Thanks for all the comments, David. Just a few quick responses.

I felt the earthquake from several hundred kms away. Damage was restricted to the immediate 50km or so radius from the epicentre.

I think that some piano tuners do upset some clients, including some concert pianists, by doing "too stretched" a tuning - so that beats in the octaves are noticeable, even if the client does not notice the beats themselves, there is just something "not right" about the tuning. I don't think anyone ever "goes there" to the same extent with narrow tunings.

My point about factories leaving the hammers unvoiced, was not that they would remain unvoiced in the showroom, just that I think it would be to the advantage of the piano buyer IF the "showroom voicer"/local technician WAS the person expected by the entire trade, to have the skills and to do this work. The status quo is a vicious circle, where the poor old local technician never knows what has already been done to hammers, and can never rely on being able to obtain a reliable result with any given approach. Look at what Perri went through with one voicer after another - and Marc Weinert's approach early on in the process may have been completely incompatible with what someone back at the factory had done.

I think this is a major reason for so much confusion, disagreement, and lack of confidence surrounding voicing. So few people get to start with a clean sheet and work out how to "build a voicing" from that point, and work out NOT to do "that" after "this" has BEEN done. Everyone has strong ideas about this or that approach that "got fantastic results" OR "killed the hammers" - and it was mostly a question of that approach just coincidentally being the right (or wrong) "NEXT THING" that could have been done to those hammers after what had already BEEN done to them.

This is why I am a whole lot more confident about getting "improvement" on a cheapie new piano with untouched hammers, than I am about even trying anything on an expensive, premium quality famous brand, where an expert individual has spent many hours voicing already.

I guess a rule of thumb is to regard the expensive piano's voicing as pretty much "set in concrete" and not to be messed around with any further. If you want a different sound, be prepared to buy a new set of hammers and let the best expert you can find in your area start from scratch.

Regards

Phil Hayward
Piano Tuner
Lower Hutt
NZ

i just started reading this book and i can't put it down! it was also the last book left in the city so i feel especially lucky to have come across it.

I think it should be a must read for all the piano buyers out there, i know it'll definitely help me alot when its time to buy my marlene.

I just read Grand Obsession yesterday, having bought the Kindle version. Great book! There were many things I could identify with. I had the perfect (for me) piano once, and made the huge mistake of selling it during a time when I went months without playing. Yeah, I'm a little bitter

Maybe I'll find my perfect piano again someday. Meanwhile, it was fun (and sometimes painful) reading someone else's story about having the perfect sound in one piano. The conversations about vibration especially spoke to me. The journey to recapture that tone was fascinating. It's good knowing there are others out there share the obsession. Makes me feel just a little less crazy (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

hi everyone. there hasn't been much grand obsession news to report for awhile, and now two big items to post in one week.

first, we've just made an arrangement with a german publisher, deutscher taschenbuch, to translate GRAND OBSESSION into german. this makes me especially happy as so many of the german and austrian characters in the book have been unable to read it as they do not read english.

look for the german edition in about 18 months (it takes a while to translate!) in the meantime, if you have friends who read italian or chinese, those editions are already in print.

second, nancy williams, who has a very worthwhile blog about playing the piano as an adult, has interviewed me about my own piano studies. it's a two-part post, and part one appears today along with a trailer for a documentary about beethoven's warehouse. have a look:

http://www.nancywilliamspiano.com/2011/10/03/grand-obsession-adult-piano-lessons/

Thanks for the update, Perri!
And BTW (coincidence!) I think I'm next on Nancy's list.
I look forward to seeing those posts about you!

mark, i'll look forward to your interview. what will you be talking about?

(We did the interview a few weeks ago.)
It seems she's going to be focusing a lot on what I said about my old teacher Seymour Bernstein, including my playing his pieces, since later on (also by coincidence) she's also going to be writing about his book. She was already planning that before she contacted me and didn't know he had been my teacher.

Hi Perri - LOVE your book. I just finished it and am eager to visit Piano Row next time I'm in Manhattan - my sister lives there and I try to get out at least once a year.

