The piano is one of those rare instruments which a musician cannot tune himself. It is due to the complexity of the instrument and consequently the complexity of the tuner’s work.
To tune a piano, the tension of the strings has to be modified in order to adjust the pitch of the sound. Generally, LA3 to 440 Hz is used as a reference. To achieve this, each tuning pin holding each string has to be rotated and wedged in the wooden base to try to maintain the setting for as long as possible.
Johann Sebastian Bach developed the principle of tempered tuning (where all semitones are equal in the range) so as to be able to play in all the tonalities and modalities without offending the ear and by convention this method applies especially to the piano. Tuning needs very great precision: 1/108ths of a tone ! It is as if there were 108 parts between two notes separated by one tone. The musician only hears the semitones. You will readily understand that to obtain this very small finesse in hearing, you will need to acquire an amazing sleight of hand
In fact, when a new piano leaves the factory, before being delivered to its new owner, it needs about four hours of preparation work. Le piano is called “raw”. Yet this essential stage is unfortunately often omitted, purely and simply. It will be claimed that moving the piano from the shop or the warehouse will have put the instrument out of tune. A good piano can withstand a journey of several dozen kilometres.
Thereafter, the piano needs regular servicing. Where there is moderate use (up to about 1 hour maximum per day), a regular programme of tuning at least one a year is essential if you wish to maintain the instrument in good working order. Where there is more sustained use (a knowledgeable amateur, or professional), it is important to vary the frequency of the service visits to suit the needs of the piano. This is because objectively, it is not the tuner nor even the pianist who ought to determine the frequency of tuning but in fact, the piano. According to the quality of its construction, its history, its state of tune over time, the variations in temperature and above all the humidity of the room, the conscientious professional will know how to respond to the needs of the piano.
Why have your piano tuned so regularly ?
Firstly, to have the pleasure of playing a well tuned piano and not get used to sounds which are not harmonious. Indeed, as in all things, we get used to slow and progressive deterioration of a thing or a situation. And it is only by comparison, having put up with an out of tune piano for years, that when the tuner finally intervenes the difference can be noticed, which by then is glaring.
On the other hand, a serious professional will be able to “keep an eye” on the evolution of your piano, warn you about certain little faults, like pedals which creak, or advise you of any necessary future work.
Then the tuning of the piano will be stabilised and accordingly improve its ongoing state of tune by “memorisation”. Indeed, pianos which are a few years old “hold their tune” less well than pianos of twenty years or so of equal quality. Finally, the issue of when a piano is forsaken by musicians is always thorny. What will be the benefit in tuning a piano which is not played ? Quite simply, keep the piano at LA of the diapason 440 Hz, thus maintaining the initial tension of the strings, preserve the quality of sound over time because a piano will lose its tune whatever the circumstances and finally let the harmonic structure suffer less in order to guarantee its longevity.
And an electronic device to tune your piano ?
Some will have heard of electronic devices occasionally used to tune pianos. A very good invention, you will tell me ? In theory, it ought to be perfect, in practice it is not so !
Provided that it is top of the range, very expensive and very cumbersome, an “electronic tuner” can measure frequencies perfectly, but it will be unsuitable for tuning a piano correctly, for two reasons:
The tuner who uses this type of equipment, when listening to the result of his work and if he is serious and competent, will be compelled to return to traditional tuning by ear. Moreover, someone who uses this equipment every day cannot be a true tuner by profession. He cannot understand its complexity because he has not learnt how to wedge the tuning pins of the piano which guarantees good tuning.
The second reason lies in the fact that a piano has its imperfections. These are two in number:
False strings and inharmonicity.
- A false string is one which, when struck, produces the same ripple as two strings of a close frequency struck simultaneously. This is a defect which unfortunately is encountered quite regularly and even with top of the range pianos. The origin of false strings is sometimes complicated which makes it quite difficult to remedy. This is why the tuner learns to be aware of this defect when confronted by it and adapt his work accordingly, without electronic equipment.
- Inharmonicity is a flaw inherent in pianos and does not constitute a defect. It is due to the actual design of the piano. In fact, this phenomenon varies from one string to the other, according to its diameter, length and tension. To summarise, the strings of a piano are too large in diameter relative to their length and tension. This phenomenon is more pronounced from the end of the mid range to the highest pitched. Thereby, if the octaves are tuned exactly, that is to say without ripples, as they should be, the other intervals become, in terms of perception of the human ear, diminished, abbreviated and shortened. This phenomenon varies according to the quality of the piano and above all its height for upright pianos and its length for grand pianos. Consequently, the seasoned tuner working exclusively by ear, will then be able to compensate for this inharmonicity. An electronic device is incapable of rectifying this flaw which is different in every piano.
