my dilemma…
…over the years i have been fortunate that i had space to practice my tooting all hours of the day and night without really bothering anybody else (besides myself, at times i can become quite tormented by my own playing, another tormented musician here). unfortunately i need to move (again) and searching for an apartment. i have always felt unsure about how much the sound (fluting) travels between walls, floors and ceilings. i found a nice apartment in a building w/ concrete floors and walls,it is on a corner unit but i will have folks below and above and me that concerns me. anyone have expereince or insight into practicing fluteplaying under such conditions and do you think it will affect / bother neighbors?? i’m feeling alittle insecure about this…your help is appreciated.
Hi Rama,
I’ve lived in two apartment buildings now. Both had concrete walls and presumably concrete floors, as they were of cinderblock construction. In both cases, my neighbours have been able to hear, but presumably only when the windows are wide open. I’ve never had any complaints, and in fact have had several compliments. At the first building, my immediate neighbours told me it was a nice break from the hip hop… Which they liked to blare at 2am… But I could only hear it through the windows. I generally stop playing by 11pm at the latest, and usually by 10:30. This is from uilleann pipes too. Flute will probably be less of a problem.
Nick
I’ve been in and out of tenement flats since 2007 and never had any problems with neighbours. And that’s with whistles and uilleann pipes, nothing so benign as a flute.
Flatmates now, that’s a different story.
If the building is concrete, it should be fine, i.e. if well insulated between units. It also depends, I guess, on how loudly you play. I’ve always adhered to the 10am-10pm rule of sound being OK.
Nowadays, I live in an end-unit condo with one shared wall. I was sure my neighbors must hear me and my kids since we make noise/music much of the time. They say they never hear us.
Perhaps putting carpets on the walls could dampen the sound that travels between units. Anyways, best of luck with your search.
jason
The key phrase here is “all hours of the day and night.” Flute, especially ITM flute, is quieter than a moderate-volume stereo system. And if you’re any good, should be fairly pleasant to the degree it can be heard. However, no matter what, you need to shut down by 10:00pm, except on weekends - then you’ll just have to test the waters. Check with your neighbors if you have concerns, but let common courtesy be your guide.
Generally people who hear it like it. I’ve had one complaint, when I started playing
an 5 AM. I apologized and that was the end of it.
That’s my rule.
And never one complaint.
I don’t play before 11 AM and never much after 10pm.
I’ve asked around now that its been a few years if anyone can actually hear me.
They all said yes and they liked it.
They must… I play ALL the time.
I think the contralto singer a few studios down has me beat though.
Shes good but the actual practicing sounds like someone murdering a ghost.
Best bet is to get to know the people that live around you and give them a heads up on what you are up to.
An occasional offering of snacks or drinks couldn’t hurt.
You’ll have to try it out and see what happens.. I lived in an apartment for a while and played the flute, and loud, at all hours of the day (not late at night though). I asked my neighbors above me if it bothered them; they said they never even heard it.
This summer there was a block party on my street and I discovered that I’m apparently a minor celebrity in my neighborhood – with the windows open my flute and concertina can apparently be heard several houses down. But I’ve had nothing but compliments (clearly they aren’t listening very carefully as my concertina playing leaves much to be desired), and in fact they insisted a play a few tunes for the party.
The flute will likely be audible in neighboring apartments, but not so loud as to be annoying. I’ve lived in several apartments and never had any problems playing between 10am-10pm. In fact, I often start earlier in the mornings since I tend to be up, but I do try to keep the volume down.
Jim… Dude, you started playing the flute at 5am?? Man, I thought the only way to do that was to stay up all night playing! I wasn’t aware it would be possible to play a tune at that time of day neighbors or no neighbors. I don’t think I even know any tunes till 10am.
