We all talk about practicing in parks, empty gyms, and other large empty spaces. There is an opposite to this that can be quite revealing, Do you have any small rooms (bathroom, large empty walk-in closet, entryway) that can be mostly closed and in which you can play? I find that practicing occasionally in places like this gives me a much better personal feedback on some things such as tone.
I’m not surre why, maybe just that these spaces return instant echoes and seem to magnify sound, but I find that I get a much quicker feel for what I’m doing right (and wrong) especially on slow pieces or those where I’m having trouble with a tricky note sequence.
Has anyone else seen this, or am I just going crazy (this is not a poll – we are NOT voting here)?
I frequently practice in the bathroom, and definitely get excellent feedback. Of course, I’m practicing while my wife is in the tub. It’s just one of the ways we steal a moment of togetherness.
The primary problem/complaint I find while playing in there are the really high notes - that tricky high B especially! Hitting it wrong is rough under any circumstances, but even hitting it right can cause problems as it bounces around the narrow room. A. bit. too. piercing. For this reason my wife prefers that I ‘play’ rather than ‘practice’. Tunes I ‘practice’ involve many more mistakes. It is my favorite place to play slow airs though.
I never really appreciated practicing in the bathroom till I got a Copeland low-D. I was initially underwhelmed by the sound, but in the can, the thing is just so rich. I do flute in the can sometimes to play before the mirror and get a little more feedback on the sound. But I’ll never play a high whistle in there; it’s a little too deafening.
The kitchen where I live is accoustically blessed–my whistle playing in there sounds about 15 times better than anywhere else. Seriously. Unfortunately, I live with 5 other roommates, so I rarely get a chance to play in there.
Also, I was at the Getty museum and the bathrooms there were these high-ceilinged steel things. I HAD to try and no one else was in there, so I did Amazing Grace–and it WAS amazing. God, what a sound!
Afterwards, I played a little oustide while waiting for my Dad (who was in the men’s bathroom) to come out and when he saw me with my whistle, he said, “Oh, that was YOU? I wondered where the music was coming from.” So apparently the sound traveled more than I thought…
I have a glassed-in solarium room that has the acoustic properties of a bathroom but with a much more pleasant ambiance, AND unlike the bathroom it’s big enough to fit a hammered dulcimer. It is the instrumental equivalent of singing in the shower. I play whistle in there pretty often.
There’s this 20+ ft tall hallway near my shop (in the same building) and it has great reverb acoustics. It’s one of my favorite practicing places.
Also right outside my shop is a waterway that goes under the building, flows out of a waterchannel in the hillside and it is pleasant place to practice in the summer.
Bathrooms are the best place for practicing. When I was in my high school band (30 years ago), that’s the place our band director would send us when he wanted us to really hear every tone and pitch problem. When it was time for ensemble contests (duets, trios, etc.), we would actually book time for practice in the band room bathrooms to perfect our pieces for the contests – we had practice rooms, but the bounce back from the tiled walls intensified what we heard. If it sounded good in the bathroom, it was ready for the judges.
My practice room is a basement room, and sorta soundproofed with eggbox contraptions.
Although it does not let the instruments one plays get very loud, I find it really good, because one hears the notes very clearly, all the mistakes, everything. The only side-effect is that tone color is a bit samey, since the sound is rather deadened by the small space. It’s kind of an ‘unplugged’ feeling. (Although the person who rents it to me has got a massive Fender amp in there, no idea what would happen if I switched that monster on…)
I should record myself playing in there, for the real masochistic experience.
I work in a 3-story building that has unusually high ceilings - two flights of stairs per level. Since the stairwells are enclosed, with fire doors on each floor, I can practice without bothering people who are trying to work. It’s amazing how much more resonant a whistle sounds in a space like this.
My living room at home (medium sized, vaulted ceiling, hardwood floor) sounds pretty nice, too.
