "busy". I don't know how else to describe that. I experience and conceptualize sound (especially from a live acoustic instrument) as 3 dimensional and in motion. Had I been playing an instrument on which it was possible to adjust intonation as I played, I would have tried to fix those thirds.

Anyway, I brought this up with my tech and asked if there was another temperament we could try. He suggested, and we used, the Equal Beating Victorian Temperament.

I like it a *lot*.

Thank you Pique', I'd have never even known to ask if it weren't for you.

Hi Pique, Relatively late in reading your book the Grand Obsession, I have just finished reading it from cover to cover, twice. What a fantastic book! It is the best book I have ever read, period. Well this is not really an admission of how few books I have read in my life time, but a reflection of the fact that in a single book it combines all of my favorite subjects all of which well written with dramatic effects: suspense, technical detective, psychology, traveling, shopping, wave science (I have a background in microwave, and sound wave is the same in theory), acoustics & harmonics, and of course, everything about piano making/voicing/tuning - who needs to read A. Reblitz’s piano servicing book (which taught me how to tune my own pianos) when I can learn the same things by reading your book which is so much more fun! I am equally impressed by your keen observation and the accuracy with which you have described in details of highly technical matters that many people take a life time to learn.

As I am more of an auditory person (I suspect most musically inclined people are), I would love to listen to an audio version of the book, if one is ever planned. Otherwise I will just re-read the book a couple more times.

Best wishes.

PS: It is a well known scientific fact that sound waves affect our moods in a profound way. The first commercial ultrasonic device that is remotely applied to a person’s head for the treatment of depression is now in clinic trial.

thanks for the high praise, james! you know, they are still taking reviews of the book over at amazon!

your post makes me wish i'd known you earlier, so i could interview you on some of these subjects, especially the effects of sound waves.

recently i had to undergo a very painful diagnostic test, an EMG, which involves being hit with strong electric shocks, like being zapped with a taser, and then electricity being run through needles into the nerves--extremely painful and i was so shaken by this, i had to call mr. pique to come get me and drive me home.

we got in the car, and he had a recording of aldo ciccolini playing satie on the cd player. at the first few sounds of those notes, i felt my whole body relax. it was very nourishing, very healing.

i then proceeded to listen to radu lupu playing schubert sonatas the rest of the evening, and it really helped me overcome the trauma of the test.

i still want to understand more about this phenomenon. what can you tell us?

what occurred to me as i experienced a complete change in my body from listening to satie is this: i chose my piano because it was tuned to a frequency that is healing for me.

what scientific knowledge is currently available that might support or discredit this supposition?

prodigal pianist,
that is very cool that you knew to ask for a different style of tuning and it worked for you!

Dear Perri,
I received your book last week and have put aside a John Grisham novel so I can read GRAND OBSESSION. Instantly I was drawn in. Up to page 21 and so far I love it! I am sure reading this book will be an awesome experience. I can relate to your story, as I as a child was drawn to pianos just like you and I had parents who did not provide any piano lessons for me. I started lessons at 18 and paid for them all by myself.
I have just bought a Kawai RX2 grand piano - my first grand, and even though it is wonderful, I am experiencing a few issues with it. Hopefully these will be fixed with a proper set up of the piano.
Congratulations on your wonderful book.

Dear piqué,

My book has arrived and I absolutely LOVE it! We emailed each other a few times and it was wonderful to correspond with you. Your book is helping me to live through my piano problems and I can relate to what you went through. I am up to page 126. I am awake till the wee hours reading your great book...thank you so much for the best book I will have ever read!


Cheers,
piano_mike

Dear Perri,

Add me to the list of fascinated readers. I enjoyed your book thoroughly, and even rationed the number of pages I would read in one day so that the experience would continue. I'm ashamed to tell you that I didn't buy the book, though, because I'm an exec at your publisher!!! I already sent an email to your editor to say how much I enjoyed it.

Aloha Pique,

Thank you for writing a book that is not only a great story, but very educational. Your book has great energy and forward momentum (I read it in a day-and-a-half) and I learned a lot about what to expect when you receive a new piano.

My husband and I purchased an RX-2 for our daughter a little over a year ago. The piano had very little prep when delivered to our home. After a pitch raise and through subsequent tunings, I would hear the piano's tone changing.

This was all strange to me because I didn't know what to expect (my background in music is limited to flute studies up through high school). I had no idea that pianos evolve so much and that a special kind of vocabulary is helpful when talking to technicians.

Thanks so much for a book that is a great read and helps newbies!

pique - i have enjoyed reading the many accolades

you done good!

piano mike,
it's been fun corresponding with you and i hope all goes well with your kawai.

dglo,
i'm so pleased you found the book and let colin know you enjoyed it. he worked very hard on it with me, and deserves all the recognition he gets. and to redeem yourself for not having bought the book, may i suggest you continue to spread the word? especially to marketing!

aloha, maui,
i'm so pleased to know that reading "grand obsession" helped you better understand your experience with your new piano. it would be great if no one ever went through what i did ever again!

apple,
THANKS!

pique,

For the moment, I want to let you know that I have finished the book, loved it, and have several thoughts I'd like to share with you. It will take some devoted time to put them together coherently so I'll have to work on it and get back to you later.

Lots of "coincidences..."

pique,

I'm enjoying the book. I'm a little over halfway through. I picked it up at my local library (it seems to already have been checked out many times!).

For the first time I am noticing the vibrations that run through my arms, legs, and body when I play. Funny I never really noticed it before.....

JF
________________

Hi, Pique!

I am the proud owner of a new Kindle II digital book reader from Amazon.com. Your "Grand Obsession" is the first book I downloaded. It's wonderful, and it struck me as ironic that I was reading about a technology almost 300 years old--the inner workings of a piano--on a modern device that plucks vibrations out of the air and turns them into written or spoken words right in front of me.

There is so much I wish I could discuss with you. I believe that not only can there be synchronicities between instruments and people, but--like hearts that beat in unison or pendulums that swing together--there is also a web of inexplicable vibratory connections between performer and and listener which resonate with the very core of our being at certain times. Perhaps this is why some performances are simply unforgettable, and stay in our mind's ear forever...

By the way, I also found my "dream piano" after a two-year search and a lifetime of dreaming. It's a limited edition art case Steinway "B," in polished rosewood, designed by J.B. Tiffany and signed on the plate by Henry Z. Steinway. It's about 10 years old, and has truly found its voice--and it gives me back much more than I can possibly put into it. Makes me cry at times because I can literally feel the intent and love that went into its making.

Thank you for resonating with my own thoughts about all this through your book.

Wayne Johnson, Seattle

P.S. I know several of the people (technicians, etc.) you mentioned in the book and it was fun to "meet" them again within the pages.

ed,
don't leave me hanging. please do share your thoughts. if you don't want to do it publicly, you can always write to me through my website. i looked at your website and i can already see that we must have geography in common.

hi, jf,
thanks for writing; glad you are enjoying it!

dr. j,



absolutely!

how do you like the kindle 2? after reading about it for the first time i thought such a device might be very handy, especially when traveling. i'm pleased to know that "grand obsession" was your first download.

your piano sounds wonderful. do i know your tech?

Hi, again, pique! (sorry, I don't know how to make the accent over the "e" on this forum)

Thanks for replying to my post. Not only was your book my first download on the Kindle II, but it was through your book that I discovered Piano World--so my comments above were my first posting on this forum as well!

I LOVE the Kindle II, since you asked. It's addicting and very easy to read and use--and the books cost about a third of what a "real" book costs. You can change the font size as well, which is an invaluable feature. Although expensive, I highly recommend it.

Interesting that you originally named your piano Marlene after that famous voice. When I "met" my piano, I immediately thought of Karen Carpenter--both she and the piano have a creamy, voluptuous voice that I fell in love with instantly. I don't have a regular tech yet since it really hasn't needed anything except tuning, and I use Randy Rush for that. But I know Steve Brady when it comes time to have it voiced or regulated. This is fun, and thanks so much for replying!

Wayne J

Hi,
I'm 14 years old. I just started reading your book. I really like it. Sometimes I feel like you do especially in one of the first couple pages of your book you mentioned that you couldn't play in front of your friends because you would be an outcast. I know exactly how you felt. I feel that way. Many kids that I know don't listen classical music. It's not cool. I love it. It's all I listen to. When I play the piano,or listen to classical music, the pieces are so beautiful that it makes me want to cry.
Thank you for writing your book.
Marie
By the way my family owns a Kawai RX-3 and I love it.

Marie, keep going, follow your heart and don't let those other kids influence you. You know what music you need!