Inexpensive practice room recommendations in PDX

August 29, 2019 3:39 PM

I'm looking for recommendations for a cheap, bare-bones place I can rent or reserve for sax practice in Portland OR.

I haven't played sax in ages and I really miss it. I've been living in an apartment for the last few years and practicing sax there isn't an option. Tenor and bari sax get loud, and practice involves a lot of repetitious scales and exercises and the like that wouldn't be fun for my neighbors to have to listen to. I'm extremely self-conscious about bothering them (even if they say they "don't mind"), so I need to find an alternative practice place.

I've found a few companies online offering local practice-space rentals, but they all seem to be full or ridiculously expensive or both. I'd like to find somewhere in the inner SW, downtown, or inner SE if possible, but I'm open to any ideas/recommendations/alternatives that won't cost an arm and a leg.

I don't need anything fancy; all I'd have is a horn or two, a collapsible music stand, and a couple of exercise books, and I'd be taking it all with me when I'm done each evening so there's no need to store anything there - I wouldn't even need it to be full time rental, I'm fine with reserving a space for an hour or so at a time. I don't need recording facilities or a piano, just an empty room - somewhere roughly in the neighborhood of 6'x8' - 8'x8' would be enough. It would be nice to have at least some climate control so I don't suffer in summer and winter temperatures, but if that's not possible then I'll work around it.

Thanks!

posted by Greg_Ace to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

It's not reserveable, but you can do this cheaply through Portland Parks & Rec at the Community Music Center (well, you can reserve rooms, but then it costs more). It might be worth calling them to find out what availability is usually like.
posted by bluedaisy at 4:04 PM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

The internet says this is permissible in some storage places (though not all); maybe worth a check, since that should be pretty cheap.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 4:45 PM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I saw the Community Music Center page, but was concerned by its mention of "occasional", "quiet" practice.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:00 PM on August 29, 2019

Are you up to a decent amateur level performance, or better? I say this because the church where I worked used to allow music students and professional musics to use our rooms for practice, which were usually empty in a silent church most of the time, in return for them coming in as a guest musician at a Sunday service. We had a first year cello player, as well as a clarinet player who was a member of our local symphony, and any number of piano players who would use our pianos which was a big help for them. Our music director was always happy for me to refer musicians to him.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:44 AM on August 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

I saw the Community Music Center page, but was concerned by its mention of "occasional", "quiet" practice.

When they say quiet they may be thinking of "not a thirteen piece garage band with amplifiers trying to create rock concert levels of music, except with lots of wrong notes and not in time with each other" as opposed to one student with a an un-amplified instrument. It doesn't hurt to ask.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:51 AM on August 30, 2019

I saw the Community Music Center page, but was concerned by its mention of "occasional", "quiet" practice.

Or maybe they mean quiet for others outside the room? Certainly it seems worth a phone call to ask because it's so cheap.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:01 PM on August 30, 2019

Response by poster: On further review of the Community Music Center page I noticed that there are no evening times available. As I have a M-F 9-to-5 job, my only available practice hours on weekdays are in the evening, along with afternoon-evening hours on weekends. I apologize, I should have mentioned that earlier.

Jane the Brown, thanks for the suggestion but for personal reasons I'm not open to participating in church services.

I'll look into storage area policies while I leave this thread open in case anyone else has additional suggestions.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:34 PM on August 30, 2019

I'm guessing you checked ActivSpace, but they were too expensive?

It might also be worth contacting the PSU music department to see what you'd have to do to access their practice spaces.
posted by momus_window at 2:56 PM on August 30, 2019 [1 favorite]