Clark
A couple of thoughts …
Although flute is less objectionable than say hip-hop or grunge, it does have the disadvantage of having a clear penetrating sound. In psychoacoustic terms, it isn’t easily “masked” by broadrange ambient sound. So you are right to have concerns for your neighbours. Don’t want to attract any drive-by shooters …
Put a blob of poster putty (Blu-tac) just beyond the “edge” of your embouchure hole - this will substantially drop the volume for late-night practice. Bigger the lump and closer to the edge, the quieter, but you’ll need to experiment to get the compromise you need.
Close windows of course, and fully closed. There’s a saying in professional audio that “99% of the sound gets through a 1% hole”.
Curtains aren’t likely to help much, but it does make it trickier for the drive-by shooters.
And take your shoes off. For the people downstairs, one of the most distracting things is the insistent tapping of feet on their ceiling. Nothing more likely than the light shade swinging backward and forward all night to make a normally well-balanced construction shift-worker reach for the rifle…
Terry
Does anyone remember the good old days when there were actually lots of people and kids and neighbors who actually played real live musical instruments? Maybe it was air conditioning that shut everyone in their homes. I have always lived in neighborhoods where there was at least one other musician. There is a band in my neighborhood now. They’re loud. I don’t know if they’re good.
If someone would comment/complain about your playing, I would ask them about their musical preferences. And then learn a song they’d like. People are much more agreeable to music that they like and understand.
I regularly tell people how easy it is to play instruments and they should give it a go. They might be interested in learning. Really, snot nosed grade schoolers can figure out how to play instruments and they don’t even know how to wipe their noses.
Are firearms more common in NSW I wonder?
Living in L.A. with a Colt .45 Auto under my pillow I don’t have that much worry.
Timely discussion as I have moved to a college town (5 weeks ago), and not practiced hardly at all in my temporary apartment for fear of bothering neighbors. Needless to say, my playing skills and tune learning have declined. Due to the large student population (25,000) , there is a “no-warning” $1,000 noise ordinance fine. The threat of such a fine has been enough to keep me more than careful. The local paper publishes a map on the front page every September, when students move back, showing what looks like over 200 violations last year, complete with dots indicating specific street locations of the violations. There were about 10 dots within a block and/or in my apartment complex. So, I’ll try terry’s “poster puddy” suggestion, and try approaching the neighbors to forego the hefty fine, should they decide to call the police if I play full volume. And the weather is beginning to prohibit a “toot” in the park these days.
^
If you’re in a college town, the university might have some music rooms (I’m not sure what they’re called) where you could practice.
First tune for a 5 am start…Boil The Breakfast (very very very) Early…
Though I don’t have to worry about the neighbour problem where I live now, in the past I have wondered about the practicality of building a simple box - just a bit larger than player plus flute…and then sound-proofing it inside. Keeping it small since sound-proofing materials are not cheap.
It could be arranged as a kind of lean-to, using a corner of the room. However, taking Terry’s rule into account you couldn’t have any hole(s) for the air as that would allow 99% of the sound out…
So you’d have to open the door every few tunes to let some air in…or even some airs…
Garry.
oddly enough…practice rooms 
Thanks for the suggestion. But I inquired at the music department already, I actually work at the university, and that didn’t help me any, hoped it would. they have precious few practice rooms and 300 students in the marching band alone. Thus they have a “music majors only” policy. May just have to use the poster putty trick Terry suggested. Or, go to more sessions, where I can play loud and drink a pint and not get a $1000 fine 
Rather than guessing, you should find out what the local ordinances are – what volume level constitutes undue noise, and during what hours, etc. Otherwise, a person singing in the shower could get fined. As irrational as some noise ordinances often are, there have to be some legal guidelines the cops use before you can get hit with a fine; it just sounds like you don’t know what they are. Usually, they exist during certain hours, and for certain types of noise - a party after 10pm, with a loud stereo, for example, or street noise (eg, boom boxes, excessive radio blasting inside a car, loud drinking revelrie, etc.) in a residential area. It seems unlikely that a fine would be leveled at a lone flute player playing inside a closed-window apartment during daytime hours.
Do you have any local swimming pools or tall trees? You could probably get away with playing in those places.
Seriously though, I like the building your own mini-fort to play in idea.