I recently spent an hour or so in the smallest room in my house - you know the one with the porcelin and the plumbing - with a small selection of whistles. I must stress that I do not have a medical condition that neccesitated my long stay (yet) but it was the only place that I could play without upsetting/disturbing the rest of the family.
Luckily I live in an old brick-built Victorian house and the high ceiling provided excellent acoustics.
So the question is what unusual places do you or have you had to play in?
This hall has some of the best acoustics in the world, literally. It’s hard to describe,but it feels like the hall becomes an extension of your instrument. I also played a Vivaldi flute concerto there on my Alto recorder in an actual concert (with piano reduction accompaniment) which was a wonderful Walter Mitty moment. If you live anywhere within several hours of Albany NY, check out the Hall’s schedule and try to get there for some great music-- they do classical, jazz,trad, etc. Well worth the trip.
A terrific outdoor place is in Saratoga Spa State Park. There are open arcades connecting some of the buildings: arched ceilings and marble floors, with open sides looking out on beautiful lawns, etc. The acoustics are nice and echoey, sort of like an acoustic reverb chamber. Sitting there on a rainy day protected from the rain and playing is a magical experience.
I have to say, in all honesty, other than not playing when people are watching TV, studying, or listening to other music, I don’t worry too much about bothering people at home with my practicing. If I’m practicing late at night, I’ll play a really quiet whistle, like my Hoover Whitecap, and you can’t hear it at all if you’re in another room. Living with a musician means putting up with a certain amount of music practice, and so long as I’m reasonably courteous about it, I figure a certain amount of indulgence on that score is due. I also want to encourage my daughter to practice her instrument, and since her piano is in the living room, she has no choice but to practice when other people are around. My husband also recently started learning the piccolo, and I want him to feel comfortable practicing where people can hear.
During the summers (or power outages), I’ll often go out on our deck to play, but then I’m careful to play tunes I know well, so I won’t drive the neighbors crazy with clinkers. I’m in good company…the fellow across the street often practices his uke and guitar outside…and a couple of people have even gone out of their way to say they enjoy the music from my “flute.”
I do carry a whistle with me almost everywhere, and I’ll play whenever I get a chance. I often practice in my car while my daughter is having her piano lesson! Or on days when I do yard duty at school, I’ll play for the kids.
Redwolf, I appreciate your concern for your neighbors and others when playing. I’m surprised by the number of people who play outdoors in national parks, wilderness areas, camping, etc., with no regard for those who are trying to enjoy a quiet interlude away from the craziness and noise of the world. “Nobody else is around” to me is not reasonable - how in the world would you know that? Because you can’t see them?
Anyway, it’s a little pet peeve of mine and it’s nice to hear somebody is interested in their neighbors.
At home I usually wind up playing in the computer room. It doesn’t bother anybody but our ferrets.
On the other hand, a sleep-deprived ferret is not a pretty sight.
I also try to play at moderate volume and to stay away from the louder / shriller whistles unless I’m home alone and reasonably sure our neighbor isn’t home either.
For our sessions, we are playing in a coffee and donut shop these days. It’s working out to be a very good place to play.
I play just about anywhere I can. I usually play in my bedroom with the door closed. I don’t like being watched. We just started a session with a couple of people so that should get my stage fright overcome. I play once a week with an instructor in a music school. I play in my vehicle while driving (only on straight stretches). I have played outdoors when camping, but honestly there is noone around but my kid. (I camp in the middle of nowhere in Algonquin park usually miles away from anyone). My family is pretty tolerable of my practice at home though and I live in the sticks so my neighbours would never hear me unless I hooked an amp up.
Actually, I’ll play pretty much wherever I am…I just make sure I’m playing something I know well if I know people are likely to hear (other than when I’m practicing at home). I do try to keep the music appropriate to the setting, however, and I will stop playing if asked.
Fortunately, I work at home. My office is a converted garage off the livingroom. I play there a lot while working. My wife’s room is far enough away that I don’t bother her if I stick with the Whitecap-Feadog (and her TV is fairly loud). That’s where I do my real practicing.
At some point each day, I go upstairs to play the Burke (narrow bore aluminum). I generally walk around up there for an hour or two, strolling from room to room, including the bathroom with it’s huge mirror, and I also play on the landing, overlooking the livingroom. That’s where I work on playing with feeling and controlling tone.
My granddaughter gets home from school at about 3:30 each day, so I try to get my upstairs playing done before that. My son and daughter-in-law don’t get home until about 9:30 (they have a restaurant), so I have lots of time to play without bothering them. Once they get home, I generally limit myself to the guitar.
All this will change shortly. I’m about to become extremely busy with work, and the kids are planning to sell the retaurant and get more normal jobs in a couple of months, so they may be getting home much earlier each day. Right now I’m working on getting a good foundation as quickly as possible, so that I’ll still be able to make some decent progress when I have less time available.
You can only get a few bars in on a straight stretch of road, by steering with your knee. Providing no other cars are comming of course. It is not the safest or smartest thing to do I guess, but you can’t live life in a bubble.
When the sun comes through my living room window, I’m Reclining on the couch knees up, afghan , fuzzy slippers, music leaning on my knees. I’m toasty warm, kids aren’t home from school for about an hour. It’s “ME” time! It’s only about an hour but I deserve it!
The arrangement that I’ve kind of fallen into is to play all I want, anytime I want in the dining room on Saturday and Sunday until everybody goes to bed. My family has grown accustomed to the sounds of music on weekends. On weekday evenings, I also practice in my bathroom with both the bathroom and bedroom door shut. I try not to make too much of a disturbance on weeknights because the kids are doing homework and then they like to watch a little TV. My goal is to turn the spare room that I have downstairs into a music room, but the heating is shot in that room and I’ll have to address that. I never play outside - neighbors in every direction.
My dining room is my music room so generally I play in there. It’s an old house with large rooms and our “den” is exactly diagonal to the dining room with plenty of doors between. Actually, after living with me for going on 32 yrs now, my husband has learned that complaining does absolutely no good when it comes to my playing music.
In the warm months I often play on the front porch. On the farm no one cares.
I like to Play on the front porch. I live in the country so not too many people can hear me. The rest of the time, I play in the office at the computer or in the music (living) room.
