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Guest post

PianoMe: The Smart Way to Share Rehearsal Spaces and Earn Money with Your Music Room

What can you do when rehearsal rooms and instruments stand empty for hours or even days?

The answer is simple: share them through www.piano.me/en and turn unused space into income.

PianoMe is a growing online platform that enables musicians, music schools, studios, churches, and private hosts to rent out rehearsal spaces with instruments by the hour. At the same time, musicians can book affordable practice rooms exactly when they need them—no long-term contracts, no unnecessary costs.

Rehearsal Spaces Sharing Community – Built by Musicians for Musicians

PianoMe was created by musicians who experienced the same problem many artists face: finding a suitable place to practice is often difficult, expensive, and inflexible.

The idea behind the platform is based on the sharing economy: if a room and an instrument are not in use, they can be shared with others.

This creates a classic win-win situation:

  • Hosts generate additional income from otherwise idle rooms
  • Musicians pay only for the time they actually use
  • Cities benefit from a reduction in rehearsal room shortages

Traveling musicians, in particular, appreciate being able to book a nearby practice room within minutes, whether for an audition, an exam, or a recording session.

Monetize Your Empty Rehearsal Room

If you own a rehearsal room or a studio that is not used 24/7, PianoMe offers an easy and secure way to earn money.

Creating a listing takes only a few minutes:

  • Upload photos
  • Set your availability
  • Define your own rental rules and cancellation terms
  • Start receiving bookings

All processes—from request to payment—are fully digital and automated, which means no paperwork and minimal administrative effort.

A Lifeline for Music Schools

Music schools are facing increasing financial pressure due to rising costs and reduced public funding. PianoMe helps them:

  • Generate additional revenue from unused rooms during off-peak hours
  • Digitize and automate their rental processes
  • Reach new target groups such as freelance teachers, ensembles, and choirs

For some institutions, hourly room sharing has already become a second financial pillar that helps stabilize operations.

Flexible Solutions for Music Teachers

Freelance music teachers benefit from a highly flexible, on-demand room model:

  • No long-term rental contracts
  • No deposits
  • Hourly bookings based on actual teaching needs
  • Easy cancellations within the respective host’s policy

This supports the growing agency model in music education, where teachers operate independently and require adaptable teaching spaces.

Growing Demand and a Diverse Rehearsal Space Marketplace

The response on social media has been overwhelmingly positive. The general consensus is clear: without PianoMe, many rehearsal rooms would remain unused for hours or even days, generating costs instead of value. With PianoMe, this situation is reversed. As one private host wrote in a Google review, their grand piano used to be played only on weekends, but thanks to the platform, both the instrument and the room are now actively used during the week as well.

As the PianoMe network continues to expand, the range of available spaces is becoming increasingly diverse. Today, the platform offers far more than single piano practice rooms. Musicians can find studios equipped with drum kits, electric guitars, or even full recording setups. Room sizes vary widely—from small attic spaces and basement studios to full concert halls and modern event venues with stage and seating.

Browsing PianoMe feels like discovering the hidden musical infrastructure of a city. Many users are surprised by how many rehearsal rooms and instrument-equipped venues exist behind the scenes—places they would never have found without the platform.

Despite this wide selection, choosing the right room remains simple. User reviews provide real insights into the quality of the space and the instruments. In addition, each listing includes detailed information such as available equipment, room size, hourly price, capacity, concert suitability, rental conditions, and real-time availability.

The platform is used not only by professional musicians but also by hobbyists. And it is no longer limited to pianists—singers, amateur bands, choirs, violinists, composers, and many others are now part of the growing PianoMe community.

Free Music Event Promotion and Digital Tools for Musicians

Every musician wants to perform live—and ideally to a full audience. PianoMe makes this easier by allowing users to promote their music events completely free of charge. The platform’s event promotion page, together with its integrated event QR code feature, has recently been expanded with additional functions. Event announcements can now be created on any device within minutes and shared directly across social media channels.

For those who prefer physical promotion, PianoMe also offers a one-click poster generator. Users can design, download, print, and display posters without needing external design tools. Concert programs can be distributed digitally via QR codes, enabling audiences to access them instantly on their smartphones—saving both printing costs and large amounts of paper.

By combining rehearsal spaces with digital promotion and content sharing, PianoMe goes far beyond room booking. It creates a connected ecosystem where musicians support each other, exchange ideas, and present their work.

