This blog is an adaptation of the YouTube video posted below. Read here or watch the video, they are essentially the same. Or, do both! Scroll further down for a FREE downloadable tipsheet to keep for easy access!
Taking care of your piano is vital to not just getting a good sound - you are investing in the longevity of your instrument and the respect you give it suggests to your psyche that playing the piano is important to you.
When you're not using your piano it's a good idea to put the cover down. I know, it’s crazy, you want to show it off to your dinner guests - but you can always lift the cover up when you know people will be visiting. If you keep the cover up it means that you're avoiding getting a layer of dust on the keys and that's less cleaning to have to do!
When you do feel like you need to clean your keys just get a cotton cloth and dampen it with a little bit of water and clean all the keys. Wiping them lightly should get all the fingerprints and any residue off.
If the damp cloth doesn't cut it you can use a mild soap or a dishwashing detergent. Put a very small amount on the cloth and then rub the keys lightly. Don't pour soap or detergent directly onto the keys! You want to avoid having any sort of chemicals or solvents on the keys at all, otherwise you risk losing that special texture that we like to have where our fingers glide across the keys rather than sticking to them.
“You want to avoid having any sort of chemicals or solvents on the keys at all, otherwise you risk losing that special texture...”
To clean the outer case, again, a damp cloth is best to get off the fingerprints, but if you do want to use some sort of a polish make sure that is water-based and doesn't contain silicone.
A little cheeky trick with a vacuum cleaner is to use one of the furniture brush nozzles on the end of your cleaner and vacuum over the keys. Make sure you’re using a soft brush nozzle and not one of the harder ones because it will scratch it up.
Like things laid out simply?
Download your printable tip-sheet to have this piano maintenance advice right by your piano for easy reference!
If you're tempted to clean up underneath the hood you can also use a vacuum cleaner there. If it's getting a bit dusty you can put your vacuum cleaner onto reverse, on the blow cycle, and blow out any dust or debris that you can get to. Try not to make contact with the strings or the hammers. To blow that dust out make sure you open all the windows and doors in the room first and maybe get a fan so you can cycle all dust from the house. It’s a good idea to clean the house after, not before, you dust-bomb everything!
If there’s anything really stuck in there or you have mildew or insect damage (especially if it’s a really old piano) you need to get a technician in to sort that out, don't attempt dealing with it yourself.
Keep all drinks and liquids far away from your precious piano. Any sort of liquid or water damage to the action of the keys or any of the mechanics inside the piano will simply destroy it. So don't even do it!
Finally play your piano regularly. Obviously it’s going to be great for making progress in your playing but also this keeps up the health of your piano. It stops insects and even rodents getting in there and making a little home for themselves. If you’re constantly playing and moving around the inner mechanics of the piano it will discourage any invaders and keep it in great shape.
Those are my tips for keeping your piano in tip-top condition!
It’s one thing to have a clean piano, but how are you going to learn to play it?
Join my membership The Creative Pianist today to access streamlined courses, coaching sessions and over 50+ hours of premium lessons!
Learning something new isn’t easy and even with an enthusiastic and encouraging teacher like myself, you still need to foster a decent amount of inner-motivation in order to put in the effort required to achieve your piano goals.
When you first decided to learn piano you probably didn't imagine you'd need to learn rhythmic skills, but once you get into creative playing that's exactly what you need to develop! So why is it so difficult to get our hands playing different things?
Feeling lost in the jungle of piano learning? This one is for you. In this free training I answer that I get asked all the time from beginner, intermediate & advanced pianists.
Discover the correct technique for playing scales with minimum strain and maximum warmup & exercise value!
Learn how to play the main riff from the classic 80s rock song ‘Africa’ by Toto on the piano in just a few minutes!
If you're in the market for a digital piano, these terms will definitely come up - what's the difference between weighted keys, semi-weighted keys, hammer action & graded hammer action? And which one is more desirable?
Learn how to play the main riff from the Mandalorian theme tune on piano! Carefully arranged for solo piano (from the original orchestral work) by Ruth Power of Piano Picnic. This casual tutorial will get you showing-off for all your Star-Wars obsessed friends!
Learn what makes the Piano Picnic style of learning different to the rest. If you haven’t done a course with me yet, this is the perfect introduction to what to expect, who’s suited to my courses, and the ethos behind my unique teaching style!
Today I’m going to show you my favourite finger exercise - it’s starts very simply and gets progressively more difficult each time you go up a level.
Free stuff! We love it! I’m something of a serial bargain hunter myself, but some things are just not a good idea to get for free: tattoos, candy from strangers and… learning piano.
I'm reflecting on 4 years of being a piano coach online, how I NEVER wanted to be a piano teacher and what I’ve learned about today's piano students (that shocked me!).
Learning piano is fun! It’s also challenging and rewarding, a form of expression and at times a source of frustration. But what we gain from learning piano goes far beyond the direct results we notice in the moment…
If you've been disappointed with traditional piano methods you're not alone. Here's why I believe the traditional methods of the past no longer fit today's amateur pianists.
Playing one thing and singing another, whether melodically or rhythmically different was such a challenge while I was learning piano! My only approach was to learn the piano piece so well that I didn’t have to spare it a thought, allowing me to focus all my attention on trying to sing properly. But there are other ways to improve at accompanying yourself singing…
Everyone knows they need to practice in order to improve their piano-playing ability, but a vast majority of piano students don’t quite know what to do, for how long they need to do it, and exactly what good it does!
In this post you’ll discover the science behind practice: how our brain responds to ‘quality repetition’ and how you can get the most out of your time.
Especially for the digital pianists, we start by looking at what the digital piano is made of, it’s many functions and what the buttons mean. Then you’ll discover exactly what you need to plug in and where.
Getting an acoustic piano from one place to another is something better left to the professionals. But for the brave ones determined to DIY this blog will show you what to expect.
The easy decision to make is the one to get yourself a piano. It’s kind of hard to learn without it, right? The difficult decision is which type of piano to get and after that, which brand? Then after that, which model? It can seem like a complicated test you have to pass to enter the piano world, but you need not feel confused any longer. This guide will make it crystal clear.
A lot of people teach posture as a strict way to sit and do this and that ‘correctly’. The result is that it sounds more like a military exercise than playing music but the whole point of these guidelines is to help you play comfortably.
As you progress in your piano playing you will notice your fingers and wrists can become strained after a long practice. Prevention is better than a cure which is why you need to start doing finger and wrist exercises.
Learning how to practice well enables you to get the most out of the time you have: to make maximum progress and firmly establish new information. I’ve compiled 10 practice tips here that are easy to implement in your practising regime.
Taking care of your piano is vital to not just getting a good sound - you are investing in the longevity of your instrument and the respect you give it suggests to your psyche that playing the piano is important to you.
Let's get one thing straight:
Learning the piano doesn't need to be an endurance test!
When buying a used piano it’s important to keep in mind that one man’s “perfect working order” can be another man’s piano-shaped table...
Acoustic pianos can be expensive, particularly the shiny variety. But if you’re not in the market to throw several thousand at a glossy black beauty then you’re looking at the used category of pianos.
The obvious upside to a keyboard is that you can turn the volume knob up or down depending on your audience (or lack thereof) and that ol’ saviour, the headphone jack, is there for your housemates sanity...
Should you get a piano or a keyboard when you’re starting to learn piano? Everyone is different, but what’s right for you?
With so many pianists starting their journey in childhood, it can feel like as adult beginners that we’ve missed the boat already. Is learning something new best left to the young? I talk to one of my students, Mike Clarke–a retired engineer in Australia–about his experience.