As your Piano Tuner Wilmington DE, Kenneth Keith Piano Services, I am frequently asked how a piano owner can tell if their piano needs tuning. The full answer is somewhat complicated.
The short answer is to look at your calendar. If it has been more than six months since your piano was tuned, then it needs tuning. Have you ever watched a violin or guitar concert and seen the artist tuning his/her instrument between pieces? That’s what it takes for a stringed instrument to be perfectly in tune. A piano is a stringed instrument, and it is constantly going out of tune. For piano concerts, the instrument is typically tuned in the morning before rehearsal, then again in the afternoon right before the concert, and sometimes at intermission so that the piano will be perfectly in tune.
For the home, daily tuning is not, of course, financially realistic. In the home, as long as the piano is tuned about every 6 months, it will stay in reasonable tune, so that a minimal tuning will return the instrument to its proper pitch. Every major piano manufacturer recommends tuning at least twice a year.
The main question, however, is usually “Can an untrained person tell if a piano is out of tune enough to need tuning?” Frequently parents rely on their children to tell them if the piano needs tuning, even though children are not trained to be able to tell if a piano needs tuning. If a parent relies on the child to tell them, then the piano will usually be so far out of tune that it will require extra piano services work to bring it back to the proper pitch. In the mean time, the child has missed out on the reward of beautiful music, and as a result will typically gradually loose their enthusiasm for learning to play piano. This often results in slower progress of learning and less return on the parents’ investment in piano lessons.
The only way to avoid this type of situation is to mark your calendar six months ahead at the time of piano tuning, so that you are reminded to call your piano tuner.
At Kenneth Keith Piano Services, your piano tuning Wilmington DE experts, we are always available to keep your piano in its best condition, so that you and/or your children will have the reward of enjoyable music, and making the best possible progress in your lessons and piano playing.
Besides Delaware piano tuning and piano services, we also serve the areas Southern New Jersey, Eastern Shore MD and Philadelphia PA. Please feel free to call us or email us for any type of piano services questions that you might have.
