Hello, this is Mr.I of Shizuka Co., Ltd..

Today`s article is about practice environment of musical instruments.
※original article in Japanese (日本語の記事)

In what place do you practice bands and musical instruments? I think that there are various places such as home, karaoke room, outdoors, but in general it is common to use a “music studio” for rent.

Actually this practice at the “music studio” may make your performance getting worse without noticing! However, you may not be convinced if I say this so suddenly. You may think that it is impossible for players to become bad at all despite practicing musical instruments.

Avoid practicing in a sound resonance environment

As mentioned above, the theory that performance will be poor in the studio may be a bit aggressive expression. Strictly speaking, the practice of instruments and songs in the “sound resonating environment” will interfere with the progress.

In a sound-resonating environment, the sounds mix together, hiding the fine misalignment of pitch and timbre. For example, when playing multiple instruments such as a band or ensemble, this becomes prominent. When the sound echoes, the part that you can not hear will come out. When an unheard part comes out, human corrects that part without permission in the brain and interprets it as a convenient one. An interpretation that you are performing well. This is similar to a phenomenon in which the impression of your face when looking in the mirror (state with correction by the brain) and your face when looking at the picture (state without correction by the brain) are different.

Practice environment conditions suitable for progress

Therefore, there is no problem with practice in the studio itself, but we have to think about choosing that studio environment.  

There are two conditions that are suitable for practice. One is that the sound is difficult to echo (a sound dead environment). In the studio where sound absorbing material is tightly applied to a wide room, wall and ceiling, it is difficult for the sound to echo, so you can listen to your performance firmly. As soon as you notice the coarse performance, you will be able to easily find the points to improve. On the contrary, it is better to avoid it as a place to practice musical instruments, since narrow places and dance studio with flooring boards tend to reflect sounds easily.

The second condition is that it is easy to monitor. Monitoring, that is, the state of each other ‘s instruments is easy to hear. Let’s practice in a good monitoring environment by selecting a studio that is easy to set the speaker / amplifier and instrument itself (directional adjustment etc). If you notice the bad part of the members and colleagues, it will lead to improvements, which also leads to strengthening your ears by pointing out that way. 

Based on the above, if you can choose the environment correctly, there will be no obstacles to progress and I think that the performance will become better every time you enter the studio. Good Luck!