GRAND OBSESSION A Piano Odyssey, by Perri Knize has been named one of the Washington Posts Books of the Year for 2008!

CONGRATULATIONS Pique'!

As many of you know, Grand Obsession was written by our own long time member, Pique'.


If you aren't familiar with the book, check it out. It received rave reviews on Amazon.com, and tons of great comments on our forums.



Washington Post Book List [/b](under Memoir)

Our long Grand Obsession thread

Reviews and Excerpts

On Amazon.com - Read the Reviews

The author\'s web site

WOW...Congratulations Perri!!!

thanks, frank, for posting this, and for all the attention you've brought to the book.

"grand obsession" wouldn't be without all of you, and that is the truth.

Congrats! I am just finishing up the book today. You should consider releasing an edition with a CD-Rom demonstrating the different piano sounds.

it would be interesting to know if what i describe in the book could be heard on a recording. a mic doesn't pick up everything. my publisher is the one who would have to decide to do that.

among the suggestions i've received:

have detailed illustrations of a piano action.

have a companion cd with all the music mentioned in the book on it.

if anyone has other suggestions, post away. maybe i'll make a compilation for the publisher to consider.

Pique,
That is just fantastic! Congratulations!!

Sophia

p.s. I'd love to see a CD with musical examples, tuning examples, tone examples, and the "revelation" tuning/ music examples if that is possible (and if these things could really be captured well in recordings)

Pictures of the cast of characters, particularly the handsome devil who owns those piano forums

Seriously though, a Kindle Reader version might be interesting, allowing for the addition of some other media.

Congratulations Perri!!
Best wishes!!

Jeremy & Linda Gloo

That's really exciting! Congratulations!

Betty

That's awesome congratulations. The book is well deserved that acknowledgement

thanks libby, betty, jeremy, linda, et al....

sophia,
michael harrison has released a CD of "revelation." you can find a link to it on the "links" page on my website. i am not sure if you can hear from the recording what i heard in michael's studio. the experience is very dependent on room acoustics, and michael's studio's acoustics are set up "just so."

but, the cd will definitely give you an idea of what i was describing. as for what the tuning sounds like if you try to play anything else on it--it sounds like a horribly out of tune piano!

frank,
the book is already available on kindle, and i understand that there are links one can follow from it.

as for the photos, i actually would like to create a page on the website of scenes from the book, photos of the characters--i have tons of wonderful pictures from europe, from beethoven's warehouse, from piano parties, of marc and i, etc. and i've long wanted to create a page where readers can come and see marlene etc.

it's just me doing the website at this point. i know how to do simple updates, but i'm going to have to study up to figure out how to do a whole new page in the same style as the other pages.

i could certainly post sound clips of various pieces and link to sites showing piano actions at work.

the links page already has some of that.

Perri,
Congratulations on Grand Obsession being selected as Book of the Year by the Washington Post. The post is just recognizing what your readers already knew! With your schedule as busy as it is do you still have ample practice and play time for Marlene? How are your lessons coming along? Have you started recording yourself and Marlene yet? When do we get to here some of the recordings?
Woody

hi, woody,
my last appearances were in october, and since then i have finally been able to return to studying and practicing. i'm now the grateful student of a professor at my local university music school. he is from the royal conservatory of toronto, and he is helping me fill in the gaps in my music education using that method.

i am tremendously excited to have this opportunity.

i won't be recording for a while (though my teacher does record me once a week trying to stumble through his master class), but there is a recording that marc wienert arranged. it's on the flash page (or initial jump page) of my website.

just click on the link below and it will take you there. the music plays until you click to enter. if you scroll down to the bottom you'll see all the info about it.

thanks for your kind words about the book.

Perri,
I have been admiring your playing of the Chopin B-minor Waltz now for almost a year. It actually got me motivated to start playing Chopin. That's why I was asking about more recordings. I figured you were probably too busy for lessons and lots of practice due to your schedule. I am glad to hear your back and make time for your piano roots. I'm hoping more recordings and another book will appear soon. I'm sure all of your fans here agree.
Woody

Well earned! Congrats!

COngratulations Pique!!! i AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! SEQUEL!!! SEQUEL!!!

hm, what shall it be?

pique goes to music school?

or

pique goes to piano technology school?

other ideas...?

Pique -- her fantasy blown about driving a piano semi decides to visit same piano trucker at his big 10 university and falls for the school and decides to audition but ends up getting tenure as an English professor and eventually becomes Dean of the University -- which she then writes about and which becomes a smash-hit bestseller.


We could call it "Grand Accession"

very cute.