Piano tuning in West University Place
West University Place is a city of families. Most of the pianos I see here were bought for a child’s lessons, or inherited and kept because somebody in the house still plays. They live in living rooms and front rooms of homes on quiet, tree-lined streets, a few blocks from Rice University, and they get played every evening after homework.
A piano like that has one job: to be in tune and pleasant to play when the lesson is at four o’clock. I am a Registered Piano Technician, and I keep family pianos on a schedule that fits the school year, so the instrument is ready when it matters and nobody has to think about it.
A schedule that follows the school year
The two natural moments for a tuning in West U are late August, when lessons start again, and January or February, when the heating has been running and the piano has drifted. Two visits a year, at those points, keep most family pianos stable and in tune for the recital season in spring. I will remind you when it is time; you will not have to remember.
Between visits, the best thing you can do is keep the piano off an exterior wall and away from the air-conditioning vent. In West U’s newer, well-sealed homes the indoor air is fairly stable, which helps, but the winter heating still dries it out.
The student piano
A child learns to hear on the instrument they practice on. An upright that is a little out of tune, with a couple of sluggish keys and a soft pedal that does nothing, teaches bad habits without anyone noticing. Regulating the action so every key responds evenly, and keeping the piano at A440 so it matches the teacher’s, is the most useful thing a parent can do for a student, and it costs far less than a new instrument.
If you are thinking about buying a used upright for lessons, ask me what to look for: a pinblock that holds, an action that can be regulated, hammers with felt left on them. For a piano you are serious about, I offer a pre-purchase evaluation: I inspect it where it is and give you a written report before you pay. I evaluate; I do not buy, sell, rent or broker pianos, or take a commission.
Close to Rice, close to serious players
West U’s location, next to one of the country’s leading music schools, means a share of the pianos here belong to people who play seriously: teachers, students, professionals. For those instruments I offer the same service I gave university faculty pianos: voicing to the room, regulation to the player’s touch, and tuning before a performance or a recording.