Practice while at work?

fuzzyjon79 · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 5:53 am Post subject:

Just curious to see how many, if any, people are able to practice at their workplace? Obviously if you're a band directory or play professionally for a living then the answer would be yes, but are there any people outside the music business that are able to practice while they're at work? I'm a computer tech and find some down time here and there to take my horn to work and practice while no one is around. Anyone else?

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stukvalve · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 6:36 am Post subject:

yeah man! i work at the giftshop at the hilton in downtown jacksonville.
the job is cake. i sit behind a counter, and i will go sometimes one to two hours without seeing anyone. i practice there all the time. sometimes ill take my harmon mute out and just play like im at a hall at school. its a great feeling to be on the clock and just be practicing.
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_trumpetgod_02 · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 8:53 am Post subject:

Hey,

Yeah man! I used to work at Sam Ash in the Band & Orchestral Dept. They almost encouraged it. It would bring in some of the people that "didn't quite know we sold band stuff". Attracted some people back our way. Made it easy to sell some MPC's that way too.

Nick
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_Don Herman · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 11:15 am Post subject:

I practice in my truck outside when I can. Inside would be a problem (no soundproofing, and dropped ceilings with nice resonant space above to send the sound from one end to the other).
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Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

Palestrina · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 11:18 am Post subject:

Yeah, I practice at work (a school) when I can. It's getting harder to find the time! Can't wait 'till summer, when I can really blast my chops back into shape!

Keith E Miland · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 12:14 pm Post subject:

I am fortunate to be able to work out of my home at least 3 days a week. I can sneak in some practice time around the lunch hour and on good days I can get in 3-20 minute sessions without getting too many phone calls. I wait untill noon because I'm doing Causo first thing and don't want to be interepted by a call durring those exercises. It's amazing that calls only come at the most inoportune times. I can guarantee that I will get a phone call is when I hit the bathroom. I carry my cell and cordless in there.

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Keith E Miland
Formerly brassbandplayer

WT Flugel/FO5
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stukvalve · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 2:35 pm Post subject:

im tellin you guys!
get a weekend job at a slow hotel in a giftshop. its great! man, its perfect for trumpeters, because you have tons of time to practice. its just a bad sign when you actually start getting angry at customers for coming in the shop when you are focused. i have actually brought a music stand in there and my minidisc and actually shed hard last week, because it was so slow. and i walked away with 8 hours of work, and way better at trumpet. heck of a deal! -max-

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I AM THE STUKVALVE

[ This Message was edited by: stukvalve on 2003-05-15 17:35 ]

trumpetdiva1 · Posted: Fri May 16, 2003 8:49 am Post subject:

I only wish that I could practice at work. You see I work in a library and it must be quiet most of the time.

rafq · Posted: Tue May 20, 2003 11:45 am Post subject:

I also work in a library. I spend my lunch hour practicing on the roof of the parking structure....some of the people in the building I work in call me "trumpeter on the rooftop"

clarion89 · Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 8:32 am Post subject:

I usually practice at work during my lunch break. I usually just a do a warm-up and some other stuff, because I usually have students coming down during lunch for extra musical activities. I usually enjoy the time to get on the horn during the day. No one complains because they have no problem with music coming out of the music room.
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Matt Wirfel
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Jarrett Ellis · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Posts: 649

I practice at work everyday.... wait ... Im in the Army Band... but I can tie into what you guys are saying... I grab practice all the time in my room... outside whatever... Sometimes it's funny to play retreat outside at 4 o clock and see people scramble....
-J

Horn of Praise · Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 4:19 pm Post subject:

I practice at work (after work). The company I work for operates out of three separate buildings. The smallest one (approximately 4,000 square feet) is unofficially mine. I prefer the acoustics of a larger room. I play for about thirty minutes and head home. It's perfect for me.
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PAUL NELSON - Eclipse White Lightning / Getzen Eterna 900 Classic / Monette B4LD / Blue Juice

davidquinlan · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 2:46 am Post subject:

As I work from home, I suppose I practice when I'm both at work, and at home

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David Quinlan

walter · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 7:53 am Post subject:

Nobody has mentioned all of the relatively quiet ways that a trumpeter can practice almost anytime, anywhere:

Practicing fingering exercises such as scales, Clarke studies, even listening to intervals in your head while doing the correct fingerings. You can do this while watching TV or a movie, talking with other people, and just about any other non-intimate activity.
Practicing double and triple tonguing quietly. This is especially good while walking, because your pace acts as a metronone; but it can be done in virtually any other situation ... including intimate activity.
Buzzing, even for only a few seconds is possible almost anywhere: while stopped at a stoplight, while digging a grave, while riding in an elevator (raising and lowering the pitch to match your movements) ... the possibilities are endless.

