Piano Tips
Why Do Pianos Need Tuning?
Tuning is the most frequent and important type of piano maintenance, but it's often the
least understood. Here we'll look at why pianos go out of tune and how you can help
yours stay in better tune between visits from your technician. Aside from this initial
settling, seasonal change is the primary reason pianos go out of tune. To understand
why, you must realize that the piano's main acoustical structure, the soundboard, is
made of wood (typically 3/8- inch thick Sitka spruce). And while wooden soundboards
produce a wonderful sound, they also react constantly to the weather. As humidity goes
up, a soundboard swells, increasing its crowned shape and stretching the piano's
strings to a higher pitch. During dry times, the soundboard flattens out, lowering tension
on the strings and causing the pitch to drop. Unfortunately, the strings don't change
pitch equally. Those near the soundboard's edge move the least, and those near the
center move the most. So, unless it's in a hermetically sealed chamber, every piano is
constantly going out of tune!The good news is there are some simple things you can do
to keep your piano sounding sweet and harmonious between regular service
appointments. Although it's impossible to prevent every minor variation in indoor
climate, you can often improve conditions for your piano. Start by locating the piano
away from direct sunlight, drafts, and heat sources. Excess heating causes extreme
dryness, so try to keep the temperature moderate (below 70 degrees) during the winter
heating season. Get a portable room humidifier, or install a central humidification
system to combat winter dryness in climates with very cold, dry winters.A portable
dehumidifier or a dehumidifier added to your air-conditioning system can remove
excess moisture during hot, muggy summers. If controlling your home's environment is
impractical, or if you want the best protection possible, have a humidity control system
installed inside your piano. These are very effective in controlling the climate within the
instrument itself. Besides improving tuning stability, they help minimize the constant
swelling and shrinking of your piano's wooden parts. The critical part of such a system
is the humidistat, a device that monitors the relative humidity within the piano and adds
or removes moisture as needed. Jars of water, light bulbs, or other home remedies
have no such control and can actually do more harm than good.
If you have to put your piano in storage...
• Don't, if at all possible.
• Pianos, like people, prefer safe and cozy homes, away from drafts, dampness and
rodents. Putting a piano into storage usually means moving it from a comfortable
house to a cold and drafty warehouse. Even if the facility is advertised as "climate-
controlled," it's rarely as well-regulated as a home. The more variable the
temperature and humidity, the faster a piano deteriorates.
• If you must store your piano, try to find a friend to keep it for you. Ideally,
someone in the "foster home" will play the piano and agree to have it serviced
periodically by a technician of your choice.
• Unheated personal storage units are not suitable places to store pianos for any
length of time.
• A well-built garage can be an acceptable option for short term storage (up to one
year), if you take some precautions:
• Check the building's drainage. Make sure the floor under the piano will never be
damp.
• Is the building weather-tight? There should be no dew on the inside of the
windows on a cool rainy day.
• Ask your technician to install a climate control system in the piano. Make sure it
stays plugged in to an electrical outlet.
• Cover the piano with heavy blankets.
• Arrange to have it regularly inspected for rodent infestation
How to Safely Move a Piano Around a Room
Standard piano casters are only meant for occasional small movements, such as rolling
the piano a few feet on a smooth floor Pianos moved often, such as those on stages, in
school buildings or in churches, must be mounted on special dollies to prevent damage
to the original casters and legs.
To safely move your home piano to a new spot in the room, here are some tips:
Grands
If the piano is sitting on carpeting, or if the floor has any obstacles like thresholds,
furnace grates, etc., you need to be very careful to avoid straining the legs. First lower
the lid. Then position three people around the piano, one near each leg. (Remove belt
buckles, rings, etc. that could scratch the piano's finish.) It's not necessary to lift the
piano off the floor, but just to take some weight off the casters so they will roll more
easily. Move the piano slowly, a few inches at a time. Caution: Never roll a caster over
any bump in the floor; always lift it over, one leg at a time, using extra help.
Uprights
The same cautions for grands apply here. Use two people, one at each end of the
piano (two at each end for large uprights), and always lift the casters over bumps in the
floor. Caution: Beware that most of the weight is located toward the back of an upright
piano, making it prone to tipping over if leaned too far back. When moving an upright
out from a wall, never allow anyone, especially children, to stand behind the piano.
Most spinet and console pianos have thin, unsupported front legs. These take extra
care, since they can easily break off if caught in a crack or dragged across soft
carpeting. To avoid damage, carefully tip the piano back slightly as you roll it to reduce
weight on the front legs.
