Ok so i am returning to the clarinet after a number of years absence and i wont beat around the bush, i wasnt the most accomplished first time round and after all this time it seems i have forgotten even the basics sooo i am still at the

" Squeeeee SBLlttttt SBllttt Sqquueee SBltttt M*&$£@:% Sqeuuuulloooooo Squueeee GGGgggggggg "

faze of playing not to mention the endless repition of scales and fingering while i find my feet and remember what i am doing. now to combat this i want to practice more and more. but the more and more i practice the more aware i am of just how annoying to those around me it can be. now i am happy to come home from work (about 5:30) have a break of an hour or so and then i am more than content to practice till i fall asleep with the clarinet in my hands some 3 hours later but unsurprisingly this doesnt go down well with the people around me, i am currently doing 1 hour but i want to do more lest i forget there are the subtle reminders llike

"will you shut up i'm trying to watch eastenders" or
" you do realise the neighbours have a baby.." (Coupled by banging on the wall)
"dont you think you've been at that long enough now"
" for god sake will you shut that infernal racket up your doing my head in.. "

well you get the gist right

so what i am asking is how do you compromise your practice time with those around you....

i mean do you have a set time in which you are allowed to practice to your hearts content and no one is allowed to say a word as long as you shut up at the pre arranged time???

how long do you practice?

do you practice daily?

or do you play as and when you feel like it??

also where do you practice ?

do you have your own area to practice free from distractions where you cant bother anyone and they cant bother you like special practice room?

of like me are you in one room while they are in the other?

or do you have any hints and tips to help keep the peace at practice time between you your family and the neighbours.


am off to Squeee SBlttt and practice scales to my hearts content now as i am home alone while i eagerly await your comments

I'll come back to this later and if I may I'll add another dimension to the discussion as I was going to start a thread on practise anyway. If you prefer I'll open it as another thread. Give me a bit of time to compose my thoughts on this. I'll get back to you In the meantime keep at it

thats more than fine by me i look forward to what you have to say and add... i also wanted to ask about how do you structure your practise sessions??

This is a subject that resonates a lot with me at the moment.

My aim is to do 5-7 hours practice a week. At the moment, though, work demands are that I leave the house at 8am and get back 8pm - so practice doesn't happen.

Mostly though I manage to organise my work so that I get home 6.30-7.00pm at least 3 hours a week and fit an hours practice in.

If you've got limited practice time and want to make progress you have to be prepared to focus the practice time and spend most of it doing things that aren't much fun.

In the first conversation I had with my current 1-2-1 teacher we talked about how much time I could realistically put aside for practice, and how much of that I was prepared to spend on "work" as opposed to playing. I said 90:10 - I tink I'm probably at 95:5. It's definitely worth examining your practice and seeing if you can make it more efficient. From what you've said in your posts I think that an hour's focussed practice a night should show results quite quickly. An hour's playing per night might not.

The following :



comes from this website

(Which incidentally is well worth a browse when you have the time.)

Now I read this the other week and have been mulling it over ever since....

Sounds simple doesn't it? But I'm not so sure it's that straightforward at all. For example I may pop on the internet for 1/2 h whilst sitting next to my son who's watching CBeebies to wind down after preschool. Now to play clarinet I'd have to be in another room away from him and the TV so it doesn't work. Also I may make a 5-10 minute phone call but unless I leave my clarinet on a stand (NOT a sensible option in a small house with a 4 and 6 year old running around) I can't just pick up and play for 5/10 mins between jobs or whilst cooking tea etc. I don't play video games and as for watching TV I really only tend to do that at times that'd be considered unsociable for loud instrumental playing. So it's not that simple. It would be if I lived in a large detached house with it's own music room and no neighbours close enough to hear and no small child to attend to and no work to do.

So in our "real lives" where many of us have famlies and neighbours to consider what do we do?

For my part, I tend to play in the kitchen in the evening. I'm lucky that my kids'll sleep through my playing (though I usually give them time to fall asleep first) and it doesn't bother my adjoining neighbour (who's lovely and very tolerant ) My hubby sits in the front room doing whatever he wants to do unless he's out. He leaves me to it unless I've lost track of the time and there's something I've said I'd like to watch on the TV or we have something to do.

I sometimes play when the kids are up which is more difficult as they are interested in what I'm doing and forget that "Mummy is busy right now" so come to talk to me etc despite my husband's attempts to keep them occupied. I have an unspoken arrangement that when playing at night I stop playing about 9:30( 9:45 on occasion at the latest) as I feel that's probably late enough for the neighbours even though, maybe because, they are very tolerant of my playing - even when it's high squeaky note practise. I'm lucky enough to now be at a stage where I don't have to wory about sounding really squeaky and horrible as a general rule but those high bits in some of the band pieces do make me feel very conspicuous, particularly when all else is quiet at night. So I do sympathise with how you feel

When I first joined the forum I wasn't getting much time to practise around the family and here's the thread I started then. I don't know if it'll help at all but might be worth a reed (Opps read )

Looking forward to here the responses.

Sorry for the HUGE post

I am focussing on oboe at the moment so it is the only instrument I am routinely practising. I practise every day unless I am away, and usually aim to do an hour - which is about all I can physically manage at the moment on oboe. Ideally I would like to go up to 90 minutes once or twice a week - so sometihng to build up to. I think that is enough to enable a good balance between music/ work/ relationships/ housework etc. It is important to be realistic in what is sustainable long term - sometimes I do need to spend time 2 hours talking to your best friend who lives on the other side of the country, because that relationship is important to me and I want to give some time to it! It's all about balance.

