The Hidden Costs of Using an Online Piano Lesson App

 "Ah, yes! Let's get a free piano from the neighbor down the street who is moving and then we will use one of those online app's to give us lessons anytime we want at our own pace! I am such a genius sometimes."

No, you're not. (Sorry guys.)

First of all, "there is no such thing as a free lunch." Sound familiar?

Many free pianos have cracked sound boards and delaminated pin blocks which make it almost impossible for the piano to hold a tune. Many of them should go straight to "piano heaven" where they belong. Free pianos often need about an average of 5 pitch raises to get them back to A440, the piano concert pitch standard.

Many of these piano learning app's are fun, but hold on to your wallet. Having 5 pitch raises is going to cost over $700 at least! 

Here's a better idea. Have an experienced piano technician inspect the piano that you really want to buy. Pay them for their time. Buy a used piano that has been well taken care of, maybe tuned every six months. Have the piano tuner tell you how the overall pitch is and if it is up to or close to A440.

Then have them tune the piano about a few days after it is delivered to your home.

Test the app while the piano tuner is present. It should work fine if your piano is close to A440.

Consider a keyboard workstation in addition to your acoustic piano. For those of you who fell off your chair after reading the above info, you may have realized that you promised everyone in the house that they could use the online app, but grandma's baby grand which we all love so much is almost a full step low. 

You can pick up an inexpensive Casio or Yamaha keyboard which is always at A440 and use this as a workstation. Although piano keyboards do not give the student the finger-building skills or percussive strikes they need, they still can serve a purpose.

Turn on the app. Pick a song you like, "Eternal Flame" by Susanna Hoffs perhaps, then buy the sheet music for that song also.

Now learn the song on the keyboard slowly with the app. Faster and faster tempo every day. When you get it down, grab the sheet music and bring it to the acoustic piano (grandma's baby grand). Do not use the app, read the score like a real musician!

Now you will read the sheet music, but somehow you will be able to get through the song with ease.

There you have it! The natives are happy, the kids are happy, the dogs are smiling, the student is progressing, Mom and Dad are hugging and the world is now a better place.

How Often Does AI Recommend You Tune Your Piano?

There is lots of talk these days about Artificial Intelligence and it's accuracy. After all, the good ol' internet knowledge is based on descriptions that people post through websites, blogs, newsletters, etc. AI is a little different. It looks at the data on the internet and analyses underlying trends. It also has a learning component which is responsible for learning from data captured by perception comportment. 

AI uses both knowledge and reasoning to present more accurate information in most cases.

Let's go to Microsoft Bing AI Chat which uses ChatGPT and Prometheus to give us intelligent answers.

So...let's see what AI says about how often we should tune our pianos:

"For normal home use, it is usually recommended that you have your piano tuned by a professional piano tuner twice a year. However, some pianists prefer to have their piano serviced more or less frequently. 

If you use your piano at least three times per week, it needs a tuning once every three months. For moderately-used pianos, six months is enough time for a problem to develop, but generally not long enough to cause irreparable damage to occur.

--Bing AI Chat"

So, there you have it people...straight from Hal the computer's memory banks to your living room:

You STILL need to tune your piano EVERY SIX MONTHS or even more often then that.

(Thanks AI for clearing that up.)

Don't Store Your Piano in the Garage

Storing your piano in the garage can ruin your piano in many ways. Humidity can cause the piano keys to swell up and become sluggish or even frozen. The hammer action could get covered in mold and mildew causing your the action to need a complete refurbishment. Also, field mice can get inside the piano, chew the hammers and felt dampers to build a nest, usually under the keys. Mice will create havoc inside the piano in many ways. Humidity, moisture, rodent damage. extreme temperature fluctuation and dust are the top five problems caused by storing your piano in the garage. Also, the sound board could warp or crack. The pin block could delaminate causing tuning pins to be loose or even frozen. The finish could discolor, fade and never be the same. Don't do it! Find a place inside your home to store your piano if you are not using it or renovating your home.

Could having a new piano delivered bring COVID-19 into your house?

