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Hello everyone,
Can anyone suggest a place in Manhattan with high quality grand pianos for practice? I need it for this Friday night and Saturday afternoon. My teacher said the Kaufman Center had practice rooms, but when I called them they said they were only available from 9 to 5 on Friday and not available at all on weekends.

Money isn't really a concern, although it would be unfortunate if I had to rent out some huge place meant for a band or something for a lot of money just to use the piano for a while.

Thanks.

Okay how about does anyone have experience with 853 7th Street Rehearsal Studios? Or Nola Rehearsal Studio?

There was another thread about this very topic recently.

I just booked with 853 Rehearsal Studios for a week session in July, but I wouldn't be able to tell you anything until then! They were very friendly on the phone and very organized from what I know though!

But I too am curious if anybody has any experience with them!

I tried out that place the other day. I think it would be fine for what you need. But make sure you realize that most of the grands are very small -- like 4'11. At least one of the rooms has a larger one. If this is important to you, make sure to ask what kind of piano is in the room that you reserve.

Well I'm sorry, I couldn't find it anywhere.

@ MarkC yea I asked, and they said one room has a 6'3" Charles Walter. Judging from their website, it appears that room is one of the 2 more expensive ones, which is slightly unfortunate. Merkin Hall/Kaufman charges only 15 an hour for rooms Although the 853 place does look nicer.

@ Richter it's looking like I'm going to have to book with them, if they still have openings. If that's what happens I'll try to remember to say something about them!

What 853 explained to me was that they don't book out specific rooms. Instead, they ask you a bit about your background and pick something well-suited that's available. They guaranteed that I would have a nice grand that was well taken care of though!

I checked at Merkin Hall and they apparently only have uprights (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).
It's $15/h at Merkin but it's only $20/h at 853 Rehearsal Studios. $5/h for a grand piano seems worth it to me!

Also, if you do end up using 853 Rehearsal Studios, can you please explain to me how to get to the actual studios?? I'm currently in Canada and it doesn't show up on Google Maps at all :P

Merkin said they had some grands when I called them.
Unfortunately a lot of the other places that let you rent practice rooms around the area don't have websites. Seriously, it's 2010, who makes phone calls to get info?

The other thread is this one. It wasn't really exactly about what you're asking, but there's some overlap.

About there being a 6'3: I was told that the biggest piano was a 5'7 Bergmann, but maybe they just didn't like me.

It's at 853 7th Avenue. Why wouldn't that show up on a Google map? It shows up for me.

853 7th Ave., NY, NY

Regards,

Oh yea MarkC how far in advance did you book a room to practice in? It would be unfortunate if I can't get a room with a good piano. I'm starting to wonder if you didn't hear about the 6'3" since it was booked already.

The size of the piano doesn't really matter since I'll just be warming up and practicing, but it would be nice if I didn't have to deal with some Bergmann POS.

Also does anyone have any info on Nola? Some review on Yelp says they have "Steinways", and that they are "competitively priced". They also say they have bad decor, but that's the least of my concerns. They don't have a website, and no one is going to pick up the phone this late so I'm just hoping someone can get me some info tonight maybe

I booked it the same day -- I was lucky.
The Bergmann actually was quite good -- I liked it although there was a problem with the dampers.

Unless I misunderstood, I was told it was the biggest piano they had. But they also said that their pianos 'move around,' include for outside rentals, so maybe what they meant was that it was the biggest they had at that moment.

When I play there again, I'll request the same room ("M. Butterfly") since I liked it, as long as the piano in there at the time seems acceptable.

I'm kinda looking to get the Charles Walter, which seems to be in the second most expensive room (whatever it was called). Bergmann is made by Young Chang, and while I don't hate them the way my teacher does, I do think that they are pretty poorly made. Young Chang, Weber, whatever Korean brand pianos I've tried at piano stores in the past have had by far the worst actions I've seen.

I guess tomorrow I will give a few more places calls, see what they have. 853 does seem a little expensive, especially if you're getting the 2 rooms with the bigger pianos.

My mistake, I meant Google Street View. I have been trying to find the entrance to this building but maybe I'm just not that great at navigating this! From what I have tried, I cannot zoom in on this section of 7th avenue to see it.

And I'm not sure that the prices differ for each room at 853 (correct me if I'm wrong)? I was simply told $20/h and that they'd place me somewhere.

Money isn't really a concern, although it would be unfortunate if I had to rent out some huge place meant for a band or something for a lot of money just to use the piano for a while

You opened by stating that money wasn't a concern, but you continue to express concern about the price. You've been told several times that it costs $20.00 per hour.....that's too much for you?

The prices do differ. I think most of the rooms are 20. Some are more.

The entrance is on 7th Avenue, between 54th & 55th Street, on the 'east' side of the street -- i.e. on the left side if you're going down 7th Avenue.

Yeah, I thought that was weird too.

Especially since these prices are very low for New York.

Maybe trigalg just didn't imagine what the prices might be and thought it couldn't be more than a few bucks.....

Sorry what I said might not have made sense. 20 an hour is fine, but it looks like the rooms with the better pianos cost more. Carmen? or whatever is 25 to 30 says their website. In addition, 853's pianos seem mostly lower end, which would make the greater expense unwarranted. So what I mean is that while it's not an issue if it's more expensive, it's still better if I can get a better piano (assuming that the rooms at 853 are mostly with cheaper pianos), or if it's cheaper.

I'm going to make some calls, see what other places have.

Alright so I booked Friday at 853 (since they stay open late) and Saturday with Nolas (since they have Steinway Bs). I'll get back to everyone next week about what I thought.

What's Nolas?