Music Studio

While I am in the process of trying to finish up other projects, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite rooms in my house, my music studio.  I am a musician with a degree in piano pedagogy and a music degree in harp performance. I freelance and play for weddings, open houses, memorial services - whatever! I also teach privately at home, and am the harp instructor at a Community College and at a Community Music School.

For 14 years of our marriage, we lived in either a small condo or a tiny apartment. For the most part, my instruments were shoved up against the wall, covered until I needed to practice, or pull the harps out for teaching.

My husband and I were finally able to purchase our first home a little over 2 years ago. It has been heaven tweaking the home to our liking, and of course a constant evolving process.

When we started looking for homes a couple of years ago, we had two major criteria.

1. It had to have a space that I could convert into a teaching/music studio.

2. It had to be harp friendly. Concert grand pedal harps are big. They weigh around 90lbs and are a touch over 6 feet tall. When you have to haul one in and out of the house for gigs, stairs are your nemesis. I use a special harp dolly, but still - the less stairs the better.

Our current home fit the bill. It had but two steps into the house, and a formal living room off of the front entry that could be converted into my music studio.

This is what it looked like before:

We hired a contractor to frame in the wall and separate the dining area from the living area with some french doors.

 I also put french doors off of the entry. The doors allows me to close them when I am teaching, so the kids can wander the house. I also wanted the option to be able to lock the doors when we have tiny little visitors at our house. Small children don't know that it is not o.k. to climb on a harp, and often parents aren't always good about watching their kiddos. My girls grew up around the instruments, so we have never had issues and they are always very respectful in the studio.

And this is where it is today:

The paint color is called "Butterfly Wing"  by FreshAire Paint from The Home Depot.

The floor is a Pergo laminate that was already there. It works perfectly with hauling the harps in and out of the house, because it is easy to maneuver across and it can take a beating.

This is an older picture when I had the harps on the other side of the room.

View from the dining room. The semi circle window at the top was hard to find something to filter out the sun. Direct sunlight and heat are not good for the instruments. Right now I have some cellular blinds up there. I am not crazy about them, but they work for the time being. The curtains came from JCPenney. The black troubadour harp is not mine, and one that I am basically just babysitting for a friend. I took it from her about 18 months ago to restring it. It is a harp she rents out to students. Well, no one is renting it right now, and I have asked her if she wants me to bring it back to her. She doesn't have the space, so it stays with me for the time being. The other two harps, the concert grand pedal harp and the small lever harp are both mine. My 10 year old daughter plays the smaller harp and that is also the harp that my students play on when they come for lessons. My 9 year old plays violin and has the cutest 1/4 size violin.

The corner bookshelf houses all of my music and teaching material. I eventually would like to put in something a bit nicer than the press board bookcase. It has also been nice to have my CD collection there and to be able to pull something out for a student to listen to.

I am still on the lookout for the perfect little round table to go between the two chairs I refurbished, that are in front of the window.

At any rate, it is a wonderfully cheery room especially in the winter when the days here in the Pacific NW can be a bit gray and rainy.

The acoustics are marvelous as well.