Yes, this is possible. So, as a precaution, you could hide under your bed like a little scared rabbit until you decide to come out -OR- you could just go about your business, take precautions, wear your mask, STAY SAFE, consider getting your vaccine and MOST OF US will probably be fine. After all, did you ask Amazon if all those boxes that came to the door could give you COVID-19? 2021 is going to be better because we are going to MAKE IT BETTER ourselves. Just have your piano delivered and live your life. (Jus' sayin'.)

Have Your Piano Tuned During the Winter Months

It's very important to tune your piano during the winter months, especially in colder climates. In most homes, the humidity levels dry out to a certain extent which can throw your piano out of tune quite a bit. Floors and and exterior walls can also get quite cold during the wee hours of the morning which is another problem.

Instead of encapsulating your piano in a quarantine tent (you know that thing "ET" was placed in when he got sick in that blockbuster movie?) simply call your piano tuner and schedule a piano tuning. After all, enjoying your piano during the cold, dreary winter months is one of the best times of the year to practice hard and make lots of progress.

Now THAT'S progress.

The Top 10 Ways to Devalue Your Piano

10. Make up excuses why you do not tune your piano every six months.
9. Place numerous items all over the top of your piano which ruin the finish.
8. Put permanent stickers up and down the keys.
7. Spill drinks on the keys, then clean off with a towel, instead of having it professionally cleaned.
6. Drop foreign objects such as pencils, pens, candy, erasers, playing cards, toys, etc. into the inside of the instrument.
5. Roll the piano across the room without using a dolly which weakens and sometime cracks the legs.
4. Placing the piano in direct sunlight causing the keys to yellow and the finish to fade.
3. Letting pets scratch at the piano causing permanent damage to the cabinet.
2. Placing the instrument next to a wood stove which may cause the sound board to crack.
1. Getting several inexperienced people to carry the piano across the house, up and down stairs and sometimes dropping the instrument, only a little bit, causing pedals to break, the soundboard to crack and strings and bridges to break.

For your own safety, do not try to roll a grand piano across the room. Even though the legs may seem very strong, they can buckle and severely injure the people moving it. Hire professional movers and stay safe.

Pianos are like cars. Even if no one is driving the car parked in the driveway, you still need to pay to maintain it. If you neglect it, when you go to sell it someday you may find that people will give you a million reasons why they don't want to buy it.

Keep your piano in good shape. It's worth it in the long run.

Should Senior Citizens Really Buy the Used Piano They Always Wanted?

The short answers is "YES!" It's never to late to fullfill your dream of owning your own piano. Whether it's a new or used piano, if getting started makes you happy, "go for it." A little right brain activity every day is good for your health and piece of mind. (Not to mention, it's the opposite of social media...which most of us love and even hate sometimes.)

If a piano brings you joy, get one and get started. You'll be glad you did.

The "Mom-Jump-Starts-the-Kids-on-Piano" Craze

It's happening now and it's been going on for years. Mom used to play piano so the family decides to get a used piano. The next thing you know, Mom is playing again, the older kid is taking lessons from the piano teacher and the toddler is getting lessons from their mother. It's a family project and it's been going on since the early 1700's.

Most piano teachers do not take on students until they are five years old so in the mean time, go for it Mom! Get a used piano, start playing again, help the older kids with their lessons and jump start your toddlers as soon as they can behave themselves at the piano.

It's a family project that really pays off and is often passed down through generations.

Rolling Your Piano Across the Floor

Most pianos have casters. Why not just roll it across the living room floor, right? Well, not exactly. These casters were really designed to roll the piano a couple of feet, not to the other side of the house. Rolling your piano across the floor can be a small disaster! This can mark up your bare wood floors with slight scuffing or deep trails in pine floors. Your carpet could become discolored or snagged.

In some cases, while the happy couple is in "Superman" mode pushing as hard as they possibly can, the piano even get caught in a rut and actually dump over on it's back; it's kind of rare, but it does happen. This is extremely dangerous. It could land on someone's foot, leg or even "Whiskers" the cat! Many people have thrown their backs out trying to "catch" the piano out of instinct. (Even a small spinet piano weighs around 300 lbs. and that hurts when you catch them.)

