 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: The Pin
Date: 2014-01-12 05:26
I had a pet dog for 14 years and she would sleep at my feet when I practiced. Just got a new puppy (5 mos) and she cries, barks, and acts frantic when I play even very soft passages. I thought she might be sensitive to the sound but if she gets distracted with something like a chew toy she does not seem to be bothered. No matter where I practice in the house she comes running when I play. Any thoughts? Yes the new dog may be a more discerning critic than the first but really, something has to give.
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2014-01-12 05:31
My cats leave the room when I practice sustained altissimo tones. They don't run but they do walk away without any explanation. I assume it has to do with their hearing sensitivity and not my intonation problems.
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2014-01-12 00:35
Our mini-poodle, Beau, has done this all his life (he's now almost 5 years old). I have to practice in one end of the house, while my wife and Beau are in the other end of the house with 2 doors closed between us.
I'm still unsure of the reason he howls, but it is truly unnerving to him. He's definitely not just "singing along"...he hates it.
My wife has 2 theories: She thinks it's either because he thinks I'm in some kind of trouble, or it's hurting his ears. When he's close enough to hear me, then he starts a very high-pitched howl, almost like he's crying, and when my wife opens my door and shows him I'm okay, he jumps onto my lap and starts licking me like crazy.
I pretty much gave up the battle of trying to show him nothing was really wrong ;^)
CarlT
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2014-01-12 06:28
My dog, is a cross silky haired terrier ( I think) , a Bitsa breed. A bitsa this & a bitsa that. When I play my Clarinet or Flute she will start to howl but she doesn't walk away. It's a bit of a mystery to me. Is it hurting her ears ? Is she picking up very high harmonics that we humans don't hear ? Whatever it is , she's not 'singing ' along with me as I can detect a slight 'look' of distress but she sometimes wags her tail a bit.
I read somewhere that wolves use howling to located each others position as the 'howl' sound can travel a considerable distance. Could it be a type of wolf GPS ?
When your dog hears the high-pitched sound of music, perhaps it triggers the howling instinct it's retained from it's wolf ancestors.
Skyfacer
Post Edited (2014-01-12 06:49)
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2014-01-12 08:23
The only note my German Shepard did not like was the low E on my Bb. He would run away from the room at lightening speed.
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2014-01-12 13:24
Attachment: 04112011 013.jpg (540k)
The only note my German Shepard did not like was the low E on my Bb. He would run away from the room at lightening speed.
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Author: SchwarzKlarinette
Date: 2014-01-12 08:33
I've a two-year old dog who does the same thing. He also happens to be a coward in just about every regard, however, in his particular case. He cannot stand the sound of clarinet. And it's clarinet in particular. There is no other instrument which will bother him aside from my clarinet playing.
I think I know what your problem is and have some advice to give you; if you just got your new puppy and you are the sole person around whom it spends most of its day, when you practice, you are isolating yourself from it. If it comes running to you, it is because it cannot stand to be apart from you as it is still imprinting onto you.
If you do not nip this behavior in the bud now, you're unlikely to ever be able to get it to stop in the future. I used to lock my puppy in its kennel when I would go and practice clarinet. He hated it and would scream and whine (sounding absurdly similar to a monkey), and would not cease doing so until I would let him out. He now howls if he hears clarinet playing, and whines and screams, making sounds that no grown dog should be making. He sounds like a puppy. It's so egregious that if I am listening to a recording of any clarinet repertoire aloud, even, he begins doing this and there is absolutely nothing I can do to make him stop.
It's incredibly annoying and, as I said, something that you're going to want to actively put a stop to, lest you have this problem for as long as you have your dog. Glück.
"Kein' Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden, die unsrer verglichen kann werden."
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Author: Paula S
Date: 2014-01-12 14:56
I have a number of cats. Only one is not overkeen on the clarinet and that is when myself or someone on a recording plays altissimo notes. One of my Persian Exotic cats just loves the clarinet and comes to sit next to me or tries to get on my lap when I play. She even likes my Eefer! If I put a recording of clarinet music on or a video on You Tube on she will will go and sit right next to the speaker or sit on the computer key board. She has certain favourite pieces and loves this one even when I play it ( even the alt A). I think Sabine Grofmeier does it rather better than me though ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q4KXdxnYIU
I've just clicked this link to play and she has come running to listen :-)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2014-01-12 10:33
My dog (three years old) doesn't do that but usually walks away if I play. Not always but most of the time. The bass clarinet seems to be more scary than soprano but it can change.
