 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: LynnB
Date: 2002-07-23 20:15
Hi,
I was looking for suggestions on how I can keep practicing while I'm traveling. Haven't had to do this before and don't know if it's possible without distrubing the other guests. Thanks.
LynnB
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Author: Francesca
Date: 2002-07-23 20:25
From my own experience, hotels (and their patrons) don't mind if you practice during reasonable hours. Since most of the people are gone from about noon till 5, those are ok hours to pracitce in your room if you need to. Obviously, keep the time to a minimum. Also, a hotel is not the best place to start sight-reading pieces. ;-) Some hotels do have conference rooms, etc... they may allow you to use if they're not occupied. You'll just have to ask.
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2002-07-23 20:50
As Francesca said it's usually ok to practice in your room during reasonable hours in most hotels. If you want to use a conference room, just make sure that you can borrow it for free. One hotel charged me a fortune once for an hour or two because of this misunderstanding.
Alphie
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Author: Pam
Date: 2002-07-23 21:48
One solution I have found, unless you must stay in a hotel, is to look for cabins or cottages. More privacy, less chance to "bother" others.
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Author: nzdonald
Date: 2002-07-24 03:38
when my trio performed at Clarinetfest 2000 we flew in to the US on a monday afternoon and stayed our first night at Thunderbird Lodge (Norman, OK).... i asked for a room that didn't have any neighbours booked in so that i could practise..... i worked from about 9pm to 10.30, then got up early- went for a (humid) run and started practise at about 8am..... 30 minutes later a man appeared in the window waving at me- it was Jozeph Balogh!!!!!!! he and his wife had arrived and taken the room next door, and had gone to sleep the night before listening to me practising crazy modern music.... i was just a little embarrassed, but they seemed unconcerned and were most friendly about it!
when staying in a hotel, there is often a room that may be on a corner etc, if you ask about it sometimes they don't have a clue (or don't care) so stake the place out... look around. In Christchurch the motel the orchestra put me up in a year or so ago had a great room with no neighbours, and after i pestered them (i was, after all, there for several weeks) they moved me into this room.
donald
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Author: RogerD
Date: 2002-07-24 11:31
One thing you could do is practice without a reed. You can hear the air column changing lenght. Granted it would not let you work on tone, but you could work on fingerings and rhythm.
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Author: ken
Date: 2002-07-24 13:11
Conference rooms work nicely when available; another thing you could try if you've got wheels or access to them (call a cab) is find out (phone book or front desk) if there are any local high schools or colleges close-by...call the music departent and ask to borrow one of their practice rooms. Other options include, practicing on the bus at odd hours when no one's around, grabbing a room chair and use the back of an equipment truck if there's room, and weather permitting, locate a public park or forest preserve. Many of them have those pre-fab shelters with picnic tables or even a bench somewhere in the shade. I once was stuck in the middle of nowhere in Northeren Japan for over a week at a cheap hotel and had to settle practicing in the dugout of a public ball field. Where there's insanity, there's a way and place to practice. v/r KEN
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2002-07-24 13:43
Charlie Parker would practice down in the boiler room before gigs.
There must be some area of the hotel (or nearby school) with a fairly sound-tight space.
I bet the staff would love to hear you work out.
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Author: LynnB
Date: 2002-07-24 15:14
Thanks for all the great advice. It gives my loads of ideas!
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Author: John Kelly - Australia
Date: 2002-07-25 07:10
I believe that Woody Allen puts his clarinet under the bedclothes. I have tried this and it's reasonably effective but awkward - try using the closet [clothes that is, not WC] and shut your self in - re-surfacing every now and then for air.
Another method I use is to "hard blow" that is blow really hard and shut the reed on to the mouthpiece - it keeps the lip muscles strong.
Also try and "soft blow" very, very gently until just a whisper emerges - this way you can practise technique and keep muscle tone -it's reasonably hard to do.
And........if you have a car, go for a drive somewhere quiet and practice with all the windows shut - a word of advice if you do this - be choosey where you go - you don't want to be mistaken for a pervert and I guess LynnB you are female - but male clarinet players take note.
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Author: nzdonald
Date: 2002-07-25 20:20
wow, someone else who has had to practise while sitting in the passenger seat of the car! (i did this yesterday for example, to fill in an extra 20 min)
there is a story of someone doing this in a parking building in the US, and the cops thought it was someone about to top themselves (gun in mouth) and surrounded the car!
doanld
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2002-07-25 22:11
My previous teacher used to practice in the driver's seat of the car... while driving!! (I'm not kidding)
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-07-26 14:57
Actually -----
I used to drive to work, 3/4 hour each way. I took an old mouthpiece and barrel and a broken reed and held it in my mouth (supported only by my lips, in a double lip embouchure) for as long as possible as I drove. I got to where I could support it for about a minute.
I got some funny looks, but it was close enough to a cigar that I got away with it. It was amazingly good embouchure exercise.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-11-04 18:07
I thought I would revive this thread rather than start a new one. Here are a couple of excellent suggestions from the IDRS board:
Barry Tuckwell told us ages ago his trick. As a touring French horn soloist, he did a lot of his practice in hotels. He found that if he turned up the TV a little louder than normal, he could then practice with few complaints. It seems that hotel guests will tolerate TV sounds more than a lone instrument practicing.
-----
I've practiced in the laundry room at a hotel. The humidity was great!
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-11-05 02:16
With a Hotel Room you never know who is trying to sleep in the room next to you, above, or below.
I would never play full volume in a hotel room regardless of time. Try to get into one of their convention rooms, etc so that you won't bother anybody.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-11-05 04:18
If the weather's fine, practice outside in a park or lonely stretch of grass. It's a change of scenery, the birds accompany you (or fly very far away), and it helps to practice those performance jitters since people will undoubtedly come over to listen.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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