congaplace.com

I've been having weekly sessions on thursday with a group of friends, between 2-5 players.

We've been playing rumba and putting together other folkloric rhythms every week for about 9 months.
Congas, bells, shekeres, claves, palitos, all the parts usually..

I can say it has really helped my development being able to play in an informal setting with some skilled players..

Anyways, last week I finally found "THE NOTE! taped to my door!

Well it said the typical, too loud, too long, too distracting. Now I'm stuck to practicing with a shirt on my drums!

From a full ensemble playing at full volume to just my lonely self with a shirt!

Well I guess I had a good long run of it.........maybe it's time to move to a new apartment.....

Sorry to hear that BNBs. Sometimes a door closing on you will make way for another to open . I hope that is the case for you.
Take care.

Will.

Why not move the meetings to Golden Gate Park? What a beautiful setting for a session! Or, failing that, how about another park or plaza that might be closer to you?

aww...the dreaded note...

I live in a townhome that shares a wall on one side of the home, my neighbor has been pretty cool about my practicing. He says he can hear it, but as long as I don't practice at midnite than its cool. Geordie, I'm sure you are well within your right to practice, but maintaining a good relationship with your neighbors may go a long way...i don't know its tricky...what was the tone of the note, was it cordial or all out disrespectful?

check out the blog in the coming week or so, I am going to put out video in the same vein of what you are talking about.

GO TO A LOCAL COMMUNITY CENTER OR YMCA AND GET A ROOM TO DO IT....JOHNNY CONGA

I am blessed to live in the country side. The full band rehearse in my house garage & the only complain I have from my neighbors is why we did not practice more. We use to do it every week but with the price of gas going up every day we have cut it to twice a month thus having that complaint from the neighbors.

The main thing is don't get depressed and stop.. Find a way to make it happen,, then MAKE IT HAPPEN!


We're pulling for you!!

caballoballo wrote::shock: I am blessed to live in the country side. The full band rehearse in my house garage & the only complain I have from my neighbors is why we did not practice more. We use to do it every week but with the price of gas going up every day we have cut it to twice a month thus having that complaint from the neighbors.

caballoballo,

Not only are you blessed to be living in the countryside, but you're also blessed to live in a Latino place, like Puerto Rico, where the sound of congas and other percussion is music to people's ears and not noise.

Thanks for the support guys, I'll never quit, the shirt is keeping the noise down, but it's not the same.
Parks aren't the same either, there's something to be said about jamming with all the creature comforts
of home, without cops and homeless guys bugging you, or djembe players wanting to play along

Looking for a studio, or maybe a new place, or maybe sound proof this one..............................G!

Not only are you blessed to be living in the countryside, but you're also blessed to live in a Latino place, like Puerto Rico, where the sound of congas and other percussion is music to people's ears and not noise.

Hear, hear!

Just got to chime in here as this is a pet peeve of mine:

I've always found it really irritating that here in the States, it seems one can ride around town at all hours of the day and night on a motorcycle so loud it rattles windows and sets off car alarms (which can also go on constantly), or someone can be blasting a stereo or even a TV set well into the evening with no complaints, but let someone hear any "live" music (not just drums) coming from an apartment and it seems the cops are called instantly.

Thanks, I feel better now.

Hear hear!!!
These are very good rants! You try to play in the park and get assaulted by public noise officers, drunk homeless drummer wannabes, and djembe dudes. You try to play in your house and can't make a peep on the drums, while loud stereos seem to be just fine!
It's a friggen conspiracy against common sense and decency!

But, people's perceptions seem to be moldable over a long period of time.
Though I'm sure there are places where you couldn't change anyone's mind over a lifetime of constant effort,, we've found a change in our local park.

A decade ago, before I joined them, our group was shut down by officers who said they were getting complaints across the creek from the "old folks home". Dan always talks about how the public perception always seemed to be against them. However, there was a djembe and West African group trying to play there on other days of the week. I'd say they were probably lumped into the same catagory of "noise makers" by the complainers. Also, until only last year, we were constantly interrupted by drunk drummer wannabes that wanted to play something..
Now we rarely have that problem, and - knock on wood - we haven't been shut down in recent history.
I think what's going on is - we're training the public's perception. We're pretty consistant. We are going to the same spot in the park, and the cops know where we are,, the homeless crew knows where we are,, and passersby take note as they pass by. We have quite a large community of homeless folk now that are hanging across the lawn from us who often comment on how much they like us, and I actually recognize some of them as being the same guys that would stubbornly interrupt us in the past. They've learned!
We've had the cops come up and check us out, and sometimes talk to us for a minute or two, and they seem actually interested in our music.

This kind of thing can't really happen until you've played for years and people have gotten used to it. I think that when you have singing and a good groove, it's different than a square learner groove without song.... It just increases the odds of non-appreciaters..

I know a bunch of guys have hard wood floors with roommates below them..
It just won't work. I guess unless you've got really super thick spacing between floors, and who has that? Carpeting could make a huge difference. Also, when you're practicing - not playing - You should never expose it by opening the windows! People don't want to hear you practice!
Maybe Giovanni... But, not if you're only a few years into it!

Some thoughts.. Sorry for the ramble..

I recently saw a news clip saying that 'Frisco is starting to campaignin against noise pollution. Be aware, they might make it harder anywhere you go. But don't give up. Find a way!

I have counted more than 12 rumbas in the past 14 months that have been shut down by the police, including 2 in Arcata, California, 1 in Union Square in NYC, 1 in my own backyard in Teaneck, NJ on a Saturday evening, 1 in a local venue in lower Manhattan, plus almost every week in Central Park at 10 pm at the Sunday rumbas. The typical lame story the police give is always the same, regardless of location: "we got complaints, you gotta stop". The rumba they stopped in Union Square was across the street from a record store opening with huge subwoofers blasting rap music in the street that started after the cops tried to give us tickets. They didn't shut down the record store opening, and we had a bigger crowd. Tell me who can hear the drums from the middle of Central Park in NYC, at least a half mile to the nearest residential building. I can't even hear the drums in Central Park at the peak of the rumba when Iisten for them as I walk into the park, and I know what I am listening for. No, I don't believe real people call to complain. Now the yuppies who have recently bought expensive condos in central Harlem are complaining about drumming in Marcus Garvey Park (in the middle of Harlem). I remember drumming sessions 30 years ago in the same exact location, with over 100 drums (and on a good day, 3 or 4 drummers who actually knew how to play) and nobody ever called the police.

This seems to be a national trend increasing in the last few years. Estamos entrando en un nuevo tiempo de España, pero aqui mismo en los EEUU! Fight the Power!

jorge wrote:I have counted more than 12 rumbas in the past 14 months that have been shut down by the police, including 2 in Arcata, California, 1 in Union Square in NYC, 1 in my own backyard in Teaneck, NJ on a Saturday evening, 1 in a local venue in lower Manhattan, plus almost every week in Central Park at 10 pm at the Sunday rumbas. The typical lame story the police give is always the same, regardless of location: "we got complaints, you gotta stop".
This seems to be a national trend increasing in the last few years. Estamos entrando en un nuevo tiempo de España, pero aqui mismo en los EEUU! Fight the Power!

This is no good! We have a right to assemble!!! Whether we play music or not! A complaint should not be enough for shut-down, and a sound ordinance never be inforced when people are far enough from residential or business.. There needs to be a lawsuit and the press needs to join in!!! It's the most important illusion of freedom that should be clung to by the populace!

Wake up people!! This is no longer a democracy. Governments and their guns-for-hire can and will do anything they want regardless of the constitution, the Bill of Rights or what you perceive to be your rights as a citizen and human being. It's all over.