Webbed Flippers and Ivory Keys: The Platypus Watches "Note by Note"

This week found us watching a documentary called "Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037."  It's the story of the creation of a Steinway concert grand piano.  It's an enjoyable piece, but one of the recurring themes struck me in particular.  New York Steinways are still largely made and tuned by hand and this is the key factor in their excellence as musical instruments.  Most modern pianos are made and tuned by machine.  The result is a a large number of less expensive pianos and a great diminution in quality.  The narrative according to the documentary is that modernization is destroying the older and superior way of hand-craftsmanship.  This struck me as odd since the piano is a quintessentially "modern" (post 1648) instrument.  Let me explain.

The sheer complexity of a piano makes it a daunting task for any craftsman.  Producing it at a cost which places it within the purchasing range of the Bourgeois is nothing short of astounding.  Thus, the piano is a relative new-comer in the world of instruments, coming into its own only in the early 19th century.  Being a product of modernity, it is interesting to find that continued modernization has swiftly reached the point of diminishing returns; a modern device is being destroyed by the modernizing impulses that created it.

This leads one to wonder if the modern enterprise is by nature self-defeating.  The initial push has presented mankind with great gains but continued effort rapidly reaches the point of diminishing returns.  We might point out, however, that this may be said of any of the eras in human history.  Europe's Ancient World self-destructed as did its Middle Ages; each carried within it the eventual causes of its own collapse.  Now that we find ourselves nearing the end of this Third Age of Middle Earth, are there any lessons we can take with us into the age of Globalization?  That's a big question, but maybe we can start by narrowing down to the level of the piano.