At first glance, it seems that all of the practice rooms in the downstairs of Granoff are more or less the same- each room is a small, soundproofed square filled with a beautiful piano. However, ask any student you find walking through the halls of Granoff, and they’re guaranteed to have a strong opinion when asked the question: What is your favorite practice room? While some students like to keep their favorite practice room as a well-kept secret, we found a few students willing to share their tips and tricks. So, here’s Heidi, Mary, and Cole’s favorite Granoff practice rooms:
Heidi: Take a left down the first corridor of practice rooms, and you’ll find my favorite room last on your right. After four years of sampling each and every practice room in Granoff, I can confidently say that my favorite practice room is the best practice room. I was initially attracted to this room freshman year because it holds the same type of beautiful Steinway piano that I grew up playing during my lessons each week. Four years later, I’ve grown as attached to the Steinway in this practice room as I had to the one in my childhood piano teacher’s studio. Being all the way at the end of the corridor, this room also provides a little more privacy and less foot traffic than others. And, because other students tend to take the first available room instead of walking to the end of the hallway, the room is often open at busy times! While I used to keep my favorite room to myself, it’s time to share the wealth- in my humble opinion, it’s by far the best practice room in Granoff.
Mary: While I, too, share an affinity for Heidi’s room (mostly because of the action on said Steinway, which is similar to the Steinway in the teaching studio where my piano teacher gives lessons), an even more well-kept secret is the practice room that backs up to that one. It’s one of the rooms with an upright piano instead of a baby grand, making it useful for ensemble rehearsals, and it recently acquired a new Yamaha upright that is quickly replacing the beloved Steinway in my heart. While its sound isn’t as rich as some of the other pianos, I think the size of the sound and the uniformity of the action makes up for it, and it stays in tune a lot better than some of the others. This also has a music stand mounted on the wall, which is helpful when I need to practice my vocal technique away from the piano but need to check my notes or haven’t yet memorized something (probably a piece I was supposed to memorize a month ago. Sorry, Carol!), or if I’m practicing the violin (another instrument better played standing). I won’t say I’m not concerned about this secret getting out, but everyone was going to find out about a room this versatile sooner or later.
Cole: My favorite practice room is located two rooms down the second hallway, just across from the door to room 22. Sure, the brown baby grand piano inside doesn’t shine as much as its sleek black counterparts. However it is (mostly) in tune, and I’ve always felt it has one of the richest, fullest sounds of the practice room pianos. The key selling point to this room is that the piano is set up so that the bench is in the opposite corner from the door. The piano is situated so that when the lid is open, you can’t really be seen from outside the room. This means you don’t have to worry about anyone seeing who is responsible for (in my case) the embarrassing racket you’re creating. Do you need to buckle down and practice hard without distractions for an upcoming audition? Do you want to work on figuring out how to play wonderwall on piano but are you too afraid of judgement? Do you really want to avoid people and/or your responsibilities and watch Netflix/cry in a quiet space? Then this is the room for you.
Do you agree with our three students? Let us know in the comments below!