I'm wondering if it's possible to teach them not to do it. My dog howls only when she is in the bedroom without me and my phone rings. It's like she is calling me to let me know about the phone call... or she just doesn't like it.
If, when it happens, you teach your dog to be quiet, then rewards her when she is quiet, it might work. I'm not a dog trainer or anything, but I taught my dog everything she needed to know (but not anything silly like giving their hand, etc., just important things).
I don't know for sure, but it sounds like something that is probably possible to teach them. What I can say is that whenever I see people try to teach or discipline their dogs, by far in most cases it looks like they are doing it wrong... and in almost all of those cases, they are sure they are doing it right... so maybe ask a "professional" trainer?
Your dog is very young but can probably start learning these things now and it's especially good if she gets used to certain things already IMO.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2014-01-12 13:06
My cat ignores it when I play the clarinet, but runs outside when I play the flute. Everyone's a critic!
Tony F.
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2014-01-12 17:00
Tony, Beacham had a famous joke about a misbehaving horse on stage and a music critic.
richard smith
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2014-01-12 20:25
None of you are looking in the right direction. Like it's the animal's problem because they are being critical of your playing. Come on, Man!
I had a dog that was very, very disturbed with my saxophone playing. At first I was like you, imagining the poor dog was just over doing her fault-finding. But then I took it to heart and worked to play in a more velvety tone. After that, she was happy to be around while I played.
No, folks, It is YOU!
Maybe you do not have the animal pleasing warm, woody, covered, Brahms-like, non-shrieking, velvety tone. Or maybe your pitch varies from the dog and cat approved A 440. Do not look to the critic to make improvements. It is you!
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: MSK
Date: 2014-01-12 20:27
My teenage years dog always howled when I played any note above clarion G on clarinet or equivalent on violin. She was OK with high notes on piano. Weather permitting, she went outside when I practiced. Otherwise she went in the basement. Eventually I got used to her howling and she got used to me enough to only howl with the highest notes.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2014-01-13 01:29
Maybe practicing in a different room would help. When I was a kid, my brother's runt Cocker Spaniel would sing along if either of us played the clarinet in the living room, especially if one of us sat at the piano. She also "sang" with singers.
Silkie didn't seem distressed at all. I had the impression she was engaging in the group howl of the wolves. (Wishful thinking on her part ....) Climbing stairs was hard for her. My bedroom was upstairs. If I practiced in my bedroom with the door shut, she kept her mouth shut. My brother's bedroom was downstairs, but he enjoyed the canine chorus.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: ned
Date: 2014-01-13 01:37
''...No matter where I practice in the house she comes running when I play. Any thoughts?''
I can't believe I'm reading this stuff really. Are you beholden to an animal?
Put the bloody thing outside...I see that you are somewhere near Pittsburgh so make sure the kennel is warm.
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2014-01-13 04:55
Quote Johng :- "None of you are looking in the right direction. Like it's the animal's problem because they are being critical of your playing. Come on, Man"!
There are so many 'wrongs' in the statement , it's 'breathtaking' , or to put it another way, it's "Howlingly' incorrect.
Or perhaps it was an anthropomorphic statement.
Skyfacer
Post Edited (2014-01-13 00:01)
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2014-01-13 06:35
My 3.5 year old couldn't handle the sound when he was young. I had to practice around his sleep schedule.
My 5 month old can fall asleep in her chair -- 6 feet away. Nope -- I'm not playing pianissimo!
Neither are animals. They are legal dependents though!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2014-01-13 16:38
Our puppy hates the bassoon...soon after we got her, I began practicing while she and my husband were in the other room. I was told she peed on the floor and hid...
Our dog that died in November loved the bassoon, and would sit in my lap when I played it...she didn't like John Cage or Eb Clarinet though...
Maybe getting him a chew toy is the option, since it seemed to work.
Good luck!
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-01-14 04:39
Take time to get the puppy used to it.
