Your piano is a delicate musical instrument that needs regular care inside your home along with a periodic tuning to keep its sound at the right chromatic pitch. Here are some recommendations to help you keep your piano in tune and well maintained so it lasts you for years and years to sound great.

Recognize an Out-of-Tune Piano

A piano's tune comes from a variety of strings to give you the right sound and pitch for each individual key. But when the string becomes loose, which can happen for various reasons, the piano's sound will begin to be a bit off. You may not be familiar with a piano's sound and what to look for if it is out of tune. 

If you have just acquired an older piano, for example, or you have a piano that you play every day but cannot hear the difference because the change in its tune happens very slowly, you may not know what to recognize. However, you can listen to the sound the piano's different keys make, and with practice, you will notice the keys play a sound that is a bit twangy or buzzy and sounds off a little bit. 

Arrange For a Tune-Up

When you recognize your piano is out of tune, you will need to arrange for a professional piano tuning to keep its sounds in line with the correct pitch. The strings in your piano will need to be tightened on a regular basis for tuning, and it is recommended that you tune it every year. The tuning will take place inside your home so you don't need to transport your piano anywhere and will take from one to two hours. Your professional piano tuner will be able to begin to tune your piano starting with one key and working their way across the keyboard to align all the rest in tune as well.

If you have neglected your piano for several years of allowing it to stay out of tune, it will need a follow-up tuning several months after you get it tuned. The reason this happens is that your piano has not been tuned and the piano has become accustomed to being out of tune so much that it will return out of tune again more quickly than normal. So, schedule a follow-up tuning appointment with your piano tuning professional to return in several months to adjust any string relaxing that will occur.

Keep It In-Tune

Help keep your piano in tune by keeping it in a draft-free space within your home, preferably against an interior wall that is away from a fireplace or ventilation source. The change in climate will cause your piano to go out of tune more quickly. So if you have weather that changes from dry to humid frequently, this will require you to tune more frequently than in a more stable climate.