Grand pianos usually have hefty casters, also. If an old grand piano is rolled across the room, it could put grooves in the floor and, in some rare cases, collapse due to a weak or cracked leg. (Grand pianos can weigh over one thousand pounds. It's not worth the risk.)

A BETTER WAY...
Call a professional piano mover to move your piano across the room or to the other side of your home. Usually, piano movers will be available in a day or two to come over and get the job done right.

Getting Your Piano Ready BEFORE the Piano Tuner Arrives

Here are a few tips on how to be ready for your piano tuner when they come to work on your instrument:

ALL THAT STUFF
Please clear the music books, candles, photographs, sculptures, toys, misc paraphernalia, live animals, etc. off the top of your piano.

KEEP A LID ON THE NOISE
Let the family know that it should be fairly quiet in the house when the piano tuner starts to go through the tuning procedure. (This is not necessary during repairs of the piano in many cases, just during the tuning session.) The quality of your tuning is determined by several factors. One if them is whether your piano tuner could hear what they were doing while tuning your piano.

So please turn down the:

• X-Box air strikes in the boys room
• Teenage diva screaming matches over clothing
• The fully-loaded, state-of-the-art John Deere lawn mower right out side the window
• The washing machine that makes "that weird noise."
• The dishwasher that whispers right over all harmonics while we are tweaking the high treble on your piano
• The hockey game on the giant screen
• The Dyson
• The toy drones
• You Tube
• And please let your Beagle out soon.

"THERE'S SOMEBODY AT THE DOOR!"
Let your piano tuner in the door, please. All tuners have a sixth-sense when it comes to hearing the "stuff" flying off the piano onto a nearby coffee table while we're staring at the "Welcome to Our Home" sign that's right next to the hornets' next at the front door (because you "never really use that door"). Let us in and we will gladly help you remove all the stuff from your piano. We do it everyday.

LOVABLE PETS
After your tuner greets the dogs, cats, chickens, snakes, parrots, guinea pigs or in my experience, wallaby's, bring them into another room and keep them there so the piano technician can move around the piano area without the boa constrictor slithering down the high treble into the toolbox. (Many tuners love animals, but need to get the job done quickly and efficiently so they can move on to the next service call so, "it's nothing personal, it's just business.")

THE "HURRY-IT-UP" FACTOR
Piano tuning sessions vary from about 45 minutes to 3 hours in some cases. On-site repairs can take seconds or hours in some cases. If your piano tech is coming for the first time, leave a little extra time for them to finish the work properly.

Yes, piano tuners can be "eccentric." 

Remember: We are a product of YOUR environment.

Help us be more normal, please.

Thank you.

Spring Cleaning and Your Piano

Ah yes, springtime. Warmer temperatures, longer days, yard work and spring cleaning.

So how does this affect your piano? Opening your windows for an extended period of time to air out the living room may increase the humidity in the room, but as long as you are having your piano tuned every six months, your piano will be fine. Yes, a change in humidity can knock your piano out of tune a little bit, but chances are it's almost time to have your instrument tuned again soon, so it's not a problem.

Renovating the house for a new look, but the piano is in the way? Here's were things can go terribly wrong.

DO NOT move your piano to the garage area. Mice, birds, insects and other critters love to make little nests inside pianos. I have pulled many, many rodent nests out of pianos that were put out in the garage, in the barn or even on the farmer's porch while the home was being renovated. It only takes a few hours for one mouse to make a huge mess or even ruin the inner workings of your piano. This can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to fix or even total your piano for good.

THE BEST SOLUTION is to have professional piano movers or even your piano tuner move your piano into the corner of another room inside the house. If the renovation project is going to create dust all over the place, you can go to your local hardware store and pick up some cheap plastic drop cloths and some duct tape. This will usually cost under $10.

Move the piano to its new location, drape the plastic drop cloth over the instrument and wrap it fairly tightly with duct tape. Next, drape an old bed sheet over the piano and your piano will be protected for the most part.

After the project is completed, unwrap the plastic and move the piano back to its original location.

Flip the lid open and inspect the inside of the instrument with a flashlight. In most cases, the inside of the piano will look just like it did before the project.

In the event that you see a fine coating of dust on the tuning pins and one the hammers, call your piano technician and ask about an internal cleaning and tuning.

