Whilst I was in the car, in a school playground, and Jen was in the school hall at her string ensemble rehearsal, I decided to play my flute and do scales for an hour. It was very satisfying. I did my majors, and worked out their relative minors, both harmonic and melodic. In the Autumn sunshine and a can of diet coke to hand it was a very pleasant and worthwhile hour.
HOWEVER........you should have seen the strange "looks" I got off people walking by. That was odd in itself as mostly they were relatives of the children at the 2 music ensemble rehearsals going on inside. My eldest said it was an odd thing to practice in the car. I thought it was good use of time.
So where do you find your strangest places to practice?
My youngest just plonked herself down at the piano in Malta at the hotel dining room and rattled through her pieces. No shyness there then.
Over to you
Beverley.

In our last house, we had a rather large front garden, with a low wall. The main road through the village went past the front of the garden, which meant that if you were on the grass, everyone passing by could see you.

I remember getting a lot of funny looks the day I spent an afternoon playing my violin out there... Oddly, the guitar was slightly better received.

I once played some violin scales on the bus on the way to school...

I did this when I had an hour or so to kill between the end of my last exam and the start of my lesson. I played through all the other G4 pieces that I hadn't learnt for the exam and I learnt a new scale. My teacher was cross with me when I told him I'd learnt a new scale, and also thought it was a very odd thing to do

Once when I was on holiday I was really desperate to play but the walls of the hotel seemed to be quite thin so I took the car to a quiet road and parked up in the entrance to a field

On another occasion I asked at the hotel if I could practise in my room during the day but they said they had people arriving from overseas at all times of the day who might want to sleep. So I discovered a room which they were using as a stockroom and they were quite happy about me making myself at home there

Once when I was going to stay with friends, I arrived at their place before they got home so I sat on a seat in their garden playing my clarinet. It's a pretty big garden though - more like a smallholding so I doubt I was overheard!

Skylark, a comrade with Flossie and me. My friend told me I am getting very odd, in the nicest possible way.

I like odd people better than stuffy grumpy boring people

Me too. Boring people are... boring!

I've always been attracted ( not in the romantic sense ) to people who are a bit different too. Life can be so boring. I was never in the "in" crowd at school because I didn't smoke, or at work because I can't stand "B i t c h i n g", and prefer kindness and respect.
Anyhoo................. back to strange practices.

Me too....

I used to warm up in the car on my way to choir rehearsals (provided I had no passengers). I got some funny looks if I had to stop at the lights though! It's much easier to sing when you're warmed up and I never seemed to have time to do it at home before I left.

Freezing cold churches.

Well, that's where most pipe organs are to be found....!

I practised my recorder scales in the pitch black in the car on the way home from london once (it was too dark to read). I don't think my family were too happy with me though

I don't think I'd be too happy about recorder practice in a car either, Sarah123 - that is downright dangerous to do! Both for distraction of the poor driver, and in case of a sudden stop .

However, I do also practise in the car, when driving as well - "singing" (my version of it anyway) along to tracks to practise double tonguing and build up stamina for that.

The time I would get funny looks though was when preparing for grade 8 and then later ATCL: as I was still providing a taxi service for my children, and having to wait for them during ballet classes, I would sit in the changing room with my recorder and just do the fingering patterns for difficult passages, without blowing (or it'd have clashed with the ballet music next door). Other mums always would look so apprehensive at the sight of a descant recorder coming out, and relieved when I didn't actually play .

Now that must have looked odd, playing but not blowing Bet none of them chatted to you Anacrusis.
YOu can join too.

Tonight, at 10.45 pm, I was on my way home after a karaoke session. Realising I haven't learnt the words for my homework song "Giá il sole dal Gange", I decided to listen to it on the iPod continuously, and mouth the words.

I think I only made soft "st", "rr", "ge" sounds, but all the train passengers around me were looking at me suspiciously. I had to lower my head to hide my embarrassment, because I HAD TO practise mouthing the lyrics, else I wouldn't be able to find any more time!

Guess I have to get used to it. I am still extremely self-conscious with singing. My mum is already so used to vocalising VERY LOUDLY throughout the day, at home of course, perhaps with all my neighbours listening. I have only managed to disregard the right to silence of everyone else during my piano practice.

i usually practice bell rining, in the bell twoer funnily enough.
Infact ive just returned.
Very fun

Where else? Surely it is a well known fact that no one can hear you when you sing in the car!

Val

hmmm until this morning I'd agree - but found my self getting some mightily funny looks singing along to the Queen of Night's aria on the radio........mind you I gave myself some funny looks when I realised what pitch I'd just hit!

Haha It's true, I could hear my mum vocalising in the car as I approached it... So could those who passed by!

I have taken my flute out of my bag, and randomly started playing 'Peace Of Evening' by Sibelius from memory before. I can't really remember if I got any funny looks, I had my back to everyone who could have given me funny looks....

I had a friend take some photographs of me plus flute in a photography studio several months ago. For want of anything better to do, I started playing through some stuff. Have never found anywhere else so echoey. Appeggios turned into big mushy chords, any note held would be reverberative around for ages after. Was a lot of fun, but not sure if it counts as 'useful practise'.

I used to practise in the music department stairwell at school - lovely forgiving echoey acoustics... Bathroom playing is fun for the same reason.

Not so much a strange place, but yesterday at orchestra, our conductor decided to sit the strings the opposite way round, facing the wind, and conduct from the middle And you may think this some specially devised plan to help us play more as a group or something, but no, apparently he just felt like it

Last year at school, when I was on study leave but still in school between exams, I used to take my violin and play in empty classrooms, but kept being moved on by slightly bemused teachers - "What are you doing?" "Playing!"

As of today, the strangest two places I've played are in the physics darkroom (shared with someone producing an awful lot of smoke ) and the lecture theatre, which has lovely acoustics

With these: http://www.gadgetgarden.nl/2008/09/muzikale-vingertoppen.php you can practice piano anywhere! (OK it is in Dutch, but I think you'll get the idea).