The room in which you keep a piano can have a strong bearing on the sound the piano creates; modern upright pianos are designed to give optimal sound quality in smaller rooms whilst grand pianos are at their best in larger rooms and open-plan areas. At the same time, a piano is a piece of furniture and so we make a range of styles and finishes to complement your interior décor.

Upright pianos are best placed against a room's short wall, with the center of the piano one-fifth or one-third of that wall's length from the nearest corner. Try the instrument in both locations, listening for an evenness of tone across the scale.

Sound behaves in much the same way as light. Shine a flashlight at a mirror in a dark room, and a hard glare will be reflected right back into your eyes. Shine the same flashlight onto a frosted piece of glass, and you'll notice that the light is evenly distributed in a pleasing circle on the surface of the glass, which will also reflect more light around the dark room than the mirror did.

Apply this to sound in an enclosed space and you can see why diffusion — the random scattering of sound — is far better than hard reflection. The latter makes the sound itself sound hard and brittle, while diffusion provides clarity, warmth, and an evenness of sound throughout the room. And because diffusion more evenly distributes high and mid-frequency sound throughout a room, it enhances musical clarity.

Absorption is useful in reducing the amount of sonic energy in a room. Many people make the mistake of cutting down reflections by deadening their music rooms with heavy curtains, thick carpets, and overstuffed furniture. However, this will not absorb all frequencies evenly, and can make a room sound dull in the upper octaves and too heavy in the bass — or the other way around. Some absorption is desirable, even necessary, so a combination of absorption and diffusion is ideal.

Place books, bookcases, artworks, chairs, and other randomly shaped objects along the walls to break up reflections, as well as scattering around the room some soft surfaces, such as upholstered furniture. Some of the best music rooms have mostly hard surfaces with little absorption, but they all have many diffusive surfaces that break up the reflections, which keeps the sound live, warm, and resonant.

Partially closed wooden blinds or other irregularly shaped treatments for windows and glass doors will help diffuse reflections coming off of those glass surfaces. Flat artworks, even when not covered with glass, can cause degrading reflections unless they have a very irregular diffusive surface. Fabric wall hangings, especially quilts and other thick, soft, irregular surfaces, can absorb a lot of high-frequency reflections, when used in moderation — but not heavy curtains.

What's under your piano can make a huge difference to its sound. If you have an upright piano in a room with a hard floors, we recommended placing a section of carpet or a rug under the entire footprint of the piano to absorb excess reflected sound and to keep the edges of the room more live for resonance. (This can also help protect the flooring from the piano's feet or casters).

If you own a grand piano and don't mind how it looks, you can store piles (or boxes) of sheet music on the floor directly under the piano; this provides a mix of absorption and diffusion. Alternatively (and as well as, in very 'live' rooms with a lot of reflections), a thick fabric cover can be suspended under the instrument's soundboard. This can be especially useful in practise rooms, where clarity is more important than overall volume.

If an upright piano's tone still sounds too resonant or bright (whether the piano is against a wall, or out in the middle of the room) you can mellow the tone by hanging a heavy fabric cover or blanket over the back of the piano.

As acoustic, 'living' instruments, upright and grand pianos are sensitive to fluctuations in humidity. Whilst they're designed to give some tolerance, the ideal room temperature is around 21ºC - 22ºC.

Where possible, don't put an upright piano against an exterior wall; exterior walls tend to exhibit more frequent temperature changes. If no other space is available, ideally keep the piano at least two feet away from the exterior wall.

Also aim to keep the piano out of direct sunlight. Acute and sustained warming from sunlight can cause a disproportionate increase in interior temperature and potentially damage the pianos mechanism. Sunlight can also cause discoloration and cracking of the piano’s finish.

Such acute temperature changes can not only harm the piano mechanically and aesthetically, but can also cause the piano to more quickly go out of tune. Try to keep hot or cold air from blowing directly on the piano. Close or redirect any air vents which are behind or underneath the piano and keep the piano away from fireplaces that would radiate dry heat on the piano.