Following these simple steps will help to insure that your piano is O.K. and you'll be ready to enjoy practicing in your newly decorated room.
 

Piano Accessory Holiday Shopping Tips - Do's and Don'ts

Piano accessories can make great holiday gifts. Composer statuettes, piano lamps and metronomes can make awesome surprise presents for the serious piano owner or student. The younger music major loves the famous piano scarf and G clef earrings. In fact, if you look online for music themed gifts, you will find thousands of clothing accessories, jewelry items and miniatures that are lots of fun.

Awkward Alert: Do not buy custom items as surprise gifts because accurate measurements are needed for many of these accessories.

For example, piano covers really can be custom made so they fit tightly on the instrument. Before you can order piano caster cups to protect floors, you will need both the wheel measurements and piano weight details so the cups don't break. Climate control systems for the piano should really be ordered by the piano technician after the piano is measured correctly. Piano benches need to be the correct height and width. Many times, the owner will want the bench to match exact finish color of the existing piano. Piano finish shades vary. Contact your piano technician to get advice on color matching a new bench to the piano.

Stick to the "sure thing." Small framed posters or paintings of the piano lesson in progress are popular for their traditional value, but spending $300 for a needlepoint bench cover is risky business unless you can sneak in and get the exact measurements of the bench lid. Let the piano tuner help with shopping for a decorative piano bench cover. 

Piano pens, pencil holders, musical brooches, barrettes, ski caps, snow boards with piano keys and even music boxes are very popular. My favorite place to buy piano related gifts is eBay. You can even find sheet music that your great-great grandmother learned from. If you're looking for new musical items online, use one of the top 10 search engines to start the process and you will be amazed at what comes up on your screen.

Remember: If it requires custom measurements, plan ahead and ask your piano tuner to help or shop for something else.

Shop eBay for collectables. Amazon is great for both new and used items and many times you can get free shipping. If they are into clothing and accesssories, use the search engines to start your search and plan ahead because there are lots of great deals from overseas, but shipping time averages about three weeks.

Shop for musical gifts make someone smile when they open their gifts this holiday season!

Do You Really Have to Wait Two Weeks to Tune Your Piano After it is Moved?

Well, that's what the textbook says, but the reality of what goes on out there in the piano service world, you may be able to cut that corner.

When the piano tuner finishes tuning your piano, it starts to go out of tune on a micro-scale within a few hours. Slowly, the top end goes out along with any strings that may have loose tuning pins and after a while, it's completely "out" again.

In  another case, where a piano has had several strings replaced, the tuner will stretch these strings and then tune them. In a few weeks, these strings will tend to go out of tune first. The tuner is called by the customer and comes out to tune the piano again and charges the customer again for another tuning.

In a third situation, the piano is placed near the front door in sunny Montreal, Canada is tuned and goes out of tune quickly as it gets a sub-zero draft a couple times per day. In some cases, the piano can be moved to a better location in the room, maybe an inside wall, farther from the front door. But in this case, "Aunt Sally" likes the piano right next to the front door because she can look out the window at the snowflakes as she's playing, "Winter Wonderland."

You see, after four piano tunings in under two years, a decent piano in good shape will "stabilize." It is at this point, and only at this point, will you as a piano owner get to enjoy a well-tuned piano for six months at a time.

Don't expect your piano to stabilize after you tune it once, two weeks after the movers leave.

Where am I going with this?

Right here:
In my opinion, the sooner you tune your piano four times within a two-year period, the sooner it will stabilize for six months at a time.

So, don't bother waiting two weeks. Just call your piano tuner, schedule your first tuning and then make sure your piano gets tuned every six months, every year, all the time and the world will be a better place.

"Tune it forward?"

Your Cat is the Only One Who Plays Your Piano?

Ah, pets and pianos.

I must admit, I am primarily a "dog person," but find cats interesting to watch and try to figure out...especially when they play their piano more then their owners.

I've probably worked on around 5,000 pianos over the years and I have seen many pianos that have been beat on by our furry little friends. Damage ranging from a minor scratch on the piano lid from a candlestick vs. cat kick-boxing match...all the way to broken keytops with deep scratches in the cabinet.

