Are you travelling and looking for a piano practice room near you? Then check out these websites.
Travelling with a flute, a violin or a saxophone is not so bad. Even an instrument as big as a double bass can be carried, right?. But a piano? No way. That’s one thing I don’t like about the piano – the fact that you can’t take it with you. This means that whenever you travel, you have to leave your piano behind.
Prior to setting out for 3 months in Europe earlier this year, I spent some time online researching places where I could find a piano practice room. During my search, I came across several websites that looked really promising. I ended up finding a piano practice room in a piano shop in France and an AirBnB with a piano in Italy! I wasn’t without a piano for the whole 3 months but at least, I had a piano to practise on for almost half the trip, which is better than nothing.
In this article, I’m sharing the websites I found and some other ways to find a piano practice room near you in the hope that it will help you next time you’re travelling and in need of a piano.
Online listings of piano practice rooms near you
PianoMe
This is a website in German however there is an English version you can access via the top menu. The listings are mostly in Germany and Switzerland. Each listing includes a photo of the piano room and mentions the type of piano, what you can use the room for, other features such as wi-fi, toilets, air con, allowed number of people and room size. You can contact the owner or book directly from the website.
Here is an example of a listing on PianoMe:
Music Traveler
Music Traveler is similar to PianoMe but it’s better in that you can find practice rooms across Europe and the US. Many cities are in pilot mode which means there’ll be many more locations coming soon! You can search by instruments, not just piano. You can also filter by soundproof level, room size and capacity.
Find Mushroom
No, this is not to find mushrooms but practice rooms! You can search by the type of venue (home, church, school, etc.), price and features. The search filters also include other instruments you would typically find in a music studio and music stands/stools. You can also save listings to your list by clicking on the heart icon (once you’ve signed in). The listings update whenever you move the map.
As of now, the listings are mainly in the UK and in France (all in Paris).
Tag Venue
This website helps you find a venue for all kinds of events in English-speaking countries (UK, US, Ireland, Australia, Singapore and Canada). To find venues with a piano, you would need to select “music studio” or “piano room”. The website is more geared towards events and parties as there is no option to select piano as a filter or keyword. This might be a good option if you’re looking for a venue for a performance or concert.
Parlons Piano
Parlons Piano (“let’s talk piano”) is a French website about the piano with forums, blogs, news and sheet music. If you navigate to Où jouer du piano (4th tab from the right), you can search for places with a piano in France by using the search bar on the left-hand side. Unfortunately, it does not have many search filters.
The listings not only include private practice rooms but also public places such as airports, shopping centres and train stations. It’s not the most user-friendly website however it’s a handy way to find public and private places with a piano if you’re living or travelling in France.
Online listings of short term rentals with a piano
AirBnB
When looking for a place to stay on AirBnB, you can now search by category by selecting one of the top icons which include grand pianos (you’ll need to scroll through the icons to find it)! This is great, although listings with an upright or digital piano won’t appear in this category, only grand pianos…
The easiest way to find listings with a grand piano is to leave the destination blank, select some dates and then click on “show map”. You can zoom in or out and the map will update the listings. Unfortunately, piano is not available as a filter.
You can also find a list of Airbnb rentals with a piano (not exhaustive) across Europe and the US here.
If you happen to live or travel in Australia, then you’re welcome to stay at my AirBnB! It’s in a town called Singleton Heights in the Hunter Valley (well-known for the vineyards)! One of the bedrooms is now a piano/reading/game room with a Yamaha digital piano.
Holiday Cottage Compare
If you’re in the UK, you can even search for cottages with a piano! Type in a location or leave it blank then type “piano” in the search bar under Features. Apparently, there are 72 cottages with pianos! How cool is that? It’s only in the UK, however.
Sabbatical Homes
Sabbatical homes is a website for short term rentals for academics. However, you don’t need to be in academia to use the website. There is a piano search filter which is great. The only downside is that because it’s mainly for academics, the listings are usually not available all year round, only a few months at a time. It’s still worth a shot though as you can find listings all over the world.
Other places to consider
Music colleges / conservatoriums – They will normally have practice rooms for hire, however it’s usually only for students enrolled. It’s still worth asking though. I was able to rent a practice room for 2 months at McGill University in Montreal. I could go there whenever I liked, choose whichever practice room I wanted and practise for however long I wanted.
Piano shops / music shops – Some shops may have a practice room you can hire like I found in France.
Piano schools / music schools – They may have a room for you to use outside teaching hours.
Churches – Many churches have a piano which you might be able to use. It might not be the ideal place to practise though if you don’t want to be disturbed by people coming and going (especially if it’s a famous church),
Rehearsal studios / recording studios – Such studios normally have a piano and are soundproof. The only caveat is that renting a professional studio can be quite expensive.
If all else fails…
If none of the websites above help, then type “piano practice room near me” or “piano practice room for hire” or “piano practice room for rent” in your search engine. And if you’re travelling to a non-English speaking country, try typing the keywords in the language of your destination.
I hope this article helps you find a piano practice room near you. If you know of any other websites to find a practice room, let us know in the comments! And if you have a piano you want to make available for others (for free or for a fee), then consider creating a listing on some of the websites above. Travelling is way more fun when we can have access to a piano!
