Where do you practice

[Wes Krygsman]

I have experienced very mixed feelings from my parents with regards to support. I'm 20 years old and living at home with them still while attending college for a music education degree. Part of the education is private lessons and many ensembles which require much practice outside of school. Now that I'm on some sort of career path, they seem to understand that I need to practice during almost every free minute I have at home and school. I practice usually at night with a practice mute in and they could barely hear me in the next room. When I practice without a mute, usually I get some sort of response from my mom like"Sounds great, I liked that song."

It wasn't always this easy though. I picked up the trumpet in 4th grade and practiced alot, it's actually all I did for those 2 years really, and they seemed supportive cuz I started to sound pretty well for such a young player, then I got braces and my sound was horrible until I got them off, and that's about when I picked up the tuba. During my crappy sounding trumpet years, I didn't practice much anymore, but when I did, it was obvious that they weren't pleased.

I had one summer, between my freshman and sophomore year of high school, to learn tuba: the new fingerings, bass clef, and memorize all the marching band music so that I could take over a vacant section leader spot and help the incoming freshman, both who had played tuba for a year or more. Needless to say, I realized the task at hand and practiced my butt off to just get scales and the marching band music down. It drove my parents nuts, especially my dad, a workaholic, who was getting angry that I wasn't working or finding a job, and just "sitting around doing nothing" all summer. When I tried to explain that I was working to get good at tuba before next school year, he had no idea why I would waste so much time on it and didn't consider "just sitting there blowing" to be work.

The summer before my junior year of high school I finally got a private teacher and actually had real stuff and fundamentals to practice. So I practiced alot and had plans of trying out for Region band and again, hassled by my dad telling me to quit band and get a job, even though I was making money helping neighbors out with yard work and other stuff. While I understood that I needed to save up for my own car that year, I also understood the importance of practicing my tuba, and that there was a possibility of maybe continuing my music education. Well I didn't get to audition for Region because of not having an adaquate car(parents wouldn't drive me, girlfriend did) and having the school's tuba that I was using get damaged from sliding around the backseat(buckled-tight too, obviously not tight enough though) on the way to the audition.

Then my senior year of high school comes, I had a job with a family friend in a privately owned business, and I was saving up for my own tuba. I was practicing everyday for about 2-3 hours, and it seemed to drive my dad crazy that I wasn't working and making money during that time. For some reason out of nowhere, after I had about half the money for the horn, my dad took me down to Dillon's and bought me my tuba with the agreement that I should save my money and pay him back monthly(without interest). Then I proceeded my practice habits and my parents didn't say much either way about practicing.

When I finally made region and then all state, I told my parents and my mom's response was "Do we have to go to that?", as in, we don't really want to. That killed me and I struggled trying to figure out if I should change my plans to major in music education and try to become the best tuba player that I can be. I actually stopped playing for about a week and missed it too much to seriously quit. So here I am, still playing and still majoring, and my parents sometimes seem proud, sometimes indifferent.

Just as a background on my parents' connections to music. My mom has always been a fan of rock n roll and has always listened to it and sang along(not very well), and gone to concerts. My dad used to play guitar with my grandfather(my mom's father) and from what everyone says, he was great and used to play all the time, even though he was busy with work, and seemed to have so much fun. He stopped completely when I was about 4 years old(a year after my grandfather passed away) and hasn't played since.

So I've gone through alot of wierdness with them. Obviously I am grateful to just have them both alive and well and I know others aren't as lucky. I'm grateful for their love, and for their financial support even if it's coming slowly to an end(I'm way to old to be asking for money from them in my opinion). And I'm grateful for my tuba. I just wish I could have some confidence about my playing, and not just doubt that I could do anything with my tuba all the time. Hearing "music isn't a job, it's a hobby and it should be completely secondary to real work" just really gets to you after the 1000th time you hear it from people close to you.

I'm sorry for the long post, it's definitely one of my longest, but I feel very strongly about parental support. I have had so many problems because I cared too much about what my parents thought. Many are in the same boat as me. I've wished many times that my parents were pros that gigged all the time and understood me, and encouraged me to practice, but this is the hand I've been dealt. While I may hope to be the next great tuba player, the lack of confidence that my parents instilled in my music may be the deciding factor in a major audition in the future and I have them to thank for it. I just wish people would realize what is important in life, and realize that everyone will have different ideas to what is important. Alright, my rant is done, to all who read the whole thing, sorry I wasted some of your practice time.

[Dylan King]

At the very least parents should invest in silent brass for their children.

The main problem is public education. So many parents take it for granted and don't have to work for their kids at all. Investment in family has become scarce in America.

They are all full of slime. No time. Need more entertainment. "Get that loud raspy sound out of my house! I'm trying to watch American Idol!"

[mckay]

I usually practice in the garage. I started doing this because my wife thinks my playing is too loud, but I discovered that our garage has really great acoustics! It has just enough reverberation to make me sound better than I really am, which makes it more fun to practice, which makes me practice longer, which makes me sound better, which...well, you get the idea. The only problem is that it gets pretty hot in the summer. (The garage has heat, but no AC.) So in the summer time, I often play outside. (Nearest neighbor is about a quarter mile away.)

[sinfonian]

Since our house has both a family room and a living room the living room has become the defacto music room in our house. We got rid of the couches and put in extra dinning room chairs. I claim that my Tuba in it's stand is like a large art work anyway and enhances the look of the room. Add to that 5 manhasset stands a flute stand with 2 flutes and an oboe stand and piano and the effect is a nice music room.

Since our Living room does connect to the dinning room when we have large groups over we have to move the music stuff out to make for more dinning space.

