Where can I practise playing my annoyingly loud instrument in a crowded city?

February 4, 2009 6:01 AM

If you play a musical instrument and live in a city, where do you go to practise? I want to start playing clarinet again, but will be living in apartments or shared houses in crowded cities (currently London, UK) for the forseeable future. Where can I practise that won't drive my neighbours absolutely crazy?
posted by metaBugs to sports, hobbies, & recreation (19 comments total)

I live in a major city, and I play in my own apartment. You just need to be considerate of the hours that you play. After 10 in the morning, before 8 at night. If you're doing that, you're doing the best you can.

I can't hear my neighbors at all, which I mentioned to one of them while waiting for the subway a couple weeks ago. She said, "Oh, well, we can hear you. Mostly the piano." So naturally, I apologized profusely and told her that I'd try to keep it down. To which she replied, "Oh no - we love it."

Just be considerate, and you'll be fine.
posted by greekphilosophy at 6:04 AM on February 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

I agree with greekphilosophy. I'm on the other end as a tenant in NYC, with a violin playing person in our building. They usually practice around the same time every day, not on weekends, and never before 10am or 8pm, which seem like good guidelines. And they are awful, and play out of tune scales up and down and that's it. And I think it still doesn't bother anyone.
posted by Grither at 6:07 AM on February 4

If it doesn't work out to practice at home, try heading to a local college campus and practicing in an empty classroom or a deserted hallway on the weekend.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 6:20 AM on February 4

Agreed with the above. Once, in Chicago, when the power went out for hours, we were all pooling our candle resources and chatting, and someone asked who it was who played the mandolin and sang. I sheepishly responded that I was sorry and I'd try to be quieter. The others all agreed that they enjoyed it, and told me not to worry.

Be considerate of the hours you play and don't worry about it. It's expected from apartment living.
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:24 AM on February 4

The classic solution is to join a rehearsal space, which is usually a warehouse shared by many musicians.
posted by desuetude at 6:41 AM on February 4

I don't want to thread-jack, but what if you're not fortunate enough to live in a well-soundproofed building? I used to play the trumpet and would love to take it up again, but it is a fair bit louder than a clarinet (much of the time) and my building has pretty thin walls and floors to begin with. Plus, since I haven't played it in some time, I'm not likely to be good enough these days for my neighbours to enjoy it.
posted by synecdoche at 6:43 AM on February 4

Can you get a mute? I know they make mutes and other devices you can stick in the end of your instrument (I've seen them for brass and stuff), even some that hook up to headphones.

There's a guy below me in my apartment who plays clarinet and bass. The clarinet's cool, but sometimes I wish he'd play the bass at another time.
posted by SansPoint at 6:45 AM on February 4

You really can't mute woodwinds, unfortunately. In my neighborhood in NYC the Y has practice rooms that you can rent by the hour. Colleges are a good place to check as well, as someone else mentioned. Generally check anywhere that offers music classes and they're likely to have practice rooms available.
posted by rachelv at 6:51 AM on February 4

Clarinet shouldn't be too bad for your neighbors. I follow the same hours as other have posted (not before 10, not after 8) and have practiced trumpet in apartments for years without incident. I usually go to my neighbors when I/they move in and let them know what's up and make sure they have a way to contact me in case I'm practicing while they're home sick with the plague and want to murder me. I've never been called.
posted by range at 6:57 AM on February 4

I live in a medium-sized city and I practice in a park. At first I was very self-conscious about people walking past with dogs and so on. But I got over it. (The key is realizing that unless your playing is excruciatingly bad or astonishingly good, the only people who will pay attention to it for more than five seconds are those who are interested in music and will generally react positively to someone playing it live.)

Also, jogging to the park is a good lung warmup.
posted by No-sword at 7:02 AM on February 4

I started out college as a music performance major (violin), and my younger friends who hadn't graduated high-school yet would occasionally join me in the practice rooms of my university's school of music, and afterwards they'd get their own practice room nearby and stay as long as they liked. I wouldn't be surprised if other people who were not affiliated with the university used them as well, as you didn't need a key or an ID to get in during regular business hours.

Another major university in my city, however, kept its practice rooms locked, but it might be worth checking out. In addition to not bothering your neighbors, practice rooms provide you with the ability to isolate yourself from everything else in your daily life and really concentrate. Being around other musicians has always been pretty inspiring for me, too.

So, ask any friends who are studying music what the practice rooms are like in their respective institutions, or just go check it out yourself as pretty much no academic buildings restrict access during the day. Bring your instrument, and you'll fit right in. If anyone asks to see ID, just say that you are taking music lessons from a grad student.
posted by halogen at 7:06 AM on February 4

As long as you're considerate (don't practice too early or too late as others have said) you shouldn't have any problems. I practice opera singing in my apartment in Toronto and have never been asked to stop. In fact, when I told my neighbours that I would be practicing at home and to let me know if it bothered them, they said they were excited to be able to hear me.

If you absolutely cannot practice at home you can try to find cheap rehearsal spaces in your city. Community centres often have music rooms for rent. You can also try churches around you. Often you can work out practices spaces in them for a small fee.
posted by legendarygirlfriend at 7:07 AM on February 4

When I lived in New York, I saw people practicing their bagpipes in Central Park and Flushing Meadows.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:10 AM on February 4

If you played a brass instrument, you could use the Yamaha Silent Brass mute/microphone/earphones device that enables the player to hear the instrument, but mutes it outside.

For the clarinet, though, there's no way to mute it. To minimize the volume, you can always play into a closet that's full of clothes. It will absorb a decent amount of the sound, and and keep it from echoing around the building too much. The drawback is that depending on the layout of your apartment, it might be an uncomfortable place to practice.
posted by andrewraff at 7:31 AM on February 4

I'm a mezzo-soprano and practice at home (during civilized hours.) One thing I do is to make sure I'm facing towards the window, away from the walls shared with neighbours, as I sing.

Bookshelves, carpets and curtains are all tremendously helpful when it comes to DIY soundproofing.
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:57 AM on February 4

Home= small apartment in London, sorry, forgot to say.
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:58 AM on February 4

I'll nth the "at home" option.

If you REALLY want to be considerate, you can buy soundproofing panels at any big box hardware store -- the cheapest option is egg crates, but they're super flammable; acoustic drop ceiling panels are relatively affordable and work pretty well.

You can make a temporary corner with one on the floor, four (two on the left, two on the right) going up the walls and even tack one to the ceiling. Face inward and they'll catch the bulk of the sound. Not ideal but not that bad for a jerry-rigged solution.
posted by Shepherd at 10:07 AM on February 4

If there aren't anti-busking laws in London, get a hat and a street corner. You might even make enough change for a beverage to drink when you get back home.
posted by not_on_display at 11:27 AM on February 4

I'm a Tenor Sax player and lived in West London for about 10 years. I had neighbours and flatmates begging me to "finish the damn song already and stop doing scales" but otherwise they were fine if I rehearsed at a reasonable hour.

I was messing around on a clarinet in Hyde Park once (not busking, Constable) and some really old guy came up to me and asked me to play Send In The Clowns. He cried a little bit as I did so. It's a good memory.

So I agree that there are probably rehearsal spaces (hopefully you can afford them); there are good times to be neighbourly; and outdoors+clarinet+10 feet distance=you're not going to be bothering anyone.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 8:14 PM on February 10