Any pianos open to public use?

Which hall do you live in?

Higginson has one in the fishbowl lounge. Edens also has one, as does Fairhaven. Usually they're in the common areas. The music buildings also has quite a few practice rooms, but they do tend to fill up, and non-music majors aren't the most popular around there (since the music majors tend to fight over their practice time). So yes, there are a few around campus.

You can access Fairhaven's piano since it's also an academic building and you don't have to be a resident there to enter it.

Thanks everyone^^ I live off campus so that is why I stick around campus a lot. I'll check out the fairhaven one ^^.

There are also pianos available in the PAC practice room.  They are reserved for music students until 5 on weekdays, but after that anyone can just go in and use them. 

All of the pianos I've tried playing in the PAC are either broken or horribly off key and need to be tuned. The best one I've tried is in Edens, but you need to live there for access. The one in Fairhaven is also a bit muddy and off key, but  still nowhere near as bad as the PAC.

it may be that the PAC pianos are pretty shoddy, but i've landed on some good ones (like the one i nthe 11th practice room on the 2nd level basement).  plus, the PAC is pretty optimally placed to red square, so that might be easier to get to classes from there.

I would not recomment going to the PAC practice rooms durring the day because the music majors are ALWAYS complaining about how there are almost Never any rooms available. (I myself am a former Music Major) there are ususally people sitting around agains the walls waiting for someone to open up. and when they do it's  a show down to whos getting in first

however,...if you MUST use the PAC,...there are KEYBOARD LABS. they have headsets so you can play your heart out and go to town as long as theres no class going on in them. but in terms of a piano,...steer clear of the PAC in daytime.

I'm a music student and I have noticed the same thing. I love how the pianos in the music building are the worst ones on campus, of course with the exclusion of the piano practice rooms, but those are for piano majors only so have to be nice. It seems like school music buildings always have to have bad pianos.

I believe there's one in Kappa up on the Ridge. At least, there was last year. : ) 

^^ I only use the pianos in the pac in the late evening so that I'm not intruding on someone's study time. I like the Fairhaven one, but someone is usually using it.

The reason why the PAC has such bad pianos is because they are played 24/7. Even if you actively try to keep an instrument in tune (which they do--I know the piano technician and he's very on top of maintaining the pianos), frequent use combined with weather changes can really mess up tuning. Plus they aren't exactly new to start with.

But there are a few that are decent in there... you just have to do some hunting around, as someone else already suggested. :)

I've been looking for a private place to play a real piano on campus for a really long time.  Where in the PAC are these practice rooms located?  And if it's after 5pm, will the music majors still get pissed if I use one?

The practice room pianos are located along the long hallways of Lower Levels 1 and 2. To get there, go down the alley between the PAC plaza and the Bookstore and take that first door on the left. Go straight and there are the LL1 practice rooms. LL2 rooms are directly below on the next floor down.

Pretty much we don't care who practices in the rooms, as long as there isn't already a line and there are music majors wating for rooms to free up. Things generally start to open up in the evening, anyway--the later you come, the more likely it is that there are open rooms.

Happy practicing :)