Your piano deserves sensible care.  Try to place it in a spot with stable humidity and temperature and/or install a climate control system which is available from a piano technician.  Ideally, your piano should not be in the same room with a fireplace or wood burning stove, next to an outside wall, or over a furnace vent.

     Have your piano serviced at least once a year, preferably more often, by a qualified technician [servicing Moose Jaw and Caronport: Blair Scott Piano & Tuning Service, 306-694-5501, charges around $140]. Visits from your piano tuner are like oil changes for your car – good preventive maintenance.  Don’t wait until your piano needs tuning; it should be kept in tune.

     A musical instrument should be the best quality that you can afford.  If you buy a good piano and take care of it, your great-grandchildren will be playing on it long before it needs repairs.  When you consider the price of your piano in terms of the number of years it will be in service, the cost is easier to justify.  Some of the better pianos actually appreciate in value.

​

My requirements for your instrument at home are:

• 88 keys (full size)                   ~ necessary to play unlimited repertoire

• keys are weighted                 ~ necessary to develop physical technique

• keys are touch-sensitive      ~ necessary to develop sound control

• functioning damper pedal  ~ required for a lot of repertoire, and

(“sustain” pedal, far right)            manipulating the pedal properly is an important skill, even in early 
                                                            years of study

These qualities can be found in non-acoustic pianos, but rarely in keyboards.  Digital pianos, especially of the Casio Privia line and the Yamaha brand are often sufficient. Costco typically sells these online for less than $2000. Please let me know if you wish to be contacted whenever I find or am contacted with those selling used pianos or digital pianos.

 

[1] Parts of this page and the following page are borrowed from a document shared by Mary Beth Akers titled “Getting the Most Out of Piano Lessons”