# How does a pianist notice the weather?



## hreichgott

Started as a conversation between me and an adult student 
("A nice day just means that I practice with the windows open")

NICE DAY: Practice with the windows open
COLD: Practice in a sweater
HUMID: Practice a little out of tune
HOT: Practice while dripping sweat onto the keys


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## Novelette

hreichgott said:


> Started as a conversation between me and an adult student
> ("A nice day just means that I practice with the windows open")
> 
> NICE DAY: Practice with the windows open
> COLD: Practice in a sweater
> HUMID: Practice a little out of tune
> *HOT: Practice while dripping sweat onto the keys*


It's difficult to play when it's hot. I want to put the fan on, but being just overhead, it would affect the sound.

It's just as difficult to play when it's cold, as my fingers become very stiff and ill-functioning, I have to run my hands under hot water for a few minutes to warm them enough to play decently.

I don't let it stop me, though.


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## Rehydration

Novelette said:


> It's difficult to play when it's hot. I want to put the fan on, but being just overhead, it would affect the sound.
> 
> It's just as difficult to play when it's cold, as my fingers become very stiff and ill-functioning, I have to run my hands under hot water for a few minutes to warm them enough to play decently.
> 
> I don't let it stop me, though.


Same here, except for when it's hot. My house is never really hot, so I don't have many problems with playing when it's hot. However, weather changes really affect my Everett. Is this normal?


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## Novelette

Rehydration said:


> Same here, except for when it's hot. My house is never really hot, so I don't have many problems with playing when it's hot. However, weather changes really affect my Everett. Is this normal?


Wood can be very sensitive of weather changes. Humidity and temperature changes can cause the wood boards to warp slightly which can cause a marginal alteration in the sound. Depends on the instrument and the enduring strength of the glues that hold the instrument together. I notice very slight changes in timbre when it's humid. Pianos like relatively moderate temperatures and relatively stable humidity levels.


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## Ravndal

Cold hands is my worst enemy.


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## Volve

I hate hot days the most, I can't open any windows or use any fans, otherwise my sheets would be flying all over the place!


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## Taggart

Volve said:


> I hate hot days the most, I can't open any windows or use any fans, otherwise my sheets would be flying all over the place!


Make the bed a bit better then!


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## hreichgott

Rehydration said:


> Same here, except for when it's hot. My house is never really hot, so I don't have many problems with playing when it's hot. However, weather changes really affect my Everett. *Is this normal?*


What Novelette said, plus the ideal time for your twice-a-year tuning is spring and fall, just after the change in weather has caused the piano to go nuts.


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## Volve

hreichgott said:


> ...the ideal time for your twice-a-year tuning is spring and fall, just after the change in weather has caused the piano to go nuts.


How nuts can a piano go if it lives somewhere that can go from 33ºC to 20ºC the very next day and then go back up to 30's for the whole year?


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## hreichgott

In general, if you don't have seasons, you can get away with one tuning a year. If you have seasonal changes in temperature or humidity (wet season/dry season affects pianos as much, if not more, than warm season/cold season) then twice a year, right after the most extreme seasonal changes.


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## Taggart

We have friends who keep a humidifier *in* their piano so that it has a more or less constant humidity level. That, together with central heating means that it stays in tune more - so they say.

When I bought my piano, the advice was to get it tuned in the spring and autumn after the major seasonal changes. These days, with the weather being a bit loopy, it's a bit more difficult to decide when to get it done.


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## hreichgott

Taggart said:


> We have friends who keep a humidifier *in* their piano so that it has a more or less constant humidity level. That, together with central heating means that it stays in tune more - so they say.
> 
> When I bought my piano, the advice was to get it tuned in the spring and autumn after the major seasonal changes. These days, with the weather being a bit loopy, it's a bit more difficult to decide when to get it done.


And then you get spoiled by the way it sounds when it's in tune, and want to have it done again after 1-2 months right?


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## Il_Penseroso

I have a kind of Anemia (not a terrible one though) which causes serious problems for me when it's cold, so I use to play some scales increasing the tempo step by step on a metronome to warm up.


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## Klavierspieler

Taggart said:


> We have friends who keep a humidifier *in* their piano so that it has a more or less constant humidity level. That, together with central heating means that it stays in tune more - so they say.


Yes, my piano has this. Seems to work okay.


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## Rasa

I can hear by the tuning and the loudness how humid it is in the room (and not be off than by more than 15 percent). The best humidity is at 65-70 for my instrument.


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## musicphotogAnimal

How does a pianist notice the weather?


...by the pain in my knuckles. ~sigh~ (if my joints feel like they're about to split apart - yep, the weather's about to change!) :devil:


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## Kazaman

Novelette said:


> It's difficult to play when it's hot. I want to put the fan on, but being just overhead, it would affect the sound.
> 
> It's just as difficult to play when it's cold, as my fingers become very stiff and ill-functioning, I have to run my hands under hot water for a few minutes to warm them enough to play decently.
> 
> I don't let it stop me, though.


I recently played a recital programme under the glare of hot stage lights in 30C weather. Yikes! I brought some paper towel from the washroom to wipe my hands in between pieces and movements, just to be safe, but during a particularly difficult piece (Bartok's first Romanian Dance) I realised that I was going to start skating on sweaty keys if I didn't wipe my hands before an upcoming passage, so I wiped my hands as quickly as I could during an eighth note rest. :lol:


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## tonystanton

I thought there'd be a punchline.


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## Taggart

hreichgott said:


> What Novelette said, plus the ideal time for your twice-a-year tuning is spring and fall, just after the change in weather has caused the piano to go nuts.


Just had mine tuned. Called the man in because I was starting to get a clunk on some notes. The tuner said it was the weather and that there were a batch of notes in that area clunking. Must say, it sounds and feels *much *nicer.


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## PetrB

Most notably, days with high humidity. All the wood swells, the felts, especially the hammers, literally swell and are heavier, the air is heavier, so harder to push sound through (ask any singer or wind player


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## Klavierspieler

Klavierspieler said:


> Yes, my piano has this. Seems to work okay.


I recently discovered just how well this feature works. I've been used to just barely being able to tell when the piano is going out of tune before the tuner comes. Apparently the dehumidifier got unplugged accidentally, and this year my piano went way out of tune.


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