My wife does take exception to the drum throne I purchased as a practice chair in her living room but has learned to accept it. Usually when I practice in the evening my 10 year old will get his French Horn out to join in. It breaks the concertraion but at least I know he is practicing and he usually peters out after 30 minutes and I can continue on my own for another 30 minutes.

Our next house is going to have a dedicated music room that can be closed off from the rest of the house.

[elimia]

I have a little chair and a music stand in the corner of our bedroom I use. The lighting is terrible in the room so I end up turning all the lights on (which makes the room hot real quick), closing the door, and often stuffin' the ol practice mute in. I stuff the horn back into the upright gig bag and cram all of the stuff back into the corner, where the cat likes to come and rub against the stand and horn. Guess what often happens next

I enjoy giving the neighbors in the brownstone like 2 feet away from our duplex something more interesting to listen to than the smuck who miserably attempts to riff 'Freebird' and various Eagles tunes on the guitar living somewhere on the third floor of that building.

A quick comment: I am disgusted to hear this lack of support for kid's music from parents. They're scales, you've got to be able to spit them out in your sleep, they must be practiced. Maybe TubeNet can get a fund together to donate Silent Brass mutes to needy kids. Sheesh!

Ryan

[MichaelDenney]

It's often all relative.

While growing up my tuba was just one more instrument added to the clarinet, piano, French horn and trumpet my sisters and mother played. As an adult, my euph and tuba have just been additions to the piano, strings, and drums my wife and children play.

Anyone who has had very good pianists in the house knows that their volume production can stun the ear drums as well as a big horn.

[Rick Denney]

It's often all relative.

While growing up my tuba was just one more instrument added to the clarinet, piano, French horn and trumpet my sisters and mother played. As an adult, my euph and tuba have just been additions to the piano, strings, and drums my wife and children play.

Anyone who has had very good pianists in the house knows that their volume production can stun the ear drums as well as a big horn.

You mean, it's often all relatives, heh, heh.

I find it amusing that the piano was named for the first part of its original name (pianoforte), and not for the more appropriate last part. The whole point of the instrument was to be able to play loudly, unlike previous stringed keyboard instruments.

Rick "who finds the loudness of the piano is not related to the quality of the player, at least in intrusiveness" Denney

[JCradler]

It seems that more than a few of the respondants are up against unsupportive parents/spouses who dont understand our need to practice. I was fortunate growing up during the 50s & 60s. My practicing was not only allowed but actually encouraged. Of course my father WAS a pro brass/keyboard player. My own three "kids" grew up in a house with a dedicated music room. When we all got together at Christmas it was understood that ALL (including spouses) would bring instruments to play carols.
I wonder how many of us grew up as the first/only musician in the family and how did this have an effect on the outcome.

I was the first to really study an instrument in our family, and am thankful for my parents who listened to tuba, viola(maybe one day our son will be in the Boston Pops) 'lectric bass, valve trombone for all those years. Only when my brothers went to bed did I need to shut it down. Not only the practice, but the countless hours spent carting me and an instrument countless places...

The mother of a former student used to sit in on lessons to listen, TO HER WALKMAN! While junior was playing!:shock: How could her kid have felt in that situation? The student didn't stay on long enough to address the situation with mom...

[Rick Denney]

My practice room is our living room, in which the piano also resides. My wife and I have a pact: When she can't take it (you know what I mean when I say that), I don't practice. The other 3.5 weeks of the month it's not a problem.

My wife plays the piano for her own enjoyment, and her playing never bothers me at all, except for those occasions when I can't take it (such as when I'm working at home, which happens about...once a month). On those occasions, she doesn't play the piano.

The pet rabbit likes the tuba, but the cat sits at the door and screams to be let out. I generally ignore her opinion, and she still comes to me for her hourly massage when I stop playing the tuba, so I guess there are no hard feelings.

The bigger issue is not the other residents of the house, but the neighbors. In our previous house, I practiced in a room set aside for that purpose in the front part of the house. The neighbor across the street complained because I was disturbing the sleep of her infant who she insists must have a room on the front side of the house, who must grow up with open windows, but who must still never be disturbed. I moved to the basement. The neighbor still complained. I stopped playing at 10 PM. The neighbor still complained, but that time I told her to get used to it (through her husband who had sheepishly informed me of her complaint, and who clearly did not want to be the bearer of my negative reaction). At the time, I investigated the sound ordinances in the town and determined they can mean what anybody wants them to mean, but only after 10 PM. I took up wood-working, too. A table saw is a lot noisier than a tuba, even with the garage door closed, heh, heh.

One question a friend of ours asked was, "How are kids in band supposed to practice?" I wonder what my neighbor will say when the people who bought our house complain when her precious baby grows up and joins the band (or, more entertainingly, forms a garage band with amplifiers and drums).

Moving out into the country was at least in part motivated by the desire to get away from snooty, nosy, and persnickety neighbors. I got fed up with accommodating all their little wierdnesses but them not accommodating ours.

Rick "who admits that the lady across the street may have been a music lover" Denney

[Rick Denney]

You could always practice in that fiberglass tube in your driveway...

Might as well get some use out of it.

Rick "just kidding...sort of" Denney

[Tabor]

I practice in the "treasure trailer" held together with sticks and glue!

[MaryAnn]

Well, in general, I don't practice tuba. Sorry about that. I seem to be able to produce the level needed for the amatuer groups I'm in, without practice outside of rehearsals. Not claiming any huge expertise, here.

Horn....in the living room, with the bell pointing into the foyer, because that's the best resonance in the house. One cat doesn't care, the other one bolts as soon as brass anything enters the room. I don't have time to practice more than one instrument seriously.

MA