Hey guys!
I compiled this list of rehearsal spaces and piano practice rooms for NYC that can accomodate singing and non-amplified music. “Piano room” or “rehearsal space for acoustic music” kindsa situtions. I’ll add to these as I learn about more, but this is for my students and colleagues so they can find places.
I know nobody likes to show up to NYC from out of town to teach or rehearse and there is a heavy metal drummer in the next room or the piano hasn’t been tuned in 14 years. I think I still have PTSD from trying to find space in Los Angeles and Hollywood. FML. Anyway – here are some professional studio spaces and piano practice rooms where you can teach, practice, or rehearse acoustic music.
RIPLEY GRIER – The first place I’d like to mention is the one I use the most – and that is Ripley Grier (520 8th Ave 16th Floor NYC 10018). They also have a half block away a second space that is beautiful with more rooms and some have amazing views out the ginormous windows. They have other locations including on in the upper west side on W 72nd and 939 8th Ave in upper Midtown West. It’s family owned and 520 is a thriving, central business where a lot of people teach and rehearse including voice and piano teachers, Broadway musicals, youth programs, and more. They have piano practice rooms, rooms for teaching piano and voice, rehearsal spaces for acoustic music and giant spaces for show rehearsals or dance classes. Sprung wood floors, as far as I have seen, but I am not a dancer so you should call them cause I see a lot of dancers working out of this space. I’m a frequent flier here. Union Discounts of 10% which brings the cost of a space that’s around 10/11×10/11 to $18.90 at the time of this writing. Punch cards – punch it five times (1 punch per day, not per hour) and get $5 off of your next visit. Some same-day rentals are cheap and they have a $5/15 minute warm up thing you can get day of. Staff is amazing. You need government ID to enter the building at 520 8th Ave, which is said to be the largest rehearsal space – not just in NYC but IN THE WORLD…WTF!). The lobby is swank AF. 520 has a voice over recording studio (not good for music recording for most purposes). Some of the piano practice rooms and larger rehearsal spaces for acoustic music have windows! 😮 Very close to the Penn Station in Manhattan and to the Port Authority Building in midtown (which is a majour transportation hub).
244 Rehearsal Studios – 244 W 54th Street Manhattan in upper Midtown West NYC. This is my other go-to place although it’s not as close to me. They have a grand piano in every piano practice room and in the larger rehearsal spaces for acoustic music, as well, so that is awesome. Rates are reasonable and this is another very central place where a lot of professionals go. I highly recommend and love using them. Staff is amazing. You can book via email. Cancellations ONLY accepted via email. Read the cancellation policy well cause it’s kinda off Broadway if you know what I mean. They have carpeting in the rooms which makes the acoustics more manageable. Kinda homey. I dig the place, the instruments, and the staff. Pricing is good.. They have quite a few piano practice room sized spaces for like $20 at the time of this writing.
Shelter Studios – 244 W 54th Street (12th floor and penthouse) Manhattan in upper Midtown West NYC. These guys are in the same building as 244 Rehearsal Studios. I’ve never used them or been in the space because 244 Rehearsal Studios have been so good to me that I never really had the need but the space looks great on their website. It’s owned by a voice teacher dude and has piano practice rooms and larger rooms for teaching, recitals, rehearsal spaces for acoustic music, and shows. They have a section of rooms without pianos where they only allow non-music stuff like acting and dancing.
Michiko Studios – 149 W 46th Street Manhattan NYC between 6th and 7th Ave. I have a lot of colleagues in the NYC jazz scene who use this space. It looks good and I think it’s clean and professional with good instruments. Piano practice room size spaces as well as larger rehearsal spaces for acoustic music. Online booking FTW!!! Although I’ve never been here, I really feel like this is a good and beautiful place based on the pictures and reputation in the jazz scene. BTW, if you run a class here, I’ve seen them post classes on their site. This place looks stunning and has some beautiful performance spaces. There are concerts there.
