An untold Piano Lesson

Friday, February 16, 2007

Learning to play the piano is worthless if you forget to pay attention to an important lesson that time and knowledge will teach you during or after your training: learning piano care.

The piano is the most costly among the different musical instruments, which requires appropriate care and periodical tuning to preserve your investment and good tonalities when playing a piece of music.

Periodic service guarantees excellent piano's performance. A piano in tune is also needed for learning because you will never know when you are playing wrong if the piano is not tuned at the international pitch standard, regulating the service for this instrument.

Such standard is the A-440 cycles per second pitch that keeps pianos sounding great. New pianos, however, require tuning more often than old pianos because pitch drop quickly on them and "new" means literally those instruments of recent manufacture.

In new instruments the wood parts are settling during the first four or five years of the piano's life. During this period of time, the strings are also stretching each time that people play on them, hence requiring tuning at least four times during the first year.

After the second year, and for older pianos, tuning service is only require twice a year, although, moving your piano from one room into another can cause your piano to go out of tune, the same as seasonal changes that require you to pay attention to the piano's wood finish.

New pianos require regular cleaning with a dry cotton cloth, but older pianos may require polish periodically. Temperature swings also affect your piano sound and exterior appearance so make sure to keep the piano in a room which is not exposed to drastic weather changes and in which humidity is kept under control.

Unless you have an electronic keyword, remember that your piano's acoustical structure is made of wood so make sure to get periodical service called "voicing" to keep the soundboard in good condition verifying tone changes that occur when felt hammers wear out.

Keeping your piano tuned is a lesson that you must not forget if you want to enjoy playing your favorite melodies with an outstanding sound for many years.