The recent threads 'Hand position exercises' and 'What do you practise other than the usual' have got me thinking, what sort of things do you include in your practice that don't involve making (much) noise? For those of us who arrive home from work late and have neighbours to consider, full-scale practice just isn't possible every day. But there are some things we can still usefully practice without upsetting the neighbours at 10pm. I'll start:

- Long slow bows on each string, but with the bow about 1cm above the bridge
- Various combinations of placing some left-hand fingers on the strings and lifting others
- Working out fingerings for any new pieces

What do you do?

This may sound rather obvious and I'm not being cheeky but I would use a practice mute.

I don't have close neighbours (well, some sheep and highland coos) so I can play whenever I like but if OH is at home I sometimes use a practice mute so that I don't disturb him with the horrendous noise I make!

Have to admit that's less often these day (the horrible noise I mean) and the last time he heard me play Hannah he admitted it "sounded quite nice".

But if I'm practising new pieces where I'm working out fingering, or new scales I don't know, I will use the mute because the tuneless noise would drive him insane

So frustrating when you have neighbours and the noise upsets them. But what would happen if they wanted to learn piano? Anyway, would getting a small room sound-proofed (have i spelt this right?) be out of the question??? ( i know it is possible expensive) --- just a thought!

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean this post to sound like I was having a whinge!! I just want to use my free time as productively as I can, whether that is during the day (rarely!), early evening or indeed 10pm.

Unfortunately Delicato, I don't have any spare rooms to have sound-proofed, as I live in a one-bedroomed flat. Lottie, I already use a practice mute if I'm practising in the evening. But I don't play after 9pm even with the mute, so I was just after ideas really. Some silent exercises are infinitely better than no practice.

The Daily Dozen book that Jojo (I think) recommended has finger exercises it says to do without a bow. Maybe you could adapt them for the viola?

I've heard a very good violinist say she fingers through her scales and pieces when it gets too late to make noise.
Most folks who have problem coordinating fingering and bowing usually are bowing faster than they can finger anyway, so she says that silent fingering practice is a fine way to improve left-hand dexterity.

Yes - thinking about it my teacher asked me to play slurs for that reason when he was trying to get me to speed up some scale passages. He also said to press as lightly as possible.

Yes this is an excellent thing to do and really improves speed and accuracy. It makes your left hand really really secure. When some people play fast quiet passages it can sound scratchy and unpleasant because their left hand is insecure and they feel stressed (consciously or unconsciously) and that stress feeds through the bow and then out comes an undesired sound.
I would say use the late night practice time to work on the left hand alone. You should be able to hear the notes you are playing as you press your fingers down on the string so you will know if you are in tune or not.
Other things to do are to spend time thinking about interpretation and adding dynamics to your score.

Another good thing to do is video yourself playing. You could video yourself at a suitable time of day and then spend time late in the evening watching the video (the sound doesn' t have to be heard by the neighbours) and analysing it, looking for some good points and points to improve. Then look for some exercises to tackle the improvement points and list them so that when you do have a practice time at a sensible time of day when you won't annoy the neighbours, you can get straight on with it. Investing time in creating a practice plan for a week is definitely worth it. I did this a lot when preparing for piano grade 8 and yes I am going to get back to some serious study of the violin and practice planning will be a big part of that. - but probably in mid July when things calm down. It is manic here at the moment.

Oh yes and further rambling - sometimes I bow the orchestral parts at night. I use the bow but just move it up and down in the air and try things out, then write the bowings in.

Ho NO, i did not think you where whinging. Just having a little whinge myself --- i think
Yes, then a mute might be an answer, but what about going to a friends house for duet practice or have you a near by college that would let you borrow a sound - proofed room (probably not -- i know). You could even go into town and practice some of your pieces in the street! --- there's an idea --- you may even earn some money as well.

HEHEHE
Could have a violin party!!!!!

Some fab ideas here, thank you all. Particularly like (well not "like" so much as think it would be really useful) the idea of videoing myself. I do audio recordings from time to time, but I never seem to find time to properly listen to them. Why have I never thought about doing it late at night?!


Like it a lot!!!!

I just found this review by a Max Baillie of a practice mute:

Pros: Light. (In weight not colour, to be sure.) Reminds me of a kind of weird viola mouth guard. Great for late night practice, or if your dog is sleeping.
Cons: It wouldn't be much good if you wanted to use it as an actual mouth guard, say if you went boxing.

Depending where you're at in the learning process, some theory work would be quite quiet

I don't want to upset the neighbours (make their ears bleed) so I usually practice for 45-60 minutes at work before we open so I can avoid the mute. Then save piano for lunch break and after work if it is't too late

That sounds interesting --- you play the violin at work

I've been known to play at work myself, but trying to find a vacant room (surrounded by other vacant rooms) can be a problem. I live in dread of somebody hearing me hacking away at a piece. Playing through, while obviously much better if it's overheard, is not really the same as practice.