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Where To Practice?


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for the price of a pretty good hybrid ..

 

http://www.whisperroom.com/gallery-sound-booth-models.php?galleryDetailTabs=1#

 

they're very effective, I have a friend who plays the tenor saxophone in NYC and has one in his apartment

 

they can actually be found used at reasonable prices occasionally (at least in the US)

Edited by John D
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There are several ways in my home in which I can have two closed doors between me and the family. If they are watching TV or listening to music, they can't really hear me practising.

 

When I lived in a tiny terraced house, I would often take pity on the neighbours and go out and park the car somewhere quiet, ideally with a nice view, and play. The acoustics in a car are strange and the box sounds far nicer if you open the doors/windows.

 

One disadvantage of practising in the car is that passes by can only see you sitting there with a look of intense concentration, apparently making rapid hand movements in the area of your lap. I was once parked in a layby on a quiet lane when a car pulled up and a very nice young man "made approaches". I later found it was a well known "cruising" area. I didn't use that practice spot again - not because of any prejudice, but because of the risk of being challenged by the police.

 

The best place I know to practise is the village hall before Morris practice. I arrive early and get in 30 - 40 minutes of playing before the rest of the team starts to turn up. If you can get access to a village hall or church hall or similar, it's excellent. The concertina sounds so much better in a big room with a bit of reverb.

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Oh Dear... this could be a problem for many of us as we get older. My wife and I chose our current house with regard to the noise that we make, as musicians and also that coming from my instrument making workshop; So we have no direct neighbours and the next house is about 100 metres away. The down side to this is that we have too much land around the house which takes a fair bit of effort to keep in some reasonably neat condition. I can see a time coming when we might need to move if only to cut down on the gardening effort.

 

Friends have recently retired and gone on the road but he plays both Accordion and Concertina. He can spend hours each day practicing but not in the Caravan, so he has organised the the tow car ( a small van) so that there is some heat and sound insulation fixed to its walls. This provides enough volume of air so that the instruments don't sound too odd and enough noise deadening that neighbours on Camp sites don't complain too often. One musical phrase repeated hundreds of times during Siesta hours can be highly infuriating.

 

So I would also be interested to see what others say.

Edited by Geoff Wooff
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Just by accident I discovered how effective simply playing under a table with a tablecloth on, can be. In our tiny northwoods cabin, hubbie goes to be very early--I'm left up, and of course want to entertain myself with an hour or two of playing through all my music. I was plain lazy and sitting too close to the table and found It good volume for me but muffled for hubbie ("you were playing last night?") in the other room. So, how about a good stout wool blanket over a table with just one end open for you to play in? I think also assuming existing carpet on the floor? Shelly

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You could look for a house with a cellar or outbuilding that you can convert to a music room - or perhaps a 'panic room' for your wife to take refuge in when you start playing!

 

Failing that, she'll just have to go :) To misquote Kipling, "A woman is only a woman, but a good concertina ..."

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Get a house with walk-in size wardrobe. I do have a very small small practise room/workshop outdoor, but it's still far too expensive to heat cold winters like this. So I use this small walk-in wardrobe, which only got available space at around 1x 1.30 m, but it really works rather well, at least for a periode...

Edited by Hasse
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Hmm....the husband doesn't mind but the 22 year old son says he feels the concertina sound in every bone in his body. He says it's my way of encouraging him to move out. :D

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