Tuning your own piano

[gorbee natcase]

Violinists can, Guitarists can are we the only breed who pay twice a year+ to have this done. And even when you want it done you can be waiting a while.

Immagine how much you would spend in a life time on tuning your piano?

How much would it cost to learn properly.

Then when when the keys begin to go you can spend 10-15 mins putting it right

[donjuan]

I voted 'no' for a few reasons..

In your inexperience, If you go too far and do something disasterous to your piano, when the technician comes to fix it, you have to explain how it happened, ie. how you are too cheap to pay him to tune, so you tried and then there was a loud SNAP, blah blah blah

also, the price of replacing a broken piano string runs into the hundreds!  Whereas, you can find acceptable guitar strings in a '20 for 3$' type of thing. 

Also, violinists and guitarists can tune constantly, even while playing!  If you are playing the piano and have a good enough ear to tell that a certain note isnt quite where it should be, well, there's nothing you can do about it, now is there?!  In fact, if your ear is sophisticated enough to hear the slightly bad notes, the fact that you can't do anything about it right away will really piss you off during a performance. 

also, when I talked to my past tuner, he said that since he started tuning, he is incapable of enjoying a performance at a concert hall because all he can focus on is how the piano is going more and more out of tune during the evening.  Basking in the ignorance of my tin ear, I am glad to say I do not envy him!

[gorbee natcase]

I never thought of it on them lines. I would hate it if I was listening to a performance focusing on the piano going out of tune.
But when I switch from my digital to my grand it is noticable as its not a gradual thing and the 2 dynamics do get worse and worse.

I have gone 2 years once without tuning my piano, and it seems to go more out of tune to begin with; then after a couple of weeks it levels off and I get used to it 

[hiline]

Hey, this is the question:
'Should pianists be able to tune there own piano??'

but not:
Should pianists tune their own pianos?

So I 'd vote 'Yes'. It would definitely help us get familiar with accurate pitches.

[timothy42b]

To really tune a piano well takes as much skill as playing it.

And this skill fades as quickly as piano playing skill does.  Can you imagine how clumsy you would be if you only played once or twice a year?  There is a lot more to tuning well than you realize.

So I would say yes, learn how to increase your knowledge, that's never a bad thing, but don't count on actually doing it unless you have the time and committment to maintain both skills.

[Tash]

it'd be kind of good, in terms of getting a better sense of pitch, however when listening to music i agree with donjuan in the benefits of basking in my own ignorance and bad sense of pitch. but this is really crap for my guitar class at uni cos i can't tune the silly thing!!! i'm like hmmm yeah that could be in tune...will work on that at home...so hopefully playing the guitar will help my sense of being in tune, which could also benefit my singing!!

but back to the question, i think pianists should have an idea, so if there was one really wacked note on their piano they would be able to fix it. but not for a whole massive tuning job- personally i'd rather be practicing!!

[pantonality]

A couple of points to make:

You can tune your piano now, all you need is a tuning hammer and an electronic tuner. Does that mean you should be doing it? I have to admit being tempted because when I get my piano tuned it sounds great for a week and pretty good for a month and then it just needs to be tuned (it's fairly new so it's still breaking in). One thing I wouldn't worry about is breaking a string, you would have to crank the string well beyond correct pitch to run that risk.

I do find it interesting how the same subject can come up on different piano forums at the same time. This same subject is being discussed on another piano forum at this very moment. I guess the piano world is  small enough for great minds to think alike.

Steve

[tompilk]

it would be very good to be skilled at it... can excessive tuning damage a piano?
I got my new piano half a year ago and I have to say that i didnt notice a difference after it as tuned... or a very little difference...
Tom

[abell88]

My teacher had perfect pitch and someone he knew made him a special piano-tuning wrench. He deliberately put middle C out of tune and then tried to re-tune it. Unfortunately, the material the wrench was made out of was too soft and it deformed and was not able to turn the tuning peg...so he had to live with middle C being very out of tune for a week until the tuner could come. 

[cy_shuster]

A couple of points to make:

You can tune your piano now, all you need is a tuning hammer and an electronic tuner. Does that mean you should be doing it? I have to admit being tempted because when I get my piano tuned it sounds great for a week and pretty good for a month and then it just needs to be tuned (it's fairly new so it's still breaking in). One thing I wouldn't worry about is breaking a string, you would have to crank the string well beyond correct pitch to run that risk.

Ah, but if you've got your tuning lever on the wrong pin, it's very easy to break a string!

There are as many strings in a piano as in 40 guitars.  There's as much tension as the weight of ten midsized cars, about 150 pounds per string.  There are three strings per note for most notes.  And no two pianos are tuned exactly the same, except for middle "A".  All of these make piano tuning much more difficult than guitar or violin.

It's similar to asking "Should car drivers maintain their own engines?".  If you're willing to learn how, go right ahead, but it's not necessary, and there is some possibility of damage.

I think it's much more important for pianists to understand how a piano works.  I really enjoy holding classes on this, where I remove the action from a piano and describe the basic function.  For example, at the end of the keystroke, the hammer is completely disconnected from the key, so any variation of pressure at the bottom of the keystroke makes no difference in the sound.

I also work to keep a piano in tune as long as possible, by adjusting the tuning schedule as needed and controlling the environment if humidity swings are excessive.

--Cy--

[g_s_223]

It's useful to have a tuning hammer to correct the occasional unison which drifts out of tune, but proper tuning is IMO a highly-skilled specialist skill that should be left to the professional.