Completely OT: need some ideas - YouLookFab Forum

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Completely OT: need some ideas

Maya

Veteran

This is definitely the most random thing I have probably ever posted here:

I have recently come into the possession of a flute! I used to play when I was younger, but over time i had forgotten just how sonorous these dainty little instruments are, especially at higher registers. Living in a studio means I can't just sequester myself away in a separate room, and I'm afraid of driving my neighbors crazy.

Can anyone think of a way or a public place where I could practice? For now it would be okay if I just went and sat in the park. Musicians of all kinds do that. But soon it will be too hot, and then too cold. Practice rooms are too expensive. I'm thinking I'm out of luck but you ladies are always very clever and think of things I would never think of...

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16 replies

Latest reply was from Freckles

crazyone

Veteran

Maya: how far is your work from your home, and how flexible are your hours? Could you come home during your lunch break and practice?

ETA: my friend took up the violin a few months ago, and also lives in a studio. Now that the university practice rooms are closed, she goes home in the middle of the day and practices. Of course, as grad students our schedules are flexible.

rae

(website)

Veteran

Hm, I know my dad used to sound-proof his den to spare the neighbors when he was in serious rockin'-out mode. He hung egg crate foam on his walls to absorb some of the sound, though there are probably more sophisticated things you can do nowadays.

yellowgirl

I don't have any ideas - I just think it's cool that you have a flute! I played for many years and sold it in college. I'd love to get another one. Enjoy!

Kari

Veteran

Cool! I also play the flute.

I played very heavily through college, but got burnt out near the end of my college career and haven't played a lot since then. My flute currently lives at my parents' house for that very reason - it just seems too loud for apartment living. I haven't figured out a solution yet except only playing while I'm visiting at my parents' house. I don't live near enough to a university to sit in on a practice room. We do have a lounge/office area in our apartment complex, but it's adjacent to the apartment manager office and the gym, so I'd be worried that I would still disturb people if I was playing in that area. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask, though.

When I was a student, although there were university practice rooms available, sometimes I used to hike out to an arboretum where there was an open-air but covered shelter to play in. The acoustics were pretty cool, and sometimes people would stop to listen, whereas sometimes I would have total privacy. But it does get too cold to do that during certain times of the year, and extreme temperatures/humidity can be pretty hard on the corks and pads of your instrument. And personally, I don't like to have people avidly listening to me while I'm trying to work out the quirks and technical aspects of a piece or a technique that I'm trying to learn. This is where I envy my guitar-playing father, because he can much more easily control the volume of his instrument at a reasonable level!

One idea is to potentially introduce yourself to your neighbors, mention that you have a flute and would like to check with them to see if it would be okay to practice for 30-60 minutes at a time during a certain range of time during the day (say, no earlier than 10 AM and no later than 8 PM), and make sure that the adjacent neighbors are okay with it and know that they can come to you if for some reason the noise is at all disturbing.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I was going to suggest what Kari said about checking with your neighbors. For all the years I lived in a city apartment, it seems there was often someone playing some instrument, usually in the afternoon up until the evening. It didn't bother me. Air conditioning and fans drown out a lot of noise.

fathenry

Veteran

I play the flute too! Haven't picked one up for at least 8 years. I think it's somewhere in the closet, buried in the shoes that have since taken over

I always thought guitar would have been a more convenient instrument to pick up, it so much easier to casually strum on a guitar than play a flute solo!

I wonder if reading music comes back easily??

Random idea - I wonder if you could volunteer to play at a nursing home if folks would enjoy that?

Kari

Veteran

Fathenry, to me reading music is the part that comes back quickly (except for clefs other than treble, because my piano playing days were much farther in the past than my flute playing days, so I have to think a little extra hard when I'm reading below middle D on bass clef.)

The hard part is dealing with how badly my technique has deteriorated, and also sight reading, which has never been my strong point. I have always learned very well by ear, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

(Waving to my fellow YLF flautists! Our local flute organization actually has a flute choir, and I've toyed with the idea of joining just so I can play in an ensemble again.)

Katiepea

(website)

Veteran

Firstly, I googled "mute and flute" and came up with the following advice that may be of assistance to you:
(source: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw.....#flutemute )

Q Can you make a flute mute? Is there a way I can practise in the middle of the night without disturbing the whole house and at the same time learning how to play notes and music?

Two ways. Put a small piece of cotton wool in the headjoint. This works well on the low range, but less well at the high pitches where you will wake the neighbours. Alternatively, put a piece of modelling clay on the edge of the embouchure hole, just opposite where you blow.

Perhaps these are worth a try?

******
My additional thoughts...

Can I also suggest that before you totally give up on the idea of playing indoors that you enlist a friend and/or neighbours to provide you with some objective advice as to exactly how loud you really are to the outside world when you play your flute in your apartment?

Shut the door, shut windows, close all the curtains and play your flute at various registers and using various dynamics (ie: low register, piano/ top register, piano/ low register, mezzo forte/top register, mezzo forte etc).

Your friend/neighbour could then listen outside your studio to see how loud your playing really is at various pitches and dynamics.

You should also experiment by moving to different spots within the enclosed space. It doesn't sound particularly romantic, but playing to a solid, external wall as far away as possible from a window (hence, no neighbours and no window for the sound to easily travel through) is likely to make the least amount of impact on your neighbours.

You may well find that you can play levels piano to mezzo forte without anyone outside your apartment even being aware that you are playing in the first place. Of course, it is more likely that low register of your flute will be easier on the ear, than the top notes. You may have to make adjustments for this when playing. At least you would know for absolute sure.

Other thoughts could be that you could consider joining a community type band or orchestra where playing your flute (sometimes as loud as you like!) would be incredibly welcome or as you suggested, playing in the park.

Finally, I just wanted to say that I'm so glad to see you embrace music, it truly does wonders for the soul!

Sarah

you might check out your library. I know Seattle Public has sound proof rooms with pianos in them, maybe if you live near a city they offer something similar.

Heather

Veteran

Maya, I don't have any other ideas, but I think this is so awesome!

What does your cat think of the sound?

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I would check with any close colleges/universities to see if you could use a practice room there. Home practice in the middle of the day should be all right (maybe weekends?), even without any sound proofing. Congrats on your new flute!

tarzy

Veteran

Favorite sentence ever on YLF -

"I have recently come into the possession of a flute!"

AWESOME!

cheryl

Veteran

I don't have anything more to offer just wanted to say that i was in symphonic band in school, i played the clarinet and then the bassoon, so i hope you enjoy that flute

MsMary

Veteran

What's the situation at your workplace? Could you stay late and practice after everyone has gone home?

Sarah

(website)

Veteran

I'm a flute player too! It's my secondary instrument (to piano), but I love dusting it off now and again to play.
Anyway, growing up, my older sister and I would have to practice the piano multiple hours a day each (sometimes as many as 5-7, but generally just 3 because of time) and my younger sister had to practice 3 hours of violin - and not at the same time.
Granted, we were in a neighborhood, but we went around and asked the neighbors just around us if it would bother them - and that if it ever did to let us know. We had a no playing before 8am/after 8pm rule too.
Several neighbors told us it was fine as long as we left the windows open. O:)

Freckles

Veteran

When visiting NYC at every hotel we've stayed at we've always heard someone playing a musical instrument or singing opera/whatever. It was usually done in the middle of the afternoon though but absolutely no comments from any neighbours...

I'd vote for the lunchtime thing too.