Read PianoMe’s interview with Frances Wilson (The Cross-Eyed Pianist)

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I hate to say it, but classical music still suffers from an image problem; an image crisis in fact. Despite the best efforts of performers, promoters, venues and music lovers, the artform is perceived by many as elitist and only accessible to the few, not the many. It wasn’t always like this: when I was growing up in the UK in the 1960s and 70s, there seemed to be classical music everywhere – on the radio and tv (including live broadcasts of orchestral concerts and wonderful programmes presented by André Previn), in tv adverts and in shops.

Now if you mention you are a fan of classical music, people may look at you slightly askance. Or, as has happened to me on several occasions, ask, “did you come to like classical music as you got older?” – because, yes, the demographic for classical music is generally in the over 50 bracket. (I’ve always liked classical music, ever since I was a little girl.)

Yet venues and promoters obsess about capturing that elusive (and often not especially interested) “younger/youth audience”, at the risk of alienating their core audience/demographic. One particularly depressing current example of this is London’s Southbank Centre, which is “leaning more heavily on describing classical music with a different language. Well-meant pieces to camera demystify the genre for this untapped, cynical and supposedly disinterested audience, the word ‘bangers’ used to describe popular works and sundry other nerve-jangling scores.” (Thoroughly Good blog). Alongside this, the venue has launched a classical music podcast for which “you don’t need a PhD to listen to”.

It has never been necessary to hold a PhD to enjoy classical music – or indeed any genre of music (though I might make an exception for jazz, which I find far more esoteric,  exclusive and mystifying than classical music – but that’s just me!). Which is why I am drawn to this phrase “audience needed – no experience necessary” (borrowed from this image):

The phrase “audience needed – no experience required” reframes classical music from something exclusive and intimidating into something open, welcoming, and participatory. It signals that listeners don’t need prior knowledge, training, or cultural “credentials” to belong – only curiosity and willingness to listen. Added to that, it doesn’t patronise or use “trendy” language. It tells newcomers that their lack of expertise isn’t a disadvantage but rather an asset, a starting point for discovery.

Musicians can use the message to bridge the gap between performer and audience. It frames them not as distant experts, but as fellow explorers eager to share something beautiful and immediate.

And instead of focusing on technicalities (composers, historical context, musical analysis), this kind of marketing can tap into the emotional and sensory appeal of live performance – the sound, the atmosphere, the shared moment. The phrase evokes a sense of adventure and discovery.

It also connects with modern cultural values. Today’s audiences respond to inclusivity, authenticity, and accessibility. “No experience required” aligns with those values, suggesting classical music is for everyone – not a rarefied art form, but a living, breathing experience.

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Woolf String Quartet & Duncan Honeybourne, Chamber Music Weymouth lunchtime concert, Wednesday 25 February 2026

Woolf Quartet are: Zosia Herlihy-O’Brien (violin), Emily Harrison (violin), Beatrice Slocumbe (viola) and Hoda Jahanpour (cello)

When the audience comes out of a concert with words like “incredible!”, “brilliant” and “that was absolutely superb”, you know the musicians, and the music, has touched them. And that is what happened on Wednesday, 25 February, when the Woolf Quartet returned to Weymouth to impress the lunchtime concert audience once again. This London-based string quartet was formed at the Royal Academy of Music, and they take their name from author Virginia Woolf, as they often rehearse in Bloomsbury, close to where she lived.

They made their Chamber Music Weymouth debut in 2025 and wowed the audience with an engaging programme that featured Debussy and a piece by the quartet’s cellist, Hoda Jahanpour. This time they were joined by pianist and CMW Artistic Director Duncan Honeybourne to perform just one piece – Brahms’ Piano Quintet in f minor. A big-boned work of symphonic textures and narrative breadth, it has the expansiveness of Schubert in its four movements, and is one of the most challenging and important works in the chamber music repertoire. It asks of all the musicians virtuosity, stamina and cohesion, and an ability to navigate many modulations, complex rhythmic shifts, and fugal passages. It’s a monumental work, emotionally intense and physically demanding, and a challenge for any ensemble – and one which the Woolf Quartet rose to with commitment, maturity and musical insight.

