Okay.. the quietest whistle i have is my Hoover narrow bore brass D. However, i believe that my downstairs neighbors can still hear it pretty well.. I am afraid that it probably irritates them to a strong degree when i practice, and curious as to whether it’s just paranoia. What should i do about this?
Keep practicing anyway, like they can’t hear it until something is said.
Talk to them and try to let them know that practice is necessary and set up a quiet time.
I don’t have any more ideas. If anyone could help me out i would greatly appreciate it.
buy some bagpipes
practice for four hours a day, every day for two weeks
then tell them you’ve decided to switch back to the whistle
they’ll be buying you presents!
Well, when I’m just trying to learn a new tune and it’s late at night and I don’t want to disturb anyone, I play my whistle by resting the mouthpiece just under my bottom lip and blowing over the window of the whistle. If you do it right, you can still hear the notes, just very quiet and breathy. This isn’t so good for trying to practise ornaments but it’s alright for just learning notes. You can also put a piece of tape over the window to narrow it, this will deaden the sound a bit too.
I know what you mean by being paranoid about neighbours hearing you but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. High pitched sounds like the whistle can sound very loud up close but quickly lessen in volume the further away you get, unlike deep bassy sounds which radiate further through floors and walls. Most people have lots of background noises in their homes anyway, TVs and so on, so they probably don’t even hear you most of the time and if it was bothering them they’d most likely tell you, I would think…
Thank you for the suggestion of the Casey Parks whistle, but i’ve got enough whistles, and this one was purchased because it is really quiet. To quiet my whistle i just wrap a spare hairband around the window. This works well enough, but still get the feeling they can hear me anyway. Then again, i’m sure they would say something if it bothered them that much.
Maybe a simplified answer, but have you asked them if it bothers them??? If not, well then you’re good to go. If it does, then work out a time that will be less bothersome, like when they are at work. I’d start there before trying other options. Just a thought…
Just ask. I’ve had neighbors that actually liked my playing (pipes) and they would request songs and such and ask why I wasn’t playing if I took some days off.
If they needed piece and quiet they would just let me know.
I did address the matter of oversensitive neighbors - in my case even worse: landlords - in my newbie intro.
Daisman suggested the following to me:
buy a $2 package of sticky-tac and when you need to practice quietly put a 1/2 pea sized blob of it on top of the windway and push it towards the lip to quiet the whistle down as needed. - it sounds weird but really works.
I have not tried it yet, but we might as well give it a go, don’t you think?
SBS144 has made a good point there. I don’t know about your neighbors, but I don’t need to ask my landlord in the first place. - Hey, he’s the one who suggested I should stop typing on my laptop’s keyboard by 10 p.m. seeing that the clicking noise annoyed him to no end.
Since then I did not dare to take my old (now dusty) clarinet out of its case. Then again, two weeks of solid practicing should send them to their knees kissing my feet and thanking me for switching to a (comparatively) silent whistle.
I’m just going to ask them if it bothers them. I already have a mute strategy with the spare hairband around the window… and i’m not looking for another quiet whistle.
Thank you for all your help. It seems a good idea to just ask them and get it over with.
I live in an apartment building, so I feel your pain. There are a few ways to make a whistle quieter without affecting how you play. My favorite is by putting tape horizontally across the bottom side of the fipple window such that it’s only open a bit on the top side. Or you could stick a small ball of clay/sticky tack on top of the fipple. Try out different positions with the clay/tape for best effect.
It’ll cause the whistle’s tone to become breathy and up to a half-step flatter, but it’s worth it.
I just bought a Parks Everywhistle from Big Whistle. It actually has a volume control ! It reduces to a barely audible volume, fantastic and does not bother the neighbours one bit !
Sheesh! Sounds like the landlord needs to see to some improved insulation! If your typing bothers him so, there must be nothing much twixt your apartment and his!
j/k