Opera America – 330 7th Ave 7th Floor Manhattan (@ W 29th St) NYC. I have used these people quite a lot because I am close to them. The piano pratice rooms, rehearsal spaces for acoustic music, and performance spaces are clean, the instruments are superior. They have a punch card frequent flier thing based on how much money you spend on rehearsal space. And they have online booking – sorta. Meaning you can email someone to set it up but it’s not always available when it says on the site. No big, you need to call most places, so the email thing is just a nicety. They have some computers there too and are basically a kinda community centre for opera and you can join which gives you benefits (although not priority in room booking so). I actually really like their facility and mission, although I was not feeling loved as a non-classical singer sporting a hairstyle I like to call “Entropy”. When Lyft was running a Halloween special to send a carload of zombies (read: actors dressed as zombies) to anywhere in NYC, me and a student of mine ALMOST sent a carload of zombies to them to mix it up. But the facility is solid and if you’re doing classical, the clientele might be more friendly. Who is to say. The staff was always okay, though. Very close to Penn Station in midtown south. Pretty close to the PATH station, as well, which goes to all points Jersey.
Pearl Studios – 500 8th Ave (floors 4, 12, and Penthouse) and 519 8th Ave (floor 12) – Midtown West NYC. 519 is within a half block and across the street from 500. I haven’t used them because Ripley Grier has been so good to me and is located very close, but Pearl is in the next block from Ripley Grier and is said to be a nice place with piano practice rooms, rehearsal spaces for acoustic music, and so forth. The musical theatre voice teacher I cross train with uses them sometimes when his apartment is under construction or something. A lot of people use them, actually. It’s said to be rooms with pianos. I have been in the building because my shrink has offices there – so obviously it would be super convenient to get psychiatric help AND rehearsal studio space in the same Midtown West building but. You need ID to enter the building – lobby is not super glam but it works. You know what to do – email them and see what up! Very close to the Penn Station in Manhattan and the Port Authority Building (which is a majour transportation hub).
Studios 150 – 150 W 46th St New York, NY 10036 – Midtown West NYC. My voice lessons student’s son’s voice teacher teaches here! 😀 Anyway, with that amount of very thorough personal knowledge of this studio space, my client says it’s a nice space and they have piano practice rooms so. It appears to have soundproofing and people are teaching out of it so that’s a good sign! They may or may not have larger rehearsal spaces for acoustic music.
NOLA Studios – 250 W 54th Street in upper Midtown West NYC very close to 244 Rehearsal. I have not used these guys. It’s said to be old school: older facilities, not upgraded, etc. But they have piano practice rooms, rehearsal spaces for acoustic music, and so forth. Functional. I’d totally give them a try if my main peeps couldn’t handle me and see how it was but I have no first hand experience for you right now. Looking at the images on the site, some of the small rooms look “functional”, but the larger rooms have white walls and dark curtains and I think they actually are pretty. I’ll definitely check them out sometime.
Art New York – 520 8th Ave, 4th Floor Midtown West NYC in the same building with Ripley Grier 520. I haven’t used these guys. I did shoot them and email once and they did not get back to me, but I see a lot of people coming into the building for these guys, so I’m thinking that might have been an anomoly. They also have memberships and are a good organization to be involved with, IMO. the have office space if you need that for your production and some other cool stuff so you should hit their website and see what. In addition to their piano practice rooms, rehearsal spaces for acoustic music, and larger spaces at 520 8th Ave, they also have some Brooklyn spaces at 138 South Oxford Street (Between Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street) Brooklyn, NY 11217, including a wood pannelled performance space that looks amazing, at least online. They have some sprung floors, some floors suitable for dancing, and some carpeting. I’d like to use their Brooklyn performance space at some point. It looks insane. Again, this building has a swank lobby, but you need government ID to enter. The security guys are great, though. Very close to the NYC Penn Station and to the Port Authority Building (which is a majour transporttion hub).
BONUS: Kaufman Cultural Center has piano practice rooms in the upper west. According to their site, the spaces are at 129 W 67th Street New York, NY 10023. There are no pictures of the practice spaces though, but rental for a piano practice room with an upright is $17 as of this writing (Jan 2018). If you use them and wanna send me an image, please do so and we can bump them up to Non-BONUS. Exciting!
Well that’s all I got at this point but I will add to this list when I get new info! Happy rehearsing in your piano practice room!