One piano had some sticking keys back in 2010 and there was about a third of a bag of "Purina Dog Chow" under the keys, in the action, in the harp and under the pedals. A few hours later, the piano was repaired, given a pitch raising and was as good as new (except for about 500 permanent veneer scratches on the fall board, cracked action parts that no longer available and disfigured music desk which I consider, "animal music-art.")

Cats like me when I tune. They come into the room and pace around behind me, rub their whiskers up against my leg and sometimes jump right up onto the keys next to my tuning wrench.

If I'm not mistakin', domesticated cats are territorial creatures (but I'm not totally sure because I am a dog person and never bothered to confirm this) so I think they are trying to tell me something.

Maybe something like,

"Hey Mister, what are you doing on MY PIANO?! No humans have even touched it in years! I'm the only one who uses it, so WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?"

Well "Morris," I am here because pianos are really "simple machines" in a way and they need regular maintenance.

If you don't start the lawn mower every six months, it may not start in the spring and your lawn will be two feet high causing the neighbors to stand up at Town Meeting and vote against your community pet project.

If you don't go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned every six months, you will eventually be asking your local grocery store associate where the "Polident" is.

AND...if your human friends let their piano sit for years without regular maintenance and tuning, it will cost hundreds of dollars to correct the problem when Aunt Trudy comes to check on her piano this coming holiday season.

So attention all pets with pianos:
Move your fuzzy ball-thing, tell your doggy brothers to get the rawhide bone out from under that pedal because it's time for the semi-annual piano tuning which needs to be done, even if your the only one who plays it!

The Final Score:

Piano Tuner...1
Pets.................0

(See you in six months.)

Cat plays piano

Dog playing his favorite tune on the piano. (Hit it boys!)

The Craigslist Piano Reality Check

So the piano you got on Craigslist doesn't REALLY play that well?

As Texas Gov. Rick Perry would say, "Oops!"

Well, it happens to the best of us.

Here's a plan to "unscrew" that piano problem. Contact your local piano technician request a piano repair estimate. More often than not, the best course of action is to plan on paying to have your piano tuner come out to your house, open up the piano and find the problem. It's well worth the money. Most tuners will do this for around $100. If the problem is a minor in nature, the technician may offer to stay and repair the piano and then tune it on the spot without charging you for an estimate. This is the best scenario, so take advantage of it.

If the piano needs major repairs, you should ask what the charges for an inspection, appraisal and repair estimate. Many pianos need action overhauls, string repairs or key repairs which can give the piano a new life. These repairs usually run several hundred dollars. Have piano inspected to get a list of the repair problems, get an appraisal to find out what it's worth and a repair estimate to find out exactly how much it will cost to bring it up to speed. Pianos are like cars; when they need major repairs, you need to make a decision as to whether or not they are, in fact, "economical to repair."

The Reality Check Part:
Don't just let the piano sit there. Sometimes, pianos cannot be repaired unless completely rebuilt costing thousands of dollars. Most often, free and cheap pianos found online usually cost a few hundred of dollars to fix, so "bite the bullet" and plan on paying for a repair estimate. Then schedule your piano technician fix it and you will be playing, "I Can See Clearly Now" in no time.

Miking the Piano for Live Performance

Miking the piano to present a crystal clear performance can be a bit tricky. It is best have two people work on this setup, so find an assistant if you can. Also, you may want to work closely with the sound tech on this and ask them to mark the settings after you get the clear, full sound that you are looking for.

Every piano is different in many ways. They have different shapes, different age strings, different cabinets, etc. Some pianos have new bass strings which are loud and bright, while others have older strings which are usually quieter and sometimes present a "tubby" or short sustain sound. Plan your time wisely when miking your piano.


Miking the Grand Piano (in stereo if possible)

First, lift the lid and prop it up with the longer stick. Grab two mic stands equipped with booms and place the first mic about 12 inches above the bass strings. Now, aim the mic at the string in the middle of the bass range at a point about halfway down the string.

Now place the second mic about 12 inches away from the middle of the treble string set and about halfway down the length of the strings.

