Creating a practice environment

[Baron]

Hi folks - first post for me...  I've been lurking for about a year and figure it's time to say hello. I'm returning to playing after a 32 year hiatus; seems to be a common theme with this crowd.

After renting a truly dreadful horn for about 6 months I've convinced myself I can still play and have decided to jump in with both feet. I've signed up with a local community band and have recently ordered a new instrument. I also have the good fortune to be in Denton, Tx and am anticipating having access to some truly good Euph players from UNT for private lessons.

I'm looking at doing this right, and one of things I'm wanting to do is to create a very good practice environment for myself and am looking for suggestions and ideas about what makes a good place to work.  What equipment is useful, what's superfluous?  What kind of room works well? Recording gear? Sound playback for demonstrations and play along? I'm really trying to let my mind run a bit and do it much better than I ever did as a young and relatively lazy student.  

[RickF]

Creating a practice environment

Hi Baron,

Welcome to Dave Werden's forum.

I too had over 30 years of not playing, so welcome back. I assume you live in a house vs apartment? Hope you don't have to worry about 'close neighbors' and need to use a mute.

Until my wife retired from teaching, I liked to use my living room to practice because of the vaulted ceiling. The sound is better with more room above the bell. Now I use our master bedroom -- which is a good size. I use a good music stand (Manhasset) and also use a stand light so I can see the notes better (just turned 64 and my eyes aren't getting better with age). I always have a tuner/metronome on the stand along my music. Don't forget to put a towel or newspaper on the floor to catch water when emptying slides, etc.

When I'm working on a solo, I sometimes use the master bathroom where the acoustics are better due to the tile. Our living room and bedroom are carpeted so that soaks up some sound.

If you have ceiling fan overhead, you'll quickly notice that having that on won't help your sound.

I'm sure others will chime in here with their suggestions. Welcome back to playing.

[coeuphplayer]

Creating a practice environment

Tips that have been beneficial to me are to occasionally play something you have memorized in the dark. This allows you to focus on nothing but sound. Playing in front of a mirror can also be revealing :-) watching facial muscles, embouchure, etc.

[prototypedenNIS]

Creating a practice environment

I still dream of my space room.
Small room, not broom closet small, but maybe too small to put a bed in.
Digital piano tucked away to the side.
Sound proofing behind the walls.
Music stand, 2 stand lights.
Black walls with little white specks.
2 light bulbs on the ceiling.

Both lights, 1 black light, one regular incandescent.

I am one with the universe.
Or I would be...

[Baron]

Creating a practice environment

Thought I'd let this one percolate for a couple of days... pretty quiet still. So, what I have so far is a stand in a large bedroom with a vaulted ceiling. An area in the room with a more standard ceiling is less cramped, as with Rick's experience, I find the sound better with more height overhead.

I've been using a digital tuner for tuning and for setting tempi until I can get those re-established in my cobwebbed head, and I've got a computer with a decent set of speakers set up in a different room, along with mics, mixer and consumer grade video gear. That room, however is all hard surfaces (lots of glass and concrete, so the acoustics are pretty harsh. It's more of a video edit suite than a practice area. I like using the computer for digital playback of others playing pieces I'm working up and other related stuff and for recording of my own work as I go through it.

I like the piano idea, and can see the value to that.

[Dieter]

Creating a practice environment

Welcome to the forum Baron!

It seems that the area you live in has a high humidity, so it would not hurt to install an air conditioning unit to keep the (storage) room as dry as possible. Humid air supports the development of some fine micro-biotopes inside the instrument's tubing, and that would be a pitty for your new instrument.

For the sound attenuation and the peace with your neighbours: cork is a nice alternative acoustic material and very easy to maintain as it is dustfree and cleanable with water and soap.

And that digital piano is indeed a great help: I use my daughter's keybord as a drone to play against (good for your tone and interval accuracy) by putting something heavy on a key. That keyboard (a Yamaha something) is also able to give me chords, which could help you to develop your improvising skills and feeling for notes. However, it takes some time to program modulations when you use this method...

Success with your comeback!

[RWiegand]

Creating a practice environment

From RickF "... Don't forget to put a towel or newspaper on the floor to catch water when emptying slides, etc."

I use a spittoon / cuspidor to empty slides and water keys. Honestly this was my instructor's idea and I have one for practice and one for rehearsals. I use a well made, weighted, relativelly small, covered plastic jugs for a reasonable basic price ($19.95+) called Mud Jug (not an add, but they work great for me). Google will find them for you.

[Baron]

Creating a practice environment

Originally posted by: RWiegand I use a spittoon / cuspidor to empty slides and water keys.

LOVE it! That's one I wouldn't have thought of. I think I'll stick with the towel, but this one is great!