Music Espresso

I like this place a lot, I just wish it were larger! The staff is super helpful and anything they don’t have they will be happy to order. Great location directly off the #39 and Orange line.

This store needs to be at the end of my street. As I was planning to be in Boston for a day, I looked up area sheet music stores on Unilocal and found Music Espresso. I dragged my friend along to this store on the second floor of a building near Symphony Hall in an attempt to locate the score of Schumann’s Dichterliebe and a book of tenor arias. It’s a fairly small place, but very well stocked and thanks to the helpful staff, I found everything that I was looking for and could easily have spent more. My friend also found a book of Broadway songs that seemed to please her, so I felt less guilty about making her come to this store with me and for putting up with me as I spent what seemed like forever looking through the vocal music. The prices were very decent. The Schumann score was the same price as I would have paid for it on the internet minus shipping and the Schirmer arias book was on sale, so I got a few bucks off. The service and experience was priceless, however. I will definitely come back next time I’m in the area and will consider their online store for my future purchases. A+

I adored visiting Music Espresso. I agree with other reviewers when they said it was small. And frankly, to me, that’s not a bad thing.
A friend from a rural area abroad asked me to look in Boston for a certain piece of sheet music. Not having played an instrument in eight years, I Googled and found Music Espresso.
I haven’t faced the frustration of going there and them not having what I wanted. To be fair, I telephoned first as well. (I’m a Cantabrigian. We don’t do well on Huntington Avenue. We don’t really get why we can be in a fully gentrified area and ten steps away be mugged.) They had it, so I went up.
I browsed for a while before picking up what I knew was already there. I was impressed that they had perhaps 2/​3ds of what I thought of as «introductory piano pieces». Bear in mind that we are talking about a small shop. So I felt that they had a broad selection. I found the same for clarinet pieces as well.
Based on their willingness to order, and the fact that they did have plenty of quirky things, I think it’s definitely worth patronising. But if you are looking for a really particular arrangement or particular piece, call. The telephone. It’s that thing we used to bother people with before Nigerian Cialis spam, remember?

Well… There are not many sheet music stores in Boston. I could say this one was the only one I knew — I’m sure there are few but this one carries more of serious stuff. Since it’s right across from New England Conservatory, I always went there to get all the scores I needed. I wished that they had more selections. I always had to order. The prices are OK but I wished they could have charged less for starving musicians. The owner is very friendly & always willing to help out everyone which is very nice.

In the early 1990s, well before the urge to nurture my nonexistent creative side awoke from its decade-​long nap, there were three large music stores in Boston, two near the Common and one a few doors from Symphony Hall. They sold instruments, musician supplies, sheet music – the usual stuff you’d expect to find in a city of any size. The late Tower Records even had a small sheet music section on its greatly missed (by me, at any rate) third floor. All have either closed or relocated to the world of virtual commerce.
Today, if you ask the man on the street where to find a music store, he’ll probably direct you to Best Buy or Border’s. Explain that you’re not looking for CDs but for a store that sells music you can play and, if you don’t get a shrug, maybe our hypothetical man will recommend Guitar Center or Daddy’s Junky Music. But what about the seeming minority of us who happen to play something other than the guitar, drums or various forms of synthesizer? Where do we go when we really, really need a saxophone part for a Sousa march or a piano arrangement for Pachelbel’s Canon in D? Well, until Wednesday afternoon, I would have said we were out of luck but then, all because I had a lousy morning at the office and decided to take a walk, I found Music Espresso.
As I wandered down Huntington Avenue, I passed the buildings of the New England Conservatory and thought, «Hey! Maybe they have a bookstore!» I looked at a campus map and found nothing. I wandered into one building that turned out to be a residence hall. I found a guy at a security desk in another building and asked if there was a bookstore on campus. «Yes,» he said, trying to stare me down with his imaginary mirrored sunglasses. I asked if he minded telling me where it was and he grudgingly pointed across the street. «295 Huntington Avenue,» he barked. He was probably wishing I’d make a threatening move so he could justify his career choice.
I walked back to Huntington Avenue looking for a window display or a sign but all I saw at 295 Huntington was a red-​brick building that looked like an old apartment house. I entered and found a rundown lobby, a security desk, a beat-​up staircase and an old man sweating through his short-​sleeve dress shirt. I asked where the bookstore was. He pointed up the stairs. «Room 212,» he said and up I went to be met only by an anonymous corridor. I was starting to feel very unwelcome as I looked for Room 212, not knowing what I might find behind its door.
After a couple of wrong turns I found it. A place called Music Espresso that, despite its name, sells not a drop of coffee although you will find plenty of coffee mugs (and sweatshirts, if you’re so inclined) emblazoned with the name of the New England Conservatory. You will also find metronomes and batons; music scores, sheet music and song books (both classical and popular); books about music theory and history; and assorted doodads that have names unknown to me.
Music Espresso is small and doesn’t really cater to the casual browser. I found what I wanted, however, and now that I know the store exists, I will return. While you won’t find any musical instruments, if you already have one and are looking for something to play on it, Music Espresso should keep you humming.

Although my neither occupations (software engineer/​boxing coach) has nothing to do with music, this store has been very important to me since I studied music for undergrad.
Due to my music snobby-​ness, Burns&Nobel wouldn’t provide my music needs when it comes to something beside Bach and Mozart and any orchestral scores. But this place can. And I feel very fortunate that I live close to it.
Also staffs are very knowledgeable and they can be almost qualified as legit musicologist in my book. I am always impressed by them and they have been great help whenever I have questions.

I’m not going to lie, I got a little lost my first time going here because it is not clearly labeled. However, it’s a pretty decent store to fulfill any basic music needs that you may have. I believe the New England Conservatory uses this as their bookstore.