The Music Room

Looking for a relaxing and curated place to practice piano or take lessons? We’re located on 6th ave. and Union St. In Park Slope, Brooklyn.

New member shout out!

Pete Ayres is a pianist, songwriter, vocalist, and educator with over a decade of teaching experience. He’s performed throughout New York City at venues such as Blue Note, Brooklyn Bowl, and Carnegie Hall.

Pete has a few openings for new students this fall!! 🎹🎶📝 To read his full bio and contact him for lessons, please visit our website’s Current Members section.

Check out our new teaching member, pianist Alexandra Saraceno! Read about Alexandra below and reach out to her directly if you are in park slope and looking for an amazing piano instructor.



Pianist Alexandra Saraceno has established herself as an avid soloist, chamber musician, and sought-after teaching artist. Past engagements include “Expectation, Emancipation, Eternity: Exploring Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen” a lecture-recital featuring the music of Schoenberg, Debussy, and Messiaen; “Hommage à Messiaen”, a recital in association with Spectrum’s Modern Piano Festival; and Mark Mothersbaugh’s Music for Six-Sided Keyboard at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Alexandra has cultivated a comprehensive approach to teaching through her work at the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University, the School of Visual and Performing Arts at WCSU, and the Steinhardt School at NYU. In addition to her private studio, Alexandra also teaches piano at the 92nd Street Y and at Greenwich House Music School as the Assistant Chair of the Piano Department.

Alexandra has a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Western Connecticut State University and a master’s degree and advanced certificate in piano performance and pedagogy from New York University.

Contact Information:
Instagram:
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.alexandrasaraceno.com

New Member Shout-out! Christine Cornell is a soprano, performer, and educator. She is a new teaching member at The Music Room. Looking for a stellar private voice teacher? Check out her amazing credits below. Her teaching spots are in high demand.



Christine loves performing with an orchestra and has recently joined as their artist in residence! Her most recent performance with them included a major bucket list piece of her’s, “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” by Samuel Barber, conducted by Dorothy Savitch. Last summer, Christine performed a multi-city concert series in Italy with (music director ). She was a featured artist for ’s Slowly Expanding Milton Babbitt album (Three Theatrical Songs) and has performed on several jazz recordings, like “Moon River” and “When I Fall in Love” (artist and arranger, Justin Rothberg). Recently, she played Sister Margaretta in the Virginia Opera/ Co-Production of The Sound of Music conducted by . She made her film music debut in ’s original score for What Breaks the Ice (Released October 2021).

Some other favorite performances include: Joanna Gleason’s Out of the Eclipse (54 Below, Quick Center, Renberg), The Apple and Other Slip-Ups (ARC Stages), The Most Happy Fella (Goodspeed), The Sound of Music(Paper Mill Playhouse, Sacred Heart), Master Class (Gulf Shore Playhouse), A Nantucket Christmas Carol (White Heron Theater), and Four Saints in Three Acts (BAM).

Christine is co-director of Brooklyn Harmonics Vocal Program for Teens, Tweens and Twenty+ with her long-time collaborator, Broadway music director and arranger, . She is a member of and on the roster at . Her alma mater is the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

New member shoutout! Meet talented pianist, composer, and music teacher Aya Yuasa!

Aya grew up playing piano in Date, Hokkaido, Japan and has studied classical, jazz, pop, rock, and music theater. She received her Bachelor’s of Music from where she studied film scoring and composition. She has eight years of teaching experience and is currently studying at .

We are thrilled to have such a talented artist and teacher in the studios.

Can’t believe it’s already been one week since our inaugural A4/The Music Room : New Music Symposium !

The idea was to create an intimate workshop space for contemporary composers to develop new compositions with professional musicians. We workshopped six pieces in open dialogue, with bagels from and coffee from . The format places the focus on development, rather than presentation — there were tons of insightful moments. It was a huge success. Know anyone interested in participating in the Fall Symposium? Send us a DM.

📸Left to right: .a.giles .music Amos Lee

Here’s cozy studio A — often referred to as The Castle Room by students because of its stone wall. It features a beautiful Yamaha U3, which I fell in love at a few years ago. The studio has openings. Come practice with us!

Member Shoutout for James Miille!!

James is a multi-dimensional artist — an arts curator, vocalist, and founder of the .quartet barbershop quartet 🎶🎤 CMYK is hosting its inaugural auditions, which are due March 15th. Read more about James below:

“Singing has been a near-and-dear passion of mine since high school. In college, I was in an all-male glee club for two years, and since that group, I've always had the dream in the back of my mind of forming a singing group of my own (specifically a barbershop-esque quartet). While I've taken voice lessons every week for the past three years and dabbled in piano a bit, and now practice every week at The Music Room (❤), it's been a hot second since I've performed (with the exception of the occasional karaoke night! 😉). Music has played a huge role in my life nonetheless, and I've never let go of the urge to form this quartet. At 26, the stars have now aligned in my life, and I'm ready to make this dream a reality!

Besides singing, I am also a photographer, and my main hustle is running Superfine Art Fair. I also have a shiba inu named Coda who is obligated to listen to me sing on most of our walks together. 🐕”

Teaching Member shoutout!

Laura Brenneman (she/her) is a versatile and engaging piano and voice teacher. She uses composition and creative play as tools for learning instrumental and vocal techniques. She has taught students in both public and private schools in NYC, including The Berkeley Carroll School, Talent Unlimited High School, and The Packer Collegiate Institute. Her combined passion for music and teaching led her to obtain an M.A. in Music Education from Hunter College and work to complete her certification in the movement-based Dalcroze Pedagogy (Lucy Moses School). She maintains a private music studio of voice, piano, and songwriting students aged 4-64.

Laura is the recipient of a 2021 Knutson Grant for professional development in music education from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, where she is a faculty member. She is also a 2021 recipient of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable’s ‘Empire State Creates’ grant for her curriculum project, "The Classroom Album: Fostering Collaborative Behavior through Group Composition". She is currently writing a book entitled 'All Over the Map," about teaching music all over the world (remotely) during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn with her husband and a calico cat named Annie Oakley.

If you’d like to study with Laura, fill out one of our lesson inquiry forms!