Bring out the clarinet, give puppy a treat. Put it back. Later on, bring it out, give puppy a treat. Put it back. Eventually, puppy will be so happy to see that darned clarinet.
Then work on playing a passage and giving a treat. Then stop treating when you stop playing. Then play and give a treat.
Eventually that puppy will LOVE your clarinet playing!
US Army Japan Band
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Author: BobD
Date: 2014-01-14 22:35
The subject seems to be taken lightly but I believe the animals are experiencing pain similar to what a human would experience by a loud siren.
Bob Draznik
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Author: gsurosey
Date: 2014-01-16 22:41
I think it's noise sensitivity (higher pitches and/or sheer volume). When I lived with my dad, there were two things that made my dog howl. One was my clarinet playing (particular my eefer). The other was the fire siren (the fire house is right across the street).
----------
Rachel
Clarinet Stash:
Bb/A: Buffet R13
Eb: Bundy
Bass: Royal Global Max
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-01-17 21:49
Quote:
The subject seems to be taken lightly but I believe the animals are experiencing pain similar to what a human would experience by a loud siren.
Bob Draznik
Perhaps, perhaps not.
In the dog world, puppies elicit a high pitch whimper when threatened or hurt. This is a signal for the other puppies or dogs to "leave me alone". If you notice, when dogs play rough, if one gets TOO rough, the other will whimper at a high pitch, and the one that was playing rough will typically back down and back away. It's a signal to "stop". Puppies also do this when unsure, scared, etc.
My dogs listen to me play all the time, at all pitches, so I doubt it is any MORE painful for them to hear a clarinet play than someone else. Keep in mind, the original poster also specified " when I play even very soft passages".
This leads me to believe that the puppy doesn't understand or accept or maybe is just very unsure about the sound of the clarinet, and so is acting up, whimpering, etc. for it to "stop" so it can get back to what's comfortable for it (NO noise, or the normal ambient noise it is used to). If the original poster DOES stop every time the dog whimpers, acts frantic, etc., it is REINFORCING the undesired behavior. He/she is unkowingly TEACHING the dog, "If you want me to stop playing clarinet (or whatever brings out this behavior), act frantic enough and it'll stop." It's exhibiting the same behaviors my puppy did when I used to vacuum, and I suggested desensitizing it the same way I did with the vacuum. My dog now has no fear of the vacuum.
It's very common in dogs that bark at cop sirens, bark at people at the fence, etc. If a dog barks and a person crosses the street or backs away from the dog, and the siren goes away (as it always does since it's almost always cruising PAST your house) it's teaching the dog, "If I bark, these people will cross the street or walk away from me, and that siren will stop if I keep barking." You need to change that by either redirecting the dog with another command or take away it's attention. You hear the siren, or you see the dog pop up and stare at the door cause it THINKS the siren is coming, and you immediately distract it with a command or treat, drawing its focus away from whatever makes it bark or whimper. Then one of two things happens. If you always make it sit or lay down when a siren comes down the street, it associates the siren with the command "lay down" and will do it on it's own (handy for teaching dogs to sit or lay down when the doorbell rings instead of them RUNNING to the door!). If you simply distract it and turn the focus to something else, it will stop associating the sound of the siren with anxiety, and associate it with playtime, or treats, or whatever you use to the distract it, and the siren will no longer bring up the anxious behavior.
The solution I proposed is switching the dog's mentality from fearing the clarinet to welcoming the clarinet. Dog's can be trained to do amazing things and are very perceptive. With enough patience and treats, you could even teach a dog to respond to various clarinet "licks" to do certain tricks. You could teach a dog to sit when you play a fast triplet. You could teach a dog to speak when it hears a low tone. Anything, really., We just CHOOSE to use the words "sit" and "speak" for our convenience. Myself, I chose hand signals AND words, as dogs are SO perceptive, they get confused if I change the speed or pitch drastically when saying "sit", but they ALWAYS recognize a consistent hand signal.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
Post Edited (2014-01-18 02:53)
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Author: The Pin
Date: 2014-01-18 20:45
Thanks sfalexi for your response and everyone who chose to respond. Since my original post I have distracted my dog with chew toys when practicing and have been able to play for up to 45 minutes without interruption. I feel that it's just a matter of time until I can play 2-3 hours without any crying. Thanks again to all.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2014-01-19 03:48
Perhaps your dog will be deaf by then.