Positioning a Piano in Your Home
"Is it wrong to place a piano against an outside wall? How far from the fireplace must it
be? Can I keep my piano in an unheated room?"
These are all common questions posed by piano owners. The answers lie in two
important criteria: temperature and humidity.
Pianos are mostly wood and are greatly affected by seasonal change. Variations in the
air's relative humidity, and to a lesser extent temperature, cause a piano to go out of
tune. In the long run, repeated swings in relative humidity can cause damage to the
finish, cracking of the wooden soundboard, and even structural failure. So, when
locating your piano, try to choose a spot with the fewest drafts, no direct sunlight and
stable temperature and humidity.
Common lore says that a piano should always be on an inside wall. This is not
necessarily true. If your home is well insulated, an outside wall will usually be fine, as
long as the piano is not directly in front of a window or close to a furnace vent or other
source of warm (or cold) air.
Evenness of humidity and temperature is what you should strive for. Thus, a piano in an
unheated room is better off than one in a family room that's alternately heated, cooled
and ventilated with open windows.
Remember:
• If the piano is facing a fireplace or heater and its surface feels warm, it's too close.
• Avoid direct sunlight; it will wreak havoc on your piano's tuning and eventually
fade and crack the finish.
• Consistency is more important than the actual levels of temperature or relative
humidity.
If you can't find a suitable location, have a climate control system installed in the
instrument itself. These units can greatly improve tuning stability and other climate-
related problems where it's not practical to control the environment of the entire house.
When is the best time to get my piano tuned?
Pianos go out of tune primarily because of changes in humidity. When the seasons
change, the humidity in your home also changes.
This means the best time to tune your piano is immediately after a seasonal change.
That way, your piano will sound its best until the next seasonal change, when it will go
out of tune again.
Many people get their pianos tuned twice a year. The best times to do this are usually
in the Fall and Spring.
Relative humidity is expressed as a percentage, calculated by measuring the moisture
in the air then dividing by the amount of moisture the air could hold if it was completely
saturated. A 100% relative humidity condition is common. You've seen it as fog or
clouds, or in your steamy bathroom after a long hot shower.
You can monitor all this with a gauge that measures relative humidity (and often
temperature too). Avoid the inexpensive ones that are sold in hardware stores for less
than $10. Reasonably accurate gauges between $30 to $250 are available from Radio
Shack, your piano technician, or scientific supply companies.
If you don't have a gauge, you can still keep track of humidity changes by observing
your home heating system. Heated air can hold more moisture than unheated air, so
when the air in your house is heated, its relative humidity is lower. This means:
• In the fall, your heating system has been off all summer and now it's on a lot. It's
likely the relative humidity has gone down in your house.
• In springtime, your furnace has been on all winter, and now it's off most of the
time. The relative humidity has probably increased inside your home at the piano.
It may not make sense to tune a piano immediately preceding a seasonal change. So if
your piano sounds a little sour in late March or September, it might be smart to wait to
get it tuned till alter the upcoming seasonal humidity swing. And if you tune your piano
only once a year, it's best to always get it tuned the same month so humidity conditions
are similar.
Does it hurt my piano when kids pound on it?
Because it's so annoying, the racket of keys struck at random may rattle your nerves,
but it won't damage the piano.
Most pianos are built to withstand very heavy use. The next time you see a serious
pianist perform a flamboyant classical piece, notice how forcefully he or she attacks the
keyboard. Or listen to how hard your tuner pounds each key when tuning your piano. In
comparison, a child's small hands couldn't possibly play that hard.
The real danger of children playing with, as opposed to playing, a piano is that they
often can't resist dropping small toys inside, slipping coins into the slots between the
keys, or running toys across the finish.
But remember that music exists to give pleasure. Encourage your child to have fun with
the piano, not to be afraid of it. Don't worry if young children play haphazardly and
loudly. If you teach respect for the instrument and they discover how enjoyable playing
can be, they'll treat it properly. And if your children learn that playing the piano is fun,
you won't have to plead with them to practice when they're older.
Left Feet, Left Pedals
Ever wonder how that soft pedal on the left really works?
On a grand piano, when you depress the una corda pedal (also called the shift pedal),
the keyboard moves slightly to the right. This causes the hammers to strike fewer
strings on each note. (Most notes have more than one string.) The result is a softer
tone, and a different tone color as well.
On vertical pianos, the left pedal doesn't change the number of strings that the hammer
strikes. Instead, the pedal pushes all the hammers half way to the strings. Since the
hammers have a shorter distance to travel, they hit the strings with less force and
therefore less volume.
