Piano practice rooms in washington

[nadikouk]

Hi,

I've currently just arrived in washington and was wondering if anyone knew of any piano practice rooms somewhere in the city that I could use??
I have a recital when I get back home and could really use the practice time!
I'm based in bethesda but can get to lots of other places fairly easily...

Would appreciate any help! cheers

[chestone]

I also would appreciate practice room suggestions (with piano) for the DC area as I am there on business from time to time.  I sometimes find practice rooms at piano stores (but many are closed after my work hours, in the evening) or piano academies, but would welcome any resources that list piano practice rooms across the country.  Or, maybe that could be a project on Piano Board?  An app?  Is there any interest in following up on this?

[49410enrique]

hmm i've never actually heard of people using practice rooms outside of an academic setting and i've always just used whatever rooms were available to me as part of the music school i am attending.  i did once get special permission from the head professor/chair of the piano department at another music school to let me practice in their rooms under special circumstances (long story) but i doubt he would have let me if i was just some dude that can play and needed a room (my permission came after a meeting after he had heard some of my playing).

i think community colleges are going to be most flexible (but people vary it could be the opposite) andhave the least access restrictions (i.e. my current practice room is electronic lock control to the building and then you need a special key to actually get into the grand piano room).

contact the music department at whatever school is most local to your destination and see what they say or reccommend, you never know, it is after all part of their mission to support learning as a worthwhile endeavor so you might be able to get guest access similar to when visiting other libraries as a guest user/researcher.

edit. you can also check with local churches, especially if you are member of a church back home, you can have the minister/pastor/father/rabi etc. call it in on your behalf with a reccommendation since you're essentially a visiting member of a larger organization as a whole

[nadikouk]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your help. I'm visiting from england, so I'm and haven't been to washington before, so any help is much appreciated.
Chester - I wondered if you tell me of any of these piano stores that let you practice? when you say practice, is it a private room, and do they let you play for say, over an hour? I don't have any working hour restrictions, so it could be a little easier for me.

THanks again!

[chestone]

Sorry, I don't have any specific recommendations for Washington DC yet. 

In some cities, I've called piano stores before my business trips, explained my situation (adult amateur pianist/business traveler/stranded piano-less) and asked if they had a practice room available.  About half of them say yes, offering their recital rooms, which generally have doors that close -- not the type of practice rooms that a conservatory would have (which I would prefer).  I usually tell them I need only an hour, since I don't want to monopolize the place, and I always offer to pay something, although none have taken me up on it.  Be aware, it's not really private, customers may stop in to listen, etc.  One store that had its recital room booked let me use a Clavinova with headphones.  A few times, I have arranged with local music schools to pay for the use of a teaching or practice room for an hour; the schools had a rental structure in place, maybe $25-$50 for an hour or so, depending on the area. 

If you are available during regular daytime business hours, that should make it much easier to work out an arrangement.

I hope this is somewhat helpful.  I'm still trying to figure out the best approach to ensure access to a piano, especially for business trips that are more than a day or two.  I would appreciate any other suggestions, especially input from piano stores and music schools in this forum...

-Cheryl