It's just something I'm a bit curious about. I go to a college and like most, we have a hallway full of practice rooms, each equipped with a Yamaha upright. Some are older than others.

It seems that every semester, they will sound amazing for about a week and then they will rapidly go further and further to the outer limits of being in tune. I tend to notice it starting with at least one key, usually a white one. It's also interesting because the two newer ones seem to always develop this (and excuse me for my lack of technical lingo) little double hitting thing. Thankfully, my piano teacher noticed this right away this semester and wasted no time getting the dean to call the technician. Now the piano sounds amazing, better than I've ever heard it and I've played on that thing a lot.

Another interesting thing happened a couple of weeks ago. We have a Steinway Grand in our music room, which I play on for jazz ensemble. Some people were jamming in the room and guess what. When I went to play on the piano for jazz ensemble, I discover that one of the strings was broken.

Now, I'm wondering if this is common in colleges. And is this generally an issue of use by many students every day, some of whom have a terrible touch, which let's just say it shows off the more percussive sides that the piano has to offer. Or is this an issue of schools' choices of pianos. Can someone actually play so hard that a string breaks?

Most of what you describe is fairly typical of piano behavior, especially in the New England climate. Pianos go out of tune and regulation, and strings may break.

Pianos in music schools get a lot of use, and much of that use is very hard, so the wear and tear of such an instrument can be 5 to 10 times or even more than in casual home use. Sadly, there is also instrument abuse that goes on in music schools. Hence the effects you observe.

It is relatively easy to break strings on a piano that has had rough playing for more than 3-4 years. Particularly if the piano has hammers that have been allowed to wear so that the strings are hit by a flat elongated surface.

Some manufacturers products are prone to breaking strings than others and a school contemplating purchasing pianos would be wise to consult a technician experienced with pianos under these circumstances which ones are prone to this.

Let me say that all pianos can be damaged in this way and possibly the reason some pianos do not break strings is often because they are not favoured by the string breaking fraternity for other reasons.

There are students who regard breking strings as an accomplishment. Some will eagerly admit it when asked. They are putting their musculature in danger. With proper training, a good sound can be produced that can easily be heard above a full orchestra with no risk of hand damage.

I well remember one student who had a most impressive range of tone qualities at her command who went for lessons in Paris one summer and came back producing this ugly sound, breaking strings and developed wrist problems. It took her teacher some years to help her regain her former talent.

Many who should know better are under the impression that playing at string breaking levels is essential for playing a concerto with orchestra when, in fact, quite the reverse is true. A more relaxed approacch will produce a larger sound.

Keeping practice pianos in tune is not possible with only 2-3 tunings a year, particularly in areas where there is a wide range of humidity changes, both sbort term and long term. The pianos really don't stand a chance. No stability can be built into them over several tunings. This time of the year (Jan-Feb) is one of the worst.

Pianos are tuned just before the beginning of a term or semester which is often the worst time to tune them.

For pianists, pitch is not the first issue but if the piano is used with wind instruments, it is the first issue. Pianos have to be changed in pitch almost at each tuning because the pitch has changed with the weather since the last tuning. This alone destabilizes the piano.

The pianos in jazz departments are not necessarily the worst treated any more. Modern jazz piano teachers are aware of the need to produce high volume of sound for hours on end and have become among the best at teaching a sound that projects through relaxation techniques. Unfortunately, often the pianos are used by guests who haven't yet seen the light.

I once had a contract for a small music department that was on a twice a year basis. I divided this up and visited the studios for a couple of hours 3-4 early mornings a month for the same fee. I could go round all the 15-20 pianos and do only what was necessary at the time. If more work was required at a change of season, for example, there was the flexibility to do more over that period and go in less at times of less need. This worked fine for a few years untll somebody in an office somewhere found it against some rule or other.

It may be possible to put something like this in place (dividing thevtime it takes to tune all the pianos into the weeks of the but it will have to have the co-operation of security and other departments and, of course, an early rising flexible minded tuner. You may come across some of the realities of beaurocracy.

Then there's the vandalism.....

Double hitting on a new piano under heavy use is usually caused by lost motion. The felts in the action compress a bit when brand new, and double hitting (bobbling hammers) is the result. This can be minimized by the manufacturer by doing "action hitting" - using a machine to play each note several thousand times, which compresses the felts. The piano action is then adjusted before shipping. If a production line gets behind, or in the case of some low cost pianos, action hitting can be omitted in the production cycle and the customer ends up compressing the felts.

Students at my University are lucky. The pianos are very new, and I tune the grands every month and the uprights four times per year. I'd finished tuning two pianos this morning by 7:30 am, when a student stuck their head in the door - "got a problem with the B in room 226," she said. "when I shift the action, some bass notes sustain." So off I go, and find a large bit of hard plastic under the sustain monkey, jamming the sost rod. Quick fix, and I trot down to her piano lesson and hand her the trophy bit of plastic.

I'm lucky - the students here seem to respect the pianos, and I've had few problems....well, there was that sorority issue when the girls danced on one of the D's and broke the music rack......ha ha.

I have to say, I am very sensitive to tuning (coming from the cello) and at the conservatory where I take lessons I sometimes notice the piano we use getting a bit out of tune, but usually when that happens by the next week it is back in tune. I have been impressed by it!

In the two University music halls I have been in(one at South East Missouri State University and the other being here in Decatur IL, at Millikin University) Both had the pianos in fair tune year round, voicing and regulation never lasted verry long but you cant expect too much from a high use piano. Semo had and still has some vandilism in the music hall. Millikin is free of any serious vandilism. I gusse most college students of student age are not that mature.

Yes. Pianos can go in and out of tune daily and long term all by themselves but don't forget the tuning faeries. In many schools there is somebody who goes to work while you are asleep keeping the pianos in tune. No need to put them under your pillow, either.

I have a housebound friend I visit daily who has a 3 year old upright. There is some temporary storage on top of the piano that belongs to another and convenient access to the piano has been curtailed lately. We tolerated the piano over Christmas. It was awful, unisons and all. (well, it was fun to play it that way for a change). Now the piano sounds much better all by itself. Even the unisons have gone back for the most part. It never ceases to amaze me.

Sometmes, when a piano is tuned annually, it has very often been on an excursion or two of this nature and presents itself to the tuner at the next tuning all innocent showing little evidence of the fun it's been having.

Penance for a piano that has lived a life of unmitigated corruption is to do a stint as a school piano!

Adding to the problem is that many schools have no maintenance budget for the pianos. Often times, there's only barely enough money for tuning, and even then sometimes the teachers have to get creative.

At Millikin University here in IL some of the pianos were considered junk a few months ago and they rolled the pianos out infront of the music hall and whent at them with sledge hammers. what a waste