I live in a semi detached and woudl limit my practice to after 10:30 am at a weekend and would not pratice after about 9pm. They have never said anything, but this is what my Mum always said when we lived in a terrace! I practice in my box rooom which has no adjoining walls to the neighbours and keep the intervening doors shut!

I live on my own and don't need to worry about what anyone else thinks!

Self Employed + Detached & Isolated House + Musical Family = as much practice time as I like

I can happily play the flute and watch TV at the same time but it does annoy when other people play the piano simultaneously.

Thanks for the replies every one, i know Dawn wanted to add another dimension to my post but for me i am not disputing the amount of practice i do i am happy to practice all night every night till my fingers are sore and i am exhausted.

i'm just concerned about how to keep the noise down and not annoy every one in the house/street. how to compromise with my family that i want and need to practice as much as possible. what is a good time to put a cap on playing 9-10pm. as currently at times i am too scared of annoying everyone around me that i barely blow down it and silently practice fingering/scales etc with no sound...now i know this is going to get me nowhere fast so i need to be able to sort this out.

i'm not really so bad all i do is squeelookle i was just jokeing, but even if i could play like a virtuoso, i would still be self conscious of getting on every ones nerves

My practise times were always very irregular! I had so many extra-curriculars and work that I was trying to fit time in and around that, but on average I tried to do at least six hours a week. I usually played for about two hours on a Saturday while my dad and brothers were out shopping, so that brought it up to about seven hours. Mostly I tried to play when everybody else was out of the house, because it isn't always pleasant when you're forced to listen to an oboist squeak out F# major!

My advice, for what it's worth , talk to the neighbours (assuming you get on with them) and ask what's ok with them. I told mine that I played musical instruments and needed to practise but that if ever they found it was at a really inappropriate time for them (e.g. they were ill and trying to rest or it was distubing the kids sleeps etc) to simply let me know nicely and I'd postpone my practice. I regularly talk to my neighbour and if playing a high nasty squeaky bit appologise that I'm thrashing it out repetitively BUT she always tells me it's ok and teh she only hears it as background noise as we each her the noises each other/ the children make and just accept them. Music is just one of my "noises" she so used to it both she and the kids just tune it out. It raelly doesn't bother them. (My previous neighbours were Sooooo nasty about my practise so it's not always been like this.)

Talk to your husband too. Tell him you need to practice for say 1- 2 hrs a day that's non-negotiable however when, in how many slots and for how long each could be up for negotiation. Maybe you could arrange a suitable time when he's otherwise occupied.

If he passes negative comments about the "noise" tell him that the more you practise the sooner it'll sound much better

Whatever our hobby it has to start somewhere....

Good luck in your negotiations.

And thankyou for letting me share your thread.

I live in a 1-bedroom flat so the options of where I can practice are somewhat limited. Usually I try to practice when my partner is out because, despite being a musician himself, he is not very appreciative. Anyway, he works shifts and I do a 9-5 job so there's usually plenty of time when he's out. It is my dream to have a separate room for music where I won't disturb anyone with my playing, but that's a way into the future....

For now I try to keep my practice times sociable. The people in the upstairs flat have 2 really annoying and noisy children, but I try to be kind - I use a practice mute when I know they are in and I never, ever practice after 9pm. Sometimes when they are really noisy I have to admit to whipping the practice mute off and practising scales ad nauseam. This usually makes them flee the house.

If you're really struggling to get undisturbed practice time and your hubby is able to look after the little ones, I would seriously consider asking around to see if there is anywhere you could borrow to practice - even if it's only for an hour on a couple of days a week. My partner practices in our local church because being a brass player he is e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y loud!

I generally try and fit 1 hour a day 5 days a week and the other 2 days are orchestra. I have college and other hobbies such as squash and computing but happily manage to find enough time to improve my musical ability.

One of my neighbours used to play the violin and doesn't mind my practice whilst my other neighbour hates me for playing an instrument. I am reasonable and stop by 9.30pm.

thanks since i wrote i have reached a compromise to cease and desist before 9pm which i think is reasonable. i dont have a husband or children that i am bothering but their are other famiily members concerned. i am curently sticking to one to one and a half hours a day but i want to do more. i useally practice in my bedroom, but with laminate floors/thin walls etc i may as well be sat on their laps. but i am now harbouring secret plans to turn one of our empty garden sheds(which is a good size) into a little practice room(if i had the money) then i can bother no one and play to my hearts content. all it needs is perhaps a little fixing to the roof, some interior cladding and a lick of paint, maybe some elec(trickery) and a gas bottle heater and i can move a chair and a music stand and bits in there and it will be perfect

anyway thanks guys i guess all we needed was to talk it out

What about a violin with a nice large practice mute sooner rather than later........

Small things really do help, the more soft furnishings you can add the better. When I used to practice in a shared house I was able to mute things down to the satisfaction of my housemates by standing on a thick rug and even shutting the curtains! Hard furniture really does bounce all the sound about, even making sure you point the clarinet towards the bed rather than towards the door has some effect, though minimal, I guess it's about doing lots of small things till they have a compound effect. I've heard of people stuffing a cleaning rag up the bell of a clarinet, but I have no idea what that does to sound quality and whether it's going to be worth your while practicing if the sound is distorted by muting it down like that.

OOOOHhhhhhh i Long so much to play the Violin, but i must concentrate on one instrument at a time right now. when i am more profficient with my Clarinet i'll be back to squueeeeeeeeeeee'ing with the best of them on the violin




Thanks, for the advice their i never considered the small things i will defo give that a try...also i just wanted to ask about your user name...the rodent part...do you keep pet rodents...sorry it just intrigeud me as i keep pet rats and as soon as i saw it i hoped i'd also found a fellow mad ratter