Recording my first Grand Piano tonight!

I also like putting a mic on either side of the player to capture the player's perspective.  When you're playing the piano it really shakes you. I try to capture that feeling.

I like larger than life recordings. Leave the realism to a live performance in a concert hall.

Next day now: so ..... how did it go?

I've been recording a friend's grand piano and have tried a lot of advice from a lot of printed and web sources.  In the spirit of experimentation I tried a setup that - according to most of what I've read - shouldn't work, but it really does.  I just set up two condensers about three feet apart from each other, pointed directly at the fully-open lid.  I get a spread of notes all over the stereo spectrum, but it's not just the high notes on one side and the low notes on the other.  (I never really liked that effect.)  But with the method I've been using I get a really full sound that's nicely balanced.  I'd imagine it's a function of the room - a standard living room with the piano in the corner, carpeting on the floor, and nothing really "right" for recording.  But somehow it works better than closed-lid techniques, artist-perspective placements, and the other generally accepted methods.

It just reinforces the old saw that there are no right or wrong ways to record, and that experimentation is the best tool in the box.