I have a question about your recent interview: You mention you worked through the method used by the Royal Conservatory. Are there actual method books that you used? Are they available to the general public? Are they similar to the "Improve your sight-reading" workbooks Vol 1 - 8 that are used in England to build musicianship to sit for board examinations?

hi caklock,

i'm not familiar with the english books so i can't compare.

the books i am using are available to the general public. it's the royal conservatory of toronto method and they do have examinations (chris is threatening to put me up to these!)

if your local music store does not carry them (ours does) then they can order them for you, or you can order them yourself.

here's two of the books i am using now:

piano repertoire 8, celebration series, perspectives, published by frederick harris music

book 6, four star, sight reading and ear tests, daily exercises for piano students, published by frederick harris music

go to www.frederickharrismusic.com to see the whole celebration series "perspectives"

they have repertoire books from preparatory to level ten, and compact discs to go with them

they have piano studies/etudes levels 1-10

they have student workbooks prep to level 8

and then there are the four star sight reading books and rhythm and ear training books.

there's also a technical requirements for piano book from prep to level 8 (i've never seen this, but it is basically the scales, chords, arpeggios, which i have in two other books.)

here's part two, with a recording included at the end:

http://www.nancywilliamspiano.com/2011/10/04/perri-knize-on-her-adult-piano-lessons/

Very nice playing pique. As I listened I said to myself why didn't I ever learn that wonderful Chopin waltz.

Rich

That was beautiful.

Congratulations Perri!

I have gotten reports though that you have pictures of incredibly good looking men on your website in hopes of attracting more women to the site.

PROOF!!

Even without looking I have a feeling I know who you might be talking about...

Really enjoyed the recording. Wonderful sound.

thanks, guys!

rich,
you just exponentially increased traffic to my site. at least i assume this was your "fault." the williams website only directed 2 visitors and both "bounced."

thanks, pal.

Hi Perri,

Glad to hear your book continues to carry on, finding new audiences.

We still get new members who indicate they discovered us via your book.
I hope we are able to reciprocate :-)

Wish you could have made the Cape Cod piano party coming up this Saturday.

The Chopin Waltz is beautifully played and recorded. It's a wonderful sound and performance. Bravo!

Nice playing!

An excellent read. I particularly enjoyed the "part two". The reference to focusing on learning to play the piano verse the piano obsession was especially poignant, even though I am easily as guilty of piano infatuation. The Chopin Waltz at the end was a nice surprise.

Your book resides in my bookcase just a little more than arms length from my piano. Is there a follow up in the future, with perhaps, a focus on the music within?

i wish i could have made it too, frank. we had hoped to get back east this fall, but other urgent matters have overtaken us and it isn't to be, this year.

i know that a cape cod party is in my future, however, it's just a matter of which year will it be?

thanks for the kind words about my playing. the passion is mine, the intonation in the piano is marc's, and the absence of mistakes is entirely lou brown's doing. he's a gifted sound engineer and editor.

our dearly and recently departed friend phlebas also made a recording with lou brown. if anyone is in the new york area and wants a professional recording, i can't say enough good things about lou's gifts.

you can find a link to his recording studio's web page at the bottom of the flash page of the grand obsession website.

string and woods,
i do hope someday to write a sequel to this book, likely focused on my experience as a full-time conservatory student in her 60s.

for right now, many other projects--too many other projects--are demanding my attention. i've started writing for national geographic magazine and may soon be blogging either for them, or about my preparations for a story for them. TBD.

I've never mentioned this here before, but my first post was because of Grand obsession (the book). It was a great read, I loved it, so thank you very much.

Very nice playing, keep it up!

I just re-read "Grand Obsession" -- I purchased it in hardcover when it first came out, and again recently on Kindle.

It was even better the second time through, since I've now had a little experience as an adult piano beginner (a development that was entirely inspired by reading Grand Obsession the first time). Even a little playing experience makes some of the technical issues in the book more understandable, although the book works very well even for readers completely ignorant about pianos.

One thing struck me more than any other on the second reading. Am I the only person who found the closing paragraph and its "wings" image to be as beautiful as any sentiment ever expressed in print? What a PERFECT summation of the whole amazing odyssey and its outcome.

Thank you, Perri. I hope to meet you someday, although I think I've already done so.

thank you, clssclib. i'm touched by how you received what i wrote at the end. it is exactly what i hoped for.

where might we have met?


rotom,
glad you found your way here. thanks for your kind words about my playing! i hope the next recording won't need quite so much editing.

Sorry -- I was being metaphorical. Your book spoke to me in a way that seemed so personal that I feel as though we've actually met.

Thanks again for writing it!