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!
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.
It is impossible to make things foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
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
LOTP wrote: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...
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
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.