It’s rare to feel a thread of concentrated energy through an entire concert – not an easy feat for musicians to achieve – but the Woolf Quartet, with Duncan Honeybourne, succeeded in doing just this. It’s a credit to them – and a mark of the infectiousness of their concentration – that the audience was almost completely silent for the entirety of the concert, listening intently to Brahms’ shifting soundworld and the emotions it suggests.

The Woolf Quartet, both individually and together, brought much colour and nuance to the music. Brahms’ writing gives each player a chance to shine. The ensemble playing was precise and committed, amply matched by Duncan Honeybourne, who made light of Brahms’ rather unforgiving piano textures. Most engaging, though, was that the musicians clearly enjoyed themselves. It’s always a pleasure to see performers truly immerse themselves in music that they love.

Catch the Woolf Quartet if you can – you won’t regret it! They will be at London’s Wigmore Hall on Saturday, 2 May, where, I’m told, they will be performing a piece they have written together, as well as music by Shostakovich.

Chamber Music Weymouth’s lunchtime series continues on Wednesday 11 March with a recital by distinguished pianist Margarat Fingerhut. Find out more

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London-based Chinese pianist Siqian Li announces her debut recording, Voyage among Fragments. Described as a ‘meditation on movement and memory’, the album serves as an artistic mosaic, gathering ‘shards of experience’ from Li’s life and career into a single, unified ‘language of sensitivity and refinement’.

The title reflects how my artistic identity has been shaped by many small but powerful moments rather than a single narrative. These “fragments” are memories, emotions, and cultural influences that have stayed with me – my Chinese roots, the elegance and sensitivity of French culture, and the free spirits and boldness I discovered during the years in America.

Siqian Li

Featuring transcriptions by virtuoso pianists such as Ignaz Friedmann and György Cziffra, the pieces ‘allow familiar voices to be rediscovered through the piano, inviting audiences to hear them with fresh intimacy and perspective’ (Siqian Li).

The repertoire charts Li’s development across three distinct cultural landscapes – China, France, and the United States – reflecting moments and encounters that have shaped her artistic identity.

Her native musical language is explored through Chu Wanghua’s Jasmine Flowers Fantasy, a piece that transforms a beloved Chinese folk melody into a timeless work, providing the pianist with a ‘profound sense of home’. Her years of study at the New England Conservatory in the USA are captured through the energy of the city and the spontaneity of jazz found in George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. This American experience also includes the ‘first spark of inspiration’ for the album: Maurice Ravel’s La valse. Performed in a transcription by her teacher, the Georgian pianist Alexander Korsantia, the work represents a turning point for Li, marking a period of ‘boldness and fearless expression’.

The French spirit is woven throughout the recording, particularly in Alexis Weissenberg’s evocative transcriptions of Charles Trenet’s songs. These pieces recall Li’s first major recital outside of China at the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise, evoking memories of ‘floral Parisian streets’ and a ‘carefree spirit’. Other works, such as Dalayrac’s Romance and Cziffra’s arrangement of Vecsey’s Valse triste, explore bittersweet beauty and the sincerity of human connection.

The album’s voyage concludes in a state of serenity with Gounod’s Meditation on Bach’s Prelude in C Major. A prayer amidst the constant noise of our time, the final track invites the listener to ‘listen inward’ and find ‘truth in simplicity’.

Siqian Li regards this album as a personal reflection on her artistic life so far – a collection of ‘moments of courage, tenderness, discovery, and transformation’. As Li says: ‘May this music remind us all that beauty often lives in the most fleeting, delicate moments between what was and what is’.

Voyage Among Fragments is released in early March on the Sagitta Musica label, an independent record label, created by Siqian Li, devoted to artistic storytelling and the infinite horizons of emotion. Drawn by the inspiring arrow of sound, it is a space where stories unfold and music flows beyond – where classical roots meet imagination, sensitivity and freedom.

Siqian Li says,‘Through this debut, I wanted to highlight a pianistic personality rooted in curiosity, sensitivity, and emotional honesty. In curating the programme, I consciously moved away from a traditional idea of how a classical album should sound, allowing contrast, variety, and intuition to guide my choices. Rather than focusing on virtuosity for its own sake, my aim was to let imagination, colour, and inner listening shape the interpretation, placing freedom and vulnerability at the centre of musical communication.’

Find out more https://www.siqian-li.com/

Launch concert – Tuesday 10 March at Fidelio Cafe, London. Tickets/info

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