Advocating Tuning

[Appenato]

What is a good way to go about recommending that the student's piano should be tuned? I teach in students' homes half the time and their pianos haven't been tuned for years. Seriously. Those students that come to my home say "your piano doesn't sound like my piano" and sometimes they've come to lessons playing in a different position than written because it sounded correct to them. I've advocated tuning before in the past but I don't think it's understood how important it is. More stress needs to be put into it i guess....

 One new student I recently acquired has a kawai consol  piano and it sounds like a carnival/saloon piano.  It's painful to sit and listen to, and she is constantly asking whether she's playing the correct notes - the right keys are being depressed, but as for the right pitch sounding, ehhh.... Some notes are something between a tritone and some other tone. 

Maybe I should state upfront when taking students whose houses I go to need to have a tuned piano? What more should I do? It's so nerve-racking at times!

[sonatainfsharp]

Ask them if they would never change the oil in their car.

If a piano isn't maintained (like a car), it will end up being a very expensive piece of furniture in a hurry.

That being said, my piano hasn't been tuned in 10 years, but it was a piece of furniture when we bought it, bless my parents' hearts, though, as I wasn't in the position to be picky at the time.