Bob Draznik
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Author: ned
Date: 2014-01-18 23:52
''The subject seems to be taken lightly but I believe the animals are experiencing pain similar to what a human would experience by a loud siren.''
Hi Bob,
You could be right actually, but then...dogs don't think of US when they bark endlessly in the dead of night.
chrs JK
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-01-19 05:33
Don't forget, the original poster DID say it whimpers even when he/she plays very softly. That to me is a dead accurate sign that it's not pain. Just more of fear/anxiety.
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Bruno
Date: 2014-01-19 07:17
Giving his very first public performance, a young violinist noticed a man in the second row crying. After the performance he went down. "I couldn't help noticing that you were crying during my performance. Are you a music lover?"
The man said, "No, I'm a violinist."
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2014-01-19 10:14
From the Minnesota Star Tribune:
"Q: My two grade-school children are in band this year and are taking lessons on the clarinet and saxophone. Every time they practice at home, however, the dog howls until they stop. What causes this? What can we do about it?
A: Don't worry, the dog isn't in pain. And the dog isn't criticizing the musicians.
Howling is a communication behavior, not a pain response, said Terri Derr, veterinarian at the Animal Care Clinic in Richfield.
The sound of the instrument reminds the dog's auditory system of another dog howling, so the dog does the neighborly thing and joins in, she said. This behavior often gets a gratifying response from nearby humans, which reinforces the howling behavior.
Instead of howling, some dogs whine or moan in response to music. Derr said that unless the dog crouches at the same time or tries to get away from the sound, whining is a form of communication, not an indication of pain.
Whining or howling, the behavior varies from dog to dog, with some subtle breed differences. German shepherds, for example, are notorious whiners, whereas northern breeds, such as the husky, are howlers.
The dog may just get used to the music and stop its howling. If you don't want to wait and see if that happens, keep the young musicians and the dog as far apart as possible during practice times."
The end.
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Author: JonTheReeds
Date: 2014-01-19 13:27
My cat hates the sound of my clarinet. As soon as I start putting it together she leaves the room. I'm quite willing to accept it's my poor tone and intonation
:o)
--------------------------------------
The older I get, the better I was
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2014-01-19 18:09
Shadow Cat, r.i.p., hated high-pitched instruments. All I had to do was say, "Would you like to hear the clarinet?" -- a polite invitation by way of a warning -- and she'd stomp away down the stairs. And it wasn't just a critique of my amateur playing, because she was rather pointedly rude to more than one pro musician as well.
Young Jane Feline thinks clarinets of all sizes are fascinating implements. Every few weeks, she gets it into her clever little brain to stick her head up the bell and try to Sherlock out who's up there making that noise. FWIW, a cat-head up the bell lowers the note by half a tone, if she jams her snout in there right up to the ears. On the whole, I'd rather she didn't, because it's difficult to laugh and practice at the same time. She never howls, however.
My experience with dogs agrees with the comment from Terri Derr, veterinarian at the Animal Care Clinic in Richfield who responded to the query in the Minnesota Star Tribune (quoted above). I had the impression that my brother's small dog wasn't distressed or in pain when she howled along with singers and musical instruments. She howled with the piano sometimes, too -- not always, but the family noticed she did it more often with pieces involving long tones and big chords. The more sonority, the more howls. She howled more when my brother switched to bass clarinet. She looked as if she enjoyed herself. Instead of leaving the room, she'd come from another part of the house and park herself right underneath the piano (a baby grand).
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2014-01-23 05:20
I have 3 cats. Two of them don't like me playing much of anything. The other one is a critic, and only likes good music, whether live or recorded. He will sometimes put up with my playing. None of them like my saxophone playing (coincidentally, or not coincidentally, neither do I). The critic will stay in the room if I play the clarinet nicely, not too loud, and not too high. He likes it if I improvise a little song especially for him. The biggest surprise however is that none of them seem to mind my recent attempts to learn the trumpet. It's like they don't even notice. My range is still very small, so that may have something to do with it, but I think that they find the high partials of the reed instruments annoying or painful, while lower partials predominate in the trumpet.
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The Clarinet Pages
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