Piano voicing isn’t simply about making a new piano sound less bright.

A new piano develops over time. New hammers and strings need time to settle and bed in, while regular playing and the environment in which the piano lives all contribute to the development of its tone. In my experience, it can take around ten years before we really begin to hear the true character and tone of an instrument.

Interestingly, the problem I encounter most often isn’t a piano that sounds excessively harsh or bright. It’s a piano that has become muffled and has lost clarity, definition and life.

Correcting that isn’t simply a matter of following a standard procedure. Every piano is different. The condition of the hammers, the action, the strings, the instrument’s age, how it has been played and the environment in which it has lived all contribute to what we hear.

What is piano voicing?

Voicing is the process of working with the piano’s hammers and tonal characteristics to improve the quality, balance and response of the instrument’s sound.

It is different from tuning. Tuning corrects the pitch; voicing works with the tone. A piano can therefore be perfectly in tune but still sound dull, muffled, uneven, excessively bright or lacking in clarity.

Voicing may involve careful work on the hammers, but the first step should always be to understand why the piano sounds as it does. Tonal problems should not automatically be treated as hammer problems.

Experience matters

After more than 40 years working professionally with pianos, I approach voicing by first listening to the instrument and identifying why its tone has developed as it has.

The objective isn’t to impose a particular sound on every piano. It is to bring out the best tonal qualities already present in that particular instrument, while retaining its individual character.

If your piano has lost its clarity, sounds muffled or uneven, or simply no longer produces the quality of tone you remember, I can assess the instrument and advise whether voicing would be beneficial.

Professional Piano Voicing across Newport, Cardiff & South Wales

Call Robert King on 07811 683790