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I practice during my lunch hour at work in my office. At home I practice in the basement.

No one can hear me playing in there, and so I can practice at 2 or 3 in the morning if I want. No clock in there, so I can lose track of the time and just get into the zen of practicing.

I normally practice in the shop, either early in the morning before the phone starts ringing, or after regular business hours. With a wife and 4 daughters, there is no way to practice in the house ;^)

Sometimes I practice in the upstairs den at home & sometimes I go to my church & practice when no one else is there.

When I was working my previous job, I had permission to practice (after hours) on one of the loading docks of the building where my laboratory was located.

Mark

Practice... well... let's see... Two hours on Monday evening at the Shrine Temple with the Brass Band... Two hours on Tuesday evenings with a local community band... Two hours on Friday evenings with an oompah group... Two hours on Saturday mornings with a Dixie group... and maybe two or three gigs mixed in between. Practice?? who's got time for that!

Seriously... I'm very fortunate to have a home large enough that those who occupy it with me have plenty of space for whatever they want to do. My music room consists of about half of a 700 square foot room... plenty of space to keep a dozen or so tubas, sousas, and other musical instrument 'at ready'.

Doc wrote:Look at the "subject" line on his post.

Doc (wondering about breathing in all the coal dust)

[followed by the signature line:]

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Now THAT'S funny!

when in school im in the school practice rooms, which are great because its just me and my horns...but between semesters im at home which I agree is somewhat distracting. But you need to filter out the distractions and learn to focus on what is important. If your serious it should not be too bad. Also, always keep things scheduled that will keep you practicing. Always have a performance coming up or something that will let you know what you are practicing for every time you pick up the horn. I usually try to keep a lesson scheduled because its the worst feeling for me when I go to a lesson unprepared. It makes me feel like I let my teacher, as well as myself down. Good luck. -Joe

I have a townhouse, so I wait until my neighbors have gone to work before practicing a few minutes in the mornings, on the main floor. Otherwise, I go to the family room in the basement, which is carpeted and has an acoustic, dropped ceiling. The basement walls are poured concrete, and the sound doesn't travel to the neighbors' townhouses so easily. My big horns just don't sound right with that acoustic ceiling, though. When others are home at night, I use the Silent Brass in the family room.

I also practice with three community bands for about six hours weekly.

Some day, I'm going to a Metro (a.k.a. a subway outside of DC) stop and toot away for a couple of hours and see if anyone drops change!

I practice in the Recital Hall of my store--before and after hours (although sometimes I'm very tempted to pull out the horn when the showroom is quiet during store hours). On days off from work (when are they?), I practice in my bedroom. Fortunately, my wife is extremely supportive of my practice routine.

When I went to the Juilliard Pre-College in the late 80's, the resident Juilliard tuba students often practiced in the 5-story stairwells, until security would kick them out. At Manhattan School of Music, we had our own room for tuba storage, aptly named the tuba room, that we used to practice in.
These days, I try to practice in one of the large rehearsal rooms at the Lee University music building, if I can get in / break in / intimidate the teenage building monitors. Nothing like playing in a big room. The small practice rooms in the music building are horrible for tuba, but the dozen or so ones in the new Humanities building aren't half bad if I want to lug my horns over there. When I graduate from Lee, I don't know what I will do!
Otherwise, I sometimes play my F tuba or bass trombone at my school apt - there is no one above me - but I have to keep it at MF or below and wouldn't even think of using the Big horn. Just tonight, my son kept telling me to put my F tuba away, because he couldn't hear Cartoon Network in the next room.
'''''''''''
Reminds me of an unrelated story - a few months ago, I was sitting on the couch. My son walked up to me, playfully said, "punch you nose" and socked me in the nose as hard as his 45 pound frame could! Although it didn't bust anything, it certainly got my attention. (He punched a Republian pollster in the gut who knocked on our door and nearly doubled the frail guy over, who used his clipboard to defend himself against future blows.)

