Hi, I am going to be staying in London during my Christmas holiday and as I am a boarder at school during the term time, I do not have my own piano and normally practise in school music building.

I have been searching online about local churches, practise studios and piano dealers and actually made some contacts, but had no luck on negotiation over the tariff and the hours. The cheapest rate was 4 pounds per hour on an upright piano. This sounded reasonable to begin with, but considering the fact that I am going to be playing a concerto in March and haven't even started learning it, I need at least 2-3 hours practise each day and the total amount I then have to pay for practise studio over the holidays would be something like 160-200 GBP.

Local churches were saying, they have lots of events during December and accordingly, it would be almost impossible to practise there. Or some of the churches only have Clavinova or organ.

Does anyone have any advice on where I could possibly practise during my holidays (15th Dec- 4th Jan) in London without having to pay too much. Of course I am expecting some costs but really am not able to afford too high price. Or even better if any of you could perhaps kindly borrow me/hire me as a piano-sound-maker (well,what am i saying..) at your place for 1 or 2 hours.

Thank you for reading!

Hello

You might have already looked at this option but have you considered hiring a piano for the month? Most piano shops do this although I am not sure what their minimum rental period would be. The hiring price depends on the quality of the piano. It would probably be a cheaper option than renting practice space. I do hope you manage to work something out. Good luck with the Concerto

Blimey where did you find a practise piano for £4 an hour! I have never paid less than £8 and the rate these days starts at £10.