Peaceful Practice: Solutions for Shared Spaces

"Can you do that somewhere else?  Why is it so loud?  Do you have to do that right now?"

Musicians make beautiful sound, but sometimes those sounds aren't as welcome as we'd all hope.  Let's be honest, listening to someone run scales for an hour is not as interesting as a Bach prelude or a Joplin rag.  But if practice makes perfect, how can we meet our housemates halfway to make sure everyone is happy?  Fortunately for families, roommates, and neighbors alike, there may be tools to tame the volume of the musician in your life.

Brass

Unless you like the idea of a morning bugle call to start the day, there are times when you'd rather not hear the full-volume sound of a trumpet in your home.  But don't stop practicing, try some of these out for the sake of your unwitting audience.

Looking for a simple way to turn the volume down on your trumpet, trombone, or French horn?  Try using a Sshhmute practice mute for a dramatic drop in loudness with minimal effect on playing resistance and feel.

If you want a fancier version of the Sshhmute concept with some extra features like headphones and reverb, you could try the Yamaha Silent Brass.  Essentially, it is a practice mute with a pickup element that provides a private headphone experience that sounds more like the full tone of your horn.

Woodwinds

Given the way clarinets and saxophones produce sound, this is a bit more difficult to solve with a mute.  However, there have been some innovative ideas developed to provide convenient and quite practice alternatives.

The Yamaha YDS-150 is a digital wind instrument that allows you to select different sounds, control the volume, and plug in headphones for private listening.

Percussion

Perhaps the most feared instrument by parents who worry about loud music practice in an already chaotic home, young drummers are often unfairly maligned for being noisy.  Try telling an oboe player to turn it down (just kidding, love my double reed friends).  Despite their reputation, basic percussion practice is one of the easiest and least expensive instruments to provide quiet practice tools.

A good, quiet practice pad is the easiest gift you can give to the parents of a drummer.  The On-Stage DFP2800 is a simple, 8 inch pad with a basic rubber surface that provides a natural-feeling rebound with very little volume.

Cymbals have always been a challenging part of drum set practice to mitigate, especially without compromising the feel and stick response.  The On-Stage Low Volume Cymbals are made to reduce the loudness of cymbal hits by 70%, sure to make it easier to live with a drummer. 

All joking aside, it's important to support the musicians in your home.  Young players who are developing the discipline of a personal practice routine especially need encouragement.  Work together with your musician to help them thrive and grow in their studies!