"TOO LOUD!!!" says my 4-year-old

[Waraba]

Hello. Those of you living in close quarters, or with offspring who mystifyingly shout, "NO DRUMS! NO DRUMS! I HATE DRUMS! I -- SAID -- NO -- DRUMS!!!!! STOOOOPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!", how do you cope with this? I have shoved pillows, djembe hats, & stuffed animals up the stem, which helps a little without compromising the feel or sound of the skin too much. Any other advice? Any commiseration?

[michi]

Play with a towel draped over the head. It muffles the sound quite a lot.

And, yes, my commiseration

Cheers,

Michi.

[Rhythm House Drums]

what?? I never get this... haha

Shut the door if you can, put a towel under the door, put a towel or shirt in the drum to mute the bass and a towel or shirt on the head to mute the attack. It will still be heard, but this helps a lot... try going to a park and drumming once a week to get it out of your system if you just can't do it at home. If you just have to, put a pillow in your lap and play that. I say pillow because I've gotten in trouble drumming on my pants. it's loud in the car I guess.

Dont buy the people in question a set of earplugs... and dont ask them to turn the TV down because "I'm trying to practice" right after they turn the volume up... haha.. for some reason that only works the other way around....

My favorite idea is to wear headphones or earplugs... and just pretend like you cant hear what is being said.

Seriously though.. it can cause a good imbalance in the lives of the ones around you.. and with you getting frustrated at them for never letting you play... It's best to talk about it, maybe set aside a time when you can play, if you miss the time, too bad..

[Beerfola]

Take up the saxophone and they will wish you were playing djembe again.
Charge them rent (remind them who pays the bills) and use the money to secure studio space.

[Michel]

Luckily when my kids go to school I'm able to play during schooltime. When they didn't, I sometimes gave them headphones and put them in front of the television.... Both happy!!

[Waraba]

I've tried the towel over the head, but he keeps taking it off.

[michi]

I've tried the towel over the head, but he keeps taking it off.

Try putting the towel over your own head instead. I do this sometimes during practice, when I can no longer bear to witness the mess I'm making of what I'm trying to learn

Cheers,

Michi.

[rachelnguyen]

Oh yeah,

My kids are a bit older, but it is still tough. They really don't love it when I practice.

Believe it or not, they are pretty good sleepers, so sometimes I wait til they go to bed then mute the drum, close a door or two and practice quietly.

For the full on experience I wait until they are out of the house. (Set up lunch lunch dates with mom for your drumphobic child?)

I'm feeling you, man.

Rachel

[e2c]

Ha! It's usually parents who are struggling with their offspring's love of drumset or rock guitar with the amp cranked or... But I can understand why people - kids very much included - would react that way to loud drumming, too. I really don't think I could stand listening to someone else practice. (And I mute some of my other instruments as a rule, rhythm bones in particular - to save my ears, but also because there's a whole different tonal quality that comes through when there's a piece of leather on one or both of the bones.)

Rachel, your post made me smile!

[rachelnguyen]

Today I came home with my teacher's ballet set of dun duns and spent a good part of the afternoon practicing Maraka. My younger son didn't seem to mind the bass as much as he does the djembe. More rhythmic, maybe?

[Djembe-nerd]

I have seen that too, when play in the Indian gigs, I don;t get much appreciated if I am only playing with tones and slaps, but when I add the Bass into the same measure, everyone comes by after and says that it was very nice.

I guess, most of the people just like to hear the down beat bass to feel the music.

[Waraba]

As a happy update, my 4-year-old has discovered that the djembe is NOT too loud if HE is the one playing. We had a nice few minutes together the other night taking turns calling and responding. Being 4, he had some crazy riffs with quite idiosyncratic microtiming. The next day at his preschool he dictated to his teacher that he likes "playing with my daddy-- drums!"

[EvanP]

Too funny!

[Marc_M]

I think that makes a great story in conflict resolution ! ! ! There's probably a great lesson in it for everyone. Thanks for the update.

[Waraba]

I think that makes a great story in conflict resolution ! ! ! There's probably a great lesson in it for everyone. Thanks for the update.

What are the unhappy smileys for?