Playing the piano should be pleasurable regardless of the standard of the player. It is difficult to enjoy playing, and extremely frustrating, when the piano is not responsive to the touch - when the instrument just doesn’t react the way it should, or the way the player expects.

Regulation is the adjustment of the thousands of mechanical parts of the piano to bring the instrument back to its optimum playing condition. Over time, with temperature variations and the playing of the piano, the constant swelling and shrinking of the wood, compacting of cloth and felt, the wearing of pins on which the hammers and other parts pivot may result in the instrument feeling ‘sluggish’ to play.

Do you find it difficult to control your playing in soft passages of music? In faster passages do you find you cannot quite pull off the trill the way it is on the CD? Do you just find it impossible to repeat notes at speed? Well, the good news is….IT MAY NOT BE YOU!!!(Hooray!) With your piano regulated properly you might just find that you can play it exactly like Barenboim does on the recording you have! Well….maybe not - you DO need to actually practise those trills as well, you know!

There are many signs which indicate your piano may be in need of regulation. If you notice that the keys are not all level (some are higher or lower than others), if keys stick and do not move up and down freely, if the touch is uneven throughout the piano – all of these problems may indicate the piano action needs regulated.

All upright and grand pianos need periodic regulation to perform at their best. Frequency of regulation depends upon a number of factors such as its exposure to humidity and temperature changes, amount of use and the quality of the piano. However, here in the UK we are lucky that huge changes in humidity do not occur, so a general rule of thumb would be to have your piano regulated every 5 years.