In Dresden there was this Church that had a schedule of musicians who would go there to practice. I had a beautiful room with a great piano 3 days a week for 4 hours each session. I would have rather had time each day but that was how the schedule worked. Each person had a key, and everybody played nice. I say this because maybe asking at a church would be possible. Here in NYC it's tough but there are lot's of places that rent small practice rooms by the hour such as Michiko studio's on 46th st. The other thing people do here is go in together on a loft space in an industrial part of brooklyn, queens or the bronx, and share the rent and schedule. Man, it's making me wonder what I'll do when I move in a few weeks, if I get any less time on the tuba I'll be strictly a bass player.

I have a unique 1800 square foot apartment in the heart of Los Angeles, just one block from Sony (formally Columbia and MGM) Studios. My friends call it Plumber's Palace. There isn't a residential building within a half mile radius of my place. My apartment is above a plumbing store, next to a Jack N The Box, and across the street from McDonald's. I usually practice horns in the living room, where I have a great piano and a view of McDonald's. It is huge and has plenty of rooms for horns and gadgets. When I need quiet I go into my recording studio that I soundproofed. It is a little more cramped because it is full of computers, but always quiet.

I can play as loud as I want 24 hours a day, and am usually up all night working, playing, and piddleing around. I have a huge deck that is covered and laid out like a living room, and I play out there a lot too. Even outside is fine in the middle of the night over here. The only people I bother are the bums, and there are many of them around. But they can't do anything about it because they don't pay rent. There appears to be some people living in a deserted house-style business across the street, and I have been told from reliable sources (a bum that I speak to) that it is a crack house. I don't think they would complain about the tuba late at night.

I was also quite blessed in College at UCLA. My Yorkbrunner was to big for the largest lockers, and since I was well repected by the chairman of the music department who was also the director of the orchestra, they converted the Henri Mancini Studio into a tuba studio for me. It was great. I was the only one with a key. Tommy Johnson didn't even have his own office. I stored all kinds of junk there and took naps in the middle of the day between classes. I was also able to stay after the building closed, because the guards never knew I was in there.

I feel mighty blessed where I am right now. But, being only four miles from Venice Beach, I am in psunami territory and would like to someday move to either Independence, CA or Hanna, WY. Actually anything in the middle of nowhere would be good for me. But I sure will miss the McDonald's.

As a few others I am fortunate enough to have a room dedicated to music in my house. It is nice to have a place to just leave horns, music, and other gadgets laying about. But whenever i feel the need for a change, concentration or not, i go to my local church and they have been very nice in letting me practice their (providing there is nothing else going on). I just love the sound of playing in a church. anyone else agree?

i am forbidden to practice in the house unless the parents are gone.

daktx2 wrote:i am forbidden to practice in the house unless the parents are gone.

When I visit my family in the Philadelphia area, I stay over at my father's house (my parents are divorced and both have remarried). Two years ago when I was making arrangements for a visit, I asked my father if he minded if I practiced in his house.

"Mind? You know that I love it when you play piano."

"Uhhh...Dad, I didn't mean piano."

"What, tuba?? You're not practicing tuba here. Take it to your mother's house."

And so I did.

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.

well doc, while I unfortunately have to agree with your observation I am fortunate to say I had quite the opposite from my parents. They were and still are willing to have me practice whenever , no matter what. Late at night, early in the morning, didnt matter, I was supposed to practice!

But as a music educator I see exactly the point you have made. I cringe when students tell me their moms and dads do not want them practicing in the house, because it causes too much noise. There is a seriously problem here.

My parent's let me know that if I played an instrument it would get practiced. My dad sat there and would listen to me play the worst stuff, just saying "try harder next time", or "you can do it", he had never played an instrument and still doesn't but he sat there anyway, and I played string bass, electric bass and tuba by high school. My musically talented mother still tells me to get out of the city and come to CT to practice whenever I need a big quiet place, and I'm closer to 40 than 30. I'm really surprised to hear about people having unsupportive parents or spouses, it makes me wonder what's important to people.

I have to practice in my little office that is part of the bedroom . I have had to learn to play through the ambient noise of a houseful . 1 13 year old son, 1 preadolsecent 12 year old daughter, and one mildly autistic 6 year old daugther . All of them rasing cain at the same time .Oh yeah... then there is " SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED " .I can't forget the better half....she tells me I can't.