Piano practice rooms in Oxford?
May be a bit of a long shot, but does anyone know if there are any places in Oxford that I can rent out a practice room with a piano in Oxford? There used to be a piano store in London that had some practice rooms you could hire by the hour, but I haven't seen anything in Oxford, perhaps one of the colleges or something?
Posted Aug 7, 2022, 11:15 AM UTC
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I could have sworn there was a post like this a few months/years ago, either on here or on some Oxford Facebook group, but I can't find it - shame, because it had some suggestions I can't remember!
The music building at St Hilda's College has a number of rooms with pianos that can be hired out
https://jdp.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/hire
I'm not aware of any other colleges which formally hire out music spaces, but if you have any fiends in the colleges they might be able to give you some unofficial access.
New college have a new music building with multiple practice rooms - nominally it's only for their students, but it might be worth emailing them and asking nicely. I doubt the rooms are used much outside of term time. https://www.new.ox.ac.uk/music-practice-facilities
Re: Master Rhythm studios, I might be mistaken but I think they have only a digital piano, not acoustic. ( Aside: they also have a Fender Rhodes and a Hammond B3, or at least they used to, which is totally rad. )
There are other band recording/rehearsal studios around, but I'm not sure many of them have pianos. Soundworks in blackbird leys did the last time I went there ( years ago ), but the space is also pretty dark and grim. Glasshouse studios has at least one piano, but it's a really long way out of town.
A few pubs have pianos, in various states of tuning. The Isis Farmhouse is run by very cool musicians, and has both a mini-grand ( in the front ) and a regular grand ( out the back ) - it might be worth inquiring there.
Schools also may have pianos. Many are quite desperate for cash, so might hire out their space - I play in a band which has rehearsed in a number of different school halls, but each time it was arranged via a band member who had some connection to the school.
Churches and community centers might also be worth a look.
Thanks for the detailed post, I didn't realise St. Hilda's let the general public use their rooms, that's right by my place so looks perfect! Good shout about the schools as well, might have to look into that.