So on a vertical piano, the left pedal is like an off-and-on switch--press the pedal and
the volume drops. But on a well-regulated grand piano, you can use techniques such
as half-pedaling to get not only a difference in volume but also subtle variations in tone
color.
What does "A -440" mean?
Sound occurs when air is set into motion rapidly. Humans can hear sound if those
cycles of compression and uncompression occur anywhere from twenty times each
second to about twenty thousand times each second.
When a piano string is set into motion, it vibrates up and down repeatedly. If the note A
above middle C is properly tuned, that string will vibrate up and down 440 times in one
second. That's what A-440 means.
Every note on a piano is tuned using A-440 as the starting point. A-440 has been
accepted as the universal standard for most of the century. Before that, it varied as
much as a semi-tone higher or lower.
And even further back in time, there was no standard at all. Every village used a
prominent local instrument, such as a church organ, as the standard for tuning its
musical instruments. Pity the wandering minstrel!
How should I shop for a used piano?
A first step would be to decide on a price range and appearance you're comfortable
with. Remember, you'll see it everyday even when you don't play it.
Go to piano stores, look in the newspaper, and ask your local music teachers and
tuners to let you know if anything turns up.
When you find one that's interesting, play it. Try every note, listening for buzzes or
notes that don't work at all. Play some music that's loud and fast, and some that's soft
and slow. if you don't play yourself, bring a friend who does.
And finally, when you find a piano you think you want to buy, have it inspected by a
professional piano technician. Would you buy a used car without a mechanic's advice?
Save yourself the possibility of disappointment or disaster, and have a piano technician
check it out for you before you write the check.
Another good source of information is The Piano Book by Larry Fine (Brookside Press,
P0 Box 178, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130; hard cover $26.95, paper $16.95; 1-800-545-
2022 www.pianobook.com) It's an indispensable source of complete information on
buying a used or new piano, as well as how to maintain it afterwards. It has wonderful
explanations of how pianos work and reviews of dozens of different piano brands.
What is a square grand? What is a birdcage?
These are the names of two outdated designs of piano that are no longer being built.
The square piano, which is actually rectangular in shape, was built from about 1840
until 1900. The birdcage piano was built during the same era, and is so called because
if you look under the lid at the action the first thing you'll see are vertical wires, just like
a cage for a bird.
Both the square grand and the birdcage were unsuccessful attempts to design a piano
that takes up less floor space than a conventional grand. In Atlantic City in 1904, the
National Association of Piano Dealers burned a pile of 1000 square grands to publicize
the instruments' obsolescence and announce the arrival of the newest design-the
vertical piano, the design of which has remained almost completely unchanged. It has
become so popular that the majority of new pianos sold today are vertical pianos, and
are the same basic design as the ones celebrated in 1904.
Compared to modern designs, birdcages and square pianos generally have minimal
musical value. Avoid buying one, or even taking one for free. For these outdated relics,
we're glad for the old expression, "They don't make them like that any more!"
Why do some pianos have keys that feel heavy and some that feel light?
The weight required to make a key go down is referred to as the "touch." On different
pianos it might vary from 40 grams to 70 grams (26 grams make up one ounce).
Differences in leverage, mass of various parts, and frictional resistance yield piano
actions that play very differently.
But don't think that a lighter touch is always better. In fact, most advanced musicians
like to feel a touch that is anywhere from 52 to 58 grams. If a piano is too light, there's
no feedback from the piano back to the player. And if the touch is too heavy, arms and
fingers tire easily and sensitive control is gone.
Some adjustments can be made to change a piano's touchweight. If you're interested,
ask your piano technician.
How often should a piano be tuned?
For a piano in a home, the answer is once every three to six months. For pianos in
concert halls, the answer is every single time it's played, which sometimes means twice
in one day.
Why the difference?
Because the performance requirements and the budgets vary tremendously.
When you play your piano, it's probably at home after work, with an audience of none
or one, and maybe your cat too. You play for fun, relaxation, and to express your
musical creativity. Your budget may only allow one or two tunings per year.
When a concert artist plays, it might be for an audience of several thousand who have
paid ticket prices ranging from $35 to $250. The 23- year-old pianist has practiced
eight hours a day for ten years, and her career hinges on the reviews in tomorrow's
New York Times. The performance is being recorded for international release by a
major record company. The piano is a 9' concert grand that costs over $60,000. And
who knows how much the pianist earns for that one performance?
Two different scenarios, two different tuning schedules.
| Visit our restoration and display facility 5101 N. 125th Street Located in Butler, WI near Hampton Ave. and I-45. Hours: Mondays 10 - 5 and by appointment. 414.315.7763 |
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