The wooden soundboard in your piano was intricately designed, crafted and positioned to optimise the piano's acoustic properties. We ensure that the woods used in our pianos undergo extensive drying and conditioning to minimise any further changes at a molecular level, and so that they're less susceptible to environmental changes. Wood is still innately responsive to ambient temperature and humidity however, and as the soundboard (slowly) expands or contracts, the strings will follow suit leading to the piano going out of tune.

It's important to prevent the soundboard from becoming too dry or too moist. In the UK, it's normal for ambient humidity to increase and decrease significantly through the year as the seasons change, and the pianos we bring into the UK have soundboards conditioned with this in mind. Nonetheless, we recommend you monitor your music room's humidity and ideally regulate it with a humidifier or dehumidifier. Optimum humidity would be around 40%.

Alternatively, if you own an upright piano, place a container of tap water inside the lower section of the piano, behind the vanity cover. The water will gradually evaporate into the inner air chamber and help keep a small amount of moisture in the soundboard. (Remember to re-fill the container every 3 months or so.)

Keep the piano away from heaters, air vents and windows, and close the door of your music room if it is near a kitchen or bathroom. Keep an eye out for condensation forming on windows - if it does, there's the risk it's also forming within the piano. Open a window (or air vent) slightly to air the room and reduce moisture. This can be especially important for Silent, TransAcoustic and Disklavier pianos which use a detailed and precise optical sensor array to track key movement.

Dust can build up between piano keys, causing mechanical issues, and this can particularly affect Silent pianos. Keep the piano's keyboard lid up for a few hours during daylight at least twice a week.

Dark, warm and overly-humid music rooms can encourage mould and bacteria to grow within the piano, which can weaken the wooden components and pose a possible health risk. Indirect sunlight and good air circulation can help prevent this, whilst a gentle once-over with a vacuum cleaner brush attachment can help reduce the build up of dust.

If liquid seeps between the keys and reaches the piano's interior, it can cause major and costly damage. If liquid does spill onto the keyboard, wipe up the excess liquid from the surface of the keys. Try not to press any keys while doing this to avoid further dripping. If liquid gets between the keys, don't attempt to remove the keys yourself; contact a qualified piano technician as soon as possible (speak to our Piano Tuning Service).

Compared to other pieces of house-hold furniture, the piano needs special care and attention. You can inadvertently cause exterior and interior damage by using household cleaners and being a bit heavy handed.

Avoid store bought chemicals and furniture polish. These are too abrasive and can lead to grainy textures and discolouration. Use mild soap diluted with filtered water. Always use a soft cloth such as cheesecloth, flannel or chamois. Avoid paper towels at all costs. Cloths should only be slightly dampened and keys should be wiped towards you. Wiping side to side can let moisture seep between the keys and cause damage.

Clean one octave at a time and dry immediately before moving onto the next octave. Avoid cloths that may bleed when wet. Colours can easily transfer onto the white keys. Always use separate cloths on black keys or simply clean them last. Paint from the black keys or unseen dirt can be transferred onto the white keys.

Disinfecting your piano keys, especially if you share your piano is tempting during cold and flu seasons. However, never use popular spray disinfectants on your piano keys. They can damage the surface of the keys allowing for further damage and can find their way onto other delicate parts or surfaces.

We recommend Cory's Piano Care Kit, a complete maintenance pack for the exterior of your piano. It contains Key-Brite Key Cleaner to safely clean and protect the keys; Super High Gloss Piano Polish for all high polish piano surfaces and machine washable cleaner and polisher cloths. Everything you need to keep your piano exterior looking like new!

Regular tuning is an important part of looking after your piano; having your piano tuned is part of owning a piano, just as changing the oil is part of owning a car.

Piano strings are held under tremendous tension, averaging 90 kilograms each. Hence, even if the piano is not played, the strings will gradually stretch with the passage of time and the piano will fall out of tune.

In particular, piano strings stretch a great deal during the first year after purchase, and the piano should be tuned twice during this one-year period. In addition, tuning is a chance to check the condition of the piano's interior.

Tuning twice a year for first two to three years then once a year should be sufficient. This of course depends on the environment and how often the piano is used.