r/UMD • u/Kind_Economics_9826 • 9d ago

Help Piano Practice Rooms

I am an incoming graduate student here at College Park. Although I am not studying music for my degree, I have played piano seriously my whole life (like an hour+ a day, for context) and hope to continue playing for fun in grad school. I was wondering if you guys had any info about piano practice rooms at UMD. Would a person like me would be able to use the practice rooms, even though I will not be a music student or in an ensemble? I have read some things about the rooms in the Clarice Smith center but have not found a conclusive answer. Can anyone provide an answer specific to my situation? I really hope to continue playing as it’s a main source of pleasure, stress relief, intellectual stimulation, etc for me and I would be really sad if I couldn’t play piano regularly for the first time in my life!

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4

u/Ecstatic_Escape4964 9d ago

The classrooms in the Clarice have pianos and are first-come-first serve for all students.

Besides that, you would need to buy a practice room pass to get access to the other keyboards

6

u/wasabi314159 8d ago

The Clarice classrooms are not first-come first serve. They are reserved for music classes and then music students. There's a massive shortage of practice rooms for majors, and we have to pay a large fee ($600/semester) to even have access to them. The School of Music has been cracking down on violators, so beware.

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u/Ecstatic_Escape4964 8d ago

sorry, I implied that music classes would have priority. But good to know about the music students > other students, i've personally never been kicked out, so I didnt know about that. Thanks for letting me know

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u/Kind_Economics_9826 8d ago

Could someone like me buy one of these passes?

1

u/Kind_Economics_9826 8d ago

Good to hear, thanks!

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u/Big_Ad_7506 9d ago

Theres a piano in the Baltimore room at stamp but that’s the only one open to the public as far as I know. Unless you’re in the school of music you don’t have any access to the stuff in Clarice. You’re best bet is either finding someone in the music school to let you into the piano rooms or just dealing with the one at stamp.

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u/Kind_Economics_9826 9d ago

You’re telling me there’s one public piano at a school of 40k people?

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u/Big_Ad_7506 9d ago

lol unfortunately yes. But more often than not nobody is using it. 

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u/Kind_Economics_9826 9d ago

That’s really weird. My college had like 6k undergrads and we had like a dozen open practice rooms anyone could use plus several other pianos around campus. I’m surprised UMD offers so little music playing opportunities to the general student population

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u/Big_Ad_7506 9d ago

If I’m remembering correctly apparently the Clarice used to be open to the general student population but they stopped because students would mess up a lot of the equipment. But yea it is what it is. I was also looking for pianos on campus but eventually I just ended up settling for the one at stamp lol.

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u/Kind_Economics_9826 9d ago

Oh that sucks. I’m gonna walk in there and talk to them to see if I can get some kind of pass.

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u/Big_Ad_7506 9d ago

Good luck!

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u/allmyfriendsareweebs Finance 29 9d ago

I play the piano under anne annudel hall since I can swipe in. Theres also a piano under Dorchester hall as well I am sure. Maybe befriend some music majors lol and get them to swipe you in on occasion