Where do you go to play?

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:29 am

The damp of this Eastern monsoon
Has my fiddle, alas, out of tune,
But I won't go berzerk
'cause with Shultz, Shaw, and Burke
My desktop is happily strewn.

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:58 am

susnfx wrote:Redwolf, I appreciate your concern for your neighbors and others when playing. I'm surprised by the number of people who play outdoors in national parks, wilderness areas, camping, etc., with no regard for those who are trying to enjoy a quiet interlude away from the craziness and noise of the world. "Nobody else is around" to me is not reasonable - how in the world would you know that? Because you can't see them?
Anyway, it's a little pet peeve of mine and it's nice to hear somebody is interested in their neighbors.

Susan

I can understand this if someone is not playing well, but I very much enjoy hearing someone play well in such surroundings.

I was sitting in my dear friends' front garden the other day, late afternoon, early evening, after practice, and running through all the tunes I could remember a couple times each... after about 45 minutes or so, a truck pulled up in the drive and a gal got out and started my way... I jokingly (and a mite fearfully) said, "...are you here to throw things at me?" ... she laughed and said that no, in fact she was there to thank me... she had been out working in her garden and at first thought that she was hearing the calliope from one of the riverboats, but when it kept on, she knew it had to be someone nearby... she had hoped I wasn't going to stop until she had finished her gardening, and wanted me to know how very much she had enjoyed having the music to work to and that it had been beautiful. ... and would I please come back and do it again soon !!!

(of course, she's not an ITM person, so I may actually have sounded pretty good.

)

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:18 am

When noone else is home, I'll play in the dining room which seems to have brighter bigger acoustics. When others are around and when I'm doing anything with tuner, metronome, or recorder, I play in the den, because that's where I'm set up. I occasionally play in the bedroom, if the AC is on, so I don't annoy the neighbors. Although of late, several neighbors have told me, "It's really nice to listen to you now; you used to suck." Both they and I are grateful for the improvement.

Philo

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:19 pm

Although I mosltly play in my room, when no one is home I like to play in the bathroom, and the hall way at the top of the stairs, both echo, and it soounds pretty cool.

irishangel · Post by **irishangel** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:17 pm

Redwolf wrote:If I'm practicing late at night, I'll play a really quiet whistle, like my Hoover Whitecap, and you can't hear it at all if you're in another room.

Well, if you read my blog, you'll see the problems Im having at the mo!

This is an old victorian house, with huge high ceilings etc - which is great for whistle playing, only problem is that the house has been split into flats (as has most of the road) so I have two families upstairs, this is a two bed, and up there are two one beds.
So, you can see my problem lol.

What kind of whistle do you guys recommend to that I can play quietly? I want one in D - and not too dear.

Thanks.

eleanora · Post by **eleanora** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:20 pm

I often play in the kitchen. Also keep a whistle in the car and play a few bars after parking up. However , for the last 2 nights, I've had the urge to practise cuts( I'm a beginner) after getting into bed at night. I have succumbed to this urge, although only for 10 minutes, much to the bemusement of my husband !

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:07 pm

i recently had the pleasure of playing at a camp fire. i like playing background music. one dog like my playing so much, she sat on my feet. i played mostly folk music and a few times, i had to stop to tell people the name of the song before they exploded.

greg · Post by **greg** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:23 am

while out of town on business i stayed in a hotel with an indoor pool which was happily empty it made for an excellent echo chamber i was amazed at how much better everything sounded i

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:04 pm

greg wrote:while out of town on business i stayed in a hotel with an indoor pool which was happily empty it made for an excellent echo chamber i was amazed at how much better everything sounded i

hey, i just got to do the same thing. we had a state-wide meeting. there are 12 of us and most of us have worked independently but together for 20 years. we get to see each other 2/3 times a year. we're like distant family to each other. look at a previous thread i started about other fun things to do with your flute/whistle. if you tip the end of the flute into the water, you can make really good whale sounds. the acoustics in that pool room rocked too. there were strangers in the hot tub with us. they did their very best to not show any emotion. they even ignored us at the continental breakfast the next morning.

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:32 pm

anniemcu wrote:
susnfx wrote:Redwolf, I appreciate your concern for your neighbors and others when playing. I'm surprised by the number of people who play outdoors in national parks, wilderness areas, camping, etc., with no regard for those who are trying to enjoy a quiet interlude away from the craziness and noise of the world. "Nobody else is around" to me is not reasonable - how in the world would you know that? Because you can't see them?
Anyway, it's a little pet peeve of mine and it's nice to hear somebody is interested in their neighbors.

Susan
I can understand this if someone is not playing well, but I very much enjoy hearing someone play well in such surroundings.
...

Music is the best part of human birdsong. I like to hear the birds - even when they sound like industrial machines. Remembering this also helps me tollerate the suburban drone of lawnmowers on tranquil summer Sundays.

CountryKitty · Post by **CountryKitty** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:35 pm

Irishangel, I'm a newbie, but here's a tip I learned here that helps keep my nightshift Hubby from wanting to kill me over my practice!

Hold a Clark (not very expensive) sideways like a fife and blow across the hole, fingering the notes. You can hear the change in tone, but no one 10' away or in the next rom will even know you're playing.

Took me a few tries to get the whistle positioned right but it does work.

walrii · Post by **walrii** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:09 pm

Mostly I practice either in the computer room (that's where the music and the whistles stay) or in the car when I'm parked somewhere. I always keep a whistle and at least a couple tunes in the car for those odd moments when I have nowhere to be and can toodle for a little while. When my wife's not home, I practice in the kitchen. It's open, so the sound isn't so loud and the tile floors gives it good acoustics.

I play recorder with a pickup group that meets every Sunday night before going to dinner. We play Broadway tunes and popular music. However, our autoharp player has a dulcimer she wanted to learn so I gave her a couple tune books and she liked the melodies. We're working up a couple tunes for whistle and dulcimer for Sunday nights.

Sadly, no sessions around here. We have an "Irish Pub" in town but they play country rock only.

King Friday · Post by **King Friday** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:10 pm

My bedroom is basically a dry wall box in the basement where all the sound bounces off the walls making it all really loud. Fortunatly its not loud for anyone outside the box.

Next time nobody's home though, I'm rocking out inside the shower. Talk about the sound bouncing around there

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:31 am

walrii wrote:...
Sadly, no sessions around here. We have an "Irish Pub" in town but they play country rock only.

Hey Walrusseses, I had the same prob in my old burg - they will cave if you push them for a session night! Specially if you can get a half a dozen players to back you up!

Remember - a pub has gotta re-invent itself every 3 months or beer-sales go south. That's the attention span of "punters".

Good thing about a decent session is that the player-turnover keeps it all rolling. Most the players are "punters".

Louigi Verona · Post by **Louigi Verona** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:15 am

Northern Whistler wrote:You can only get a few bars in on a straight stretch of road, by steering with your knee. Providing no other cars are comming of course. It is not the safest or smartest thing to do I guess, but you can't live life in a bubble.

That's really hillarious!

I, personally, have lots of problems finding places to play. I can't play much at home, since everybody tells me to stop that. Sometimes I use bathroom, but it's not an inspirational place.
Sometimes I go to the park, but I get embarrased, because I am only a beginner and don't yet play well.