Set the bass strings' mic to the left channel and the treble strings' mic to the right channel.Run a test performance by playing the piano and adjust both mics as necessary.

In noisy stage situations, adjust the mics to about six inches away from the strings, instead of 12 inches away. This will help to minimize the stage noise and bleed problems from other instruments. Also, feedback can occur when mic placement is in a given spot or the record level is too high. Do test recordings until the noise settles down. Make sure you have people walk by the piano to change the acoustic field so you can see if feedback could occur.

An instrument mic with a switchable bass cut/rolloff filter is recommended for most piano miking situations. If you find that the volume with these two mics is too low, then add a dynamic mic near the treble strings.


Miking the Upright Piano:

Grab a mic stand equipped with a boom and place the mic about six inches from the back of the piano a right around middle C. Do a test performance by playing the piano. Move the mic a foot to the left, play and listen, then move the mic one foot to the right of middle C and play and listen. Pick the best position with the best sound and then fine tune as necessary.

You may want to add a second mic if you cannot get the full range of sound. Every stage setup is different.Once again, a mic with a switchable bass cut/rolloff filter is recommended.

Testing, adjusting and retesting is the key. Get people to listen with you from different parts of the room. If you have a half hour or so to experiment, you should achieve the sound your looking for.

Remember: Feedback will knock Jerry Seinfeld's PEZ dispenser right onto the floor and THAT could get ugly. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU.

Piano Benches - Size Matters!

Whether your piano's bench is badly broken or is missing, it is very important that you choose a bench that is the correct height to fit your piano.

The right piano bench can make a huge difference in how comfortable the piano performer is while playing.

Generally speaking, there are a few different types of benches including artist benches, grand benches, upright benches, duet benches and piano stools. The artist piano bench is the most comfortable and the most expensive bench on the market. This bench cover is usually made of leather and has a height and tilt adjustment that starts at 18" and raises up to 21" tall. The grand bench is typically 19'' tall and about 33" wide. The upright bench is range from 18 1/2" tall to 20" tall. The duet bench is similar to the upright bench and is built to seat two people around 30" wide. The first piano bench was a piano stool which has four legs and a round seat. Modern piano stools can be adjusted by spinning the seat. These stools are typically used with antique pianos, but come in handy for very young children who can not reach the keyboard well. Because the piano stool can be raised as high as 25", it serves as a great backup "bench" for families with small children who want to learn, but cannot reach the keyboard properly.

Used benches and stools can be found online or at your local used piano store. Used piano bench prices typically start at about $100. New piano benches start at (fasten your seat belt) around $150 and can go over $1,000.

If you need a regular, new piano bench, you should budget about $200 to $300 and shop online, visit your local used piano store or ask your piano tuner to show you a catalog. Plan on receiving your bench in about 10 days to 2 weeks because they are fairly heavy and express shipping is expensive. Ship it "ground" if you can wait.

One last note: Teach your children to "respect the piano." Kids who fight over who gets to play next can end up flipping the piano bench and hitting their head on the floor or hurting their fingers. This happens all the time. It's a good idea to teach young children to "wait their turn to practice" and "one at a time at the piano." If you are placing two children on a duet bench, they should be closely supervised. (Two kids on one piano can be hazardous!)

So relax, get your wallet out, plan ahead, stay safe and "have a seat!"

Happy practicing!

Buying a Piano Online? Have a Plan...

Whether you are searching Craigslist, eBay or a reputable piano store online for a used piano, plan ahead so things go smoothly.

First, contact a reputable piano tuner-technician. Find out how much it would cost to have them inspect and appraise the piano that you are interested in. If the piano is out of your local area, PianoAnswers.com can provide an online appraisal for only $8.95.

Next, contact your local piano mover and get a general idea of what a move might cost, should decide to purchase the piano you are interested in. Make sure you know the height of the piano in inches. This will help the moving company determine how heavy the piano is.

Now, have the piano inspection and appraisal done by your tuner or online.

Next, make an offer to the seller. This offer should be at or below the appraisal amount. It might also be the appraisal amount minus the cost of repairs that was determined upon the piano technician's inspection.

(i.e. if you buy a $500 car for your teenager, that car may very possibly cost you thousands of dollars. Be careful.)

Make arrangements with your piano mover. The buyer normally pays the piano mover.

Once the piano is delivered, schedule an appointment with your piano tuner-technician to repair and tune your piano.

After this is completed, ask to be on the piano tuner's reminder list so that you can make sure your piano is maintained properly by tuning it every six months.

Remember, even a free piano can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have moved and repaired.

Be careful and make sure your have a plan from the beginning. In the end, you will have a used piano in good repair and have an experienced piano tuner-technician and reliable piano mover.

Now your family can take lessons and practice on a well-maintained instrument which will help the student reach their goal of improving their piano performance.

Moving Your Piano Outside for Special Events

"Really?"

Yes, "really."

With some planning, a service call fee and a little bit of luck, this can be done without harming your instrument. Whether it's a wedding ceremony, cocktail party or family reunion, pianos end up in yards sometimes.

Here are a few tips:

First, contact your piano mover to estimate the cost of moving your piano to the yard and then back after the party or the next morning.

They can usually recommend a piano tuner that can come and tune the piano on the day of your event. Most tuners charge a little more to do this type of pre-event service call.

If this all works out, plan on buying or renting a small canopy that is used for weddings and special yard events. It's not a bad idea to pick up a ground cloth, the type that you use under your tent when camping.

Now, schedule the movers to move the piano out to the yard, early on the day of the event.

Schedule the piano tuner to come at the same time and have them tune the piano after it's in place under the canopy.

Keep a soft blanket and the ground cloth folded up near the stage area just in case of a passing shower. The piano should be fine under the canopy, but you may want to cover it with the blanket to keep the ground cloth from scratching the piano.

Of course, if there is a 90% chance of rain on the day of the event, it's a good idea to scrub this idea...period. (If rain hits your piano directly, it can ruin it forever.) Check with the movers and the tuner to see what their policies are on cancelling a service call.

Many times, in many towns all over the world, people move their pianos outside to hold special events...even when there is a slight chance of showers.

After the event is over, cover the piano with the blanket and the ground cloth and wrap it once or twice with light twine or a small rope. Also, you may want to pick up a spray bottle of rodent repellant and spray it on the ground a few feet from the piano area before you call it a night. (If mice or chipmunks get inside your instrument, it can cost hundreds of dollars to fix.) The piano should be fine under the canopy for the night.

The movers should be scheduled to come back first thing in the morning to return the piano to your living room. Chances are that the piano may need another tuning after it is moved back in the house. This can be done the same day or weeks later, it's up to you.

If you plan carefully, a memorable time can be had by all with live cocktail piano and sing-alongs right in your own back yard without damaging your piano.

It can be done, but be careful.

Cleaning Behind Your Vertical Piano

Yes, your piano may be on casters, but they are only meant for pulling your piano away from the wall to so you can clean the back of your piano. (They are not designed to roll your piano across the room and down the hallway.) You may also want to vacuum underneath the piano after it is moved. If, and only "if" you have someone around the house who is strong enough to pick the piano off the ground, should you attempt to move it to clean.

In this case, show this person that there is a handle located about half-way up the back of the piano. Check that the handle does not spin or come loose. Have this person grab the handle with one had and get a grip underneath the keyboard in front of the piano. The piano should be lifted completely off the ground and moved about six inches from the wall. Keep your feet and your helper's feet away from the bottom of the piano for safety's sake. Now go to the other side and repeat the process, back and forth, until the piano is about three feet from the wall. The piano should be lifted off the ground so the legs don't crack or loosen under pressure.

Another option is to wait until your piano tuner comes and have them move it for you. Just have your vacuum cleaner and a dust mop handy. First, carefully dust of the back of the piano, or the sound board. Remove any foreign objects from down inside the piano, then vacuum the carpet or sweep the floor. Now move the piano back to its normal position which should be about two inches or so from the wall. You may want to ask your piano tuner what they charge for an internal cleaning and get this done the same day.

Remember, the same amount of dust that collects under your sofa, probably collects under and behind your piano. Who knows, you may even find those long lost family photographs or "McGyver" game cards that slid off the top of your piano many moons ago. What a "bonus!"