None of these activities requires a really good trumpet or the latest fashion in mouthpieces. In fact, you can work up your skills on "air-trumpet" to be among the best!!!

Cool or what?

riffdawg2000 · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 7:57 am Post subject:

Does anyone else 'catch' themselves fingering scales or pieces (Hummel for me) while just walking around..in the car...etc??

Hmmmm, love that subconscious ....
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Joel Thomas

trompetita · Regular Member Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 40

I think that is cool that you guys can practice at work. I work at a swimming pool as a lifeguard. I would be fired, I'm sure, if I practiced with my horn on my breaks. Oh well. I'll just have to wait until I get home or try those other methods. I like the buzzing one. I do that sometimes

Though, I do get a few stares from people.

When I am at college, and the music building and all of the other non-living areas are closed, I go into the dorm kitchen with my practice mute. That usually is okay until someone wants to make oatmeal or something.

eric_navy · Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:49 pm Post subject:

I'm stationed on a small navy ship, which wouldn't seem to be a good place to practice, but the aft steering gear room works pretty well. It's pretty hot down there and the hydraulic pumps can be a little noisy, so not ideal, but it is an okay place to get a few notes in if there are no other alternatives. In port I take my horn to work in the morning and go down there during lunch. Underway the schedule is unpredictable, so 30 minutes to an hour between watches when nothing is going on does the trick. Not an ideal setup, but definitely better than nothing.
-Eric

PowerSpectrum · Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:05 am Post subject:

Where I'm working there's absolutely no possibility to have a room with no people
during rest times. All open space or meeting rooms are full of people any time.

We are now in 2004 and while it's possible to order shares (I did for Atmel Corporation, but it was not a good idea)
by sitting on the toilets and using my mobile phone over an internet gateway protocol,
it's still not possible to play the trumpet without risks at work.

Here's my experience:

2 years ago I started MPC buzzing during working hours.
very often the database I request information from
is very lazzy and time is not unlimited in a trumpeters life. So I decided to use
this dead time for buzzing. (as well as the meetings for lip clamp or pen exercise
and walking in the corridors for breathing exercises...)

I must add that I came back to trumpet playing as I stopped smoking.
The trumpet was the therapy I choose to stop the cigarette
and it worked perfectly, excepted that I became addictive to it and to MPC buzzing
during working hours. The fact I was surrounded of colleagues could not stop me.

Everything went right for some time. The colleagues where pleased to work with such
an "atypical" guy as they called me, and I was about to become a phenomema, even giving gigs
on the MPC during coffee breaks sometimes giving gigs at work with MPC and pneumatic tubing laying
around. It really was a great time!

After several weeks a senior manager located (by ear) the funny noise and had a spy like
sideway look in my direction each time I started to buzz.
The problem was he couldn't see the MPC since it was hidden by the computer screen
in front of me. I saw that he strongly suspected me but...he still had some doubts.

Some time later a second guy brought also his MPC and started to buzz.
The senior manager looked in my direction as usual, with his now well trained sideway look.
(I hope he's optical nerve didn't suffer too much)
The other guy buzzing did it in such a loud way that several people stopped to
work, laughing and joking, most of them looking also at my desk as they suspected me too.
I saw the senior manager looking at me very directly as if he was decided to come to me for a little discussion.
At this moment I stand up as if nothing happened to go out the hall as the other guy continued to buzz very loud!

The manager's look became instantly so weird, I've never seen someone with this facial expression.
I think he had very very hard time to figure out who it was and what it really was...

By the way: I stopped doing it during working hours form that date...!

EddieLewis · Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 11:14 pm Post subject:

When I used to work at UHAUL, in Skokie Ill, I used to get to work early and practice in the storage rooms in back. Then I practiced for lunch and maybe a little bit more during the rest of the day, whenever things slowed down.

Skeetpf · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 5:14 pm Post subject:

I work at a High School and practice nearly every day in the rifle range during lunch. Generally I do the Schlossberg exercises in the beginning of the book for about 1/2 hour.

Skeetpf

[ This Message was edited by: Skeetpf on 2004-08-03 20:15 ]