Is there such a thing as a quiet instrument?

[Malthus]

Hi everyone,

I've been searching for an instrument to play for ages and I'm about to give up. For one reason or another they are all (so far) unsuitable. Perhaps someone here knows one that overcomes the disadvantages that I'm facing.

Here's the big one: volume. Probably for the rest of my life I'll be stuck in places where I'll only be able to play at, say, 3am, with multiple people sleeping in other rooms only one thin wall away. I need an instrument that can sound nice at a volume that won't wake people up. Every brass instrument screams like a wounded elephant. Every woodwind plays at only two volumes, "squeak" if you don't blow hard enough and "piercing" if you do. Percussion is right out, and I'm really hoping not to have to settle for an electronic keyboard and headset which isn't an instrument, it's a computer pretending to be an instrument. I've tried strings, but so far only instruments like the autoharp where it's too hard to play a tune because you can't actually pluck one string at a time unless you've got fingers the size of toothpicks or your accuracy with a pick is so great that you could slice a fly in half by flinging a pick across the room at it. I'll add that one of the attractions of my latest failed attempt, the ocarina, other than the fact that it's cheap, is that they make multi-chambered ocarinas so that you can accompany yourself, since I'll always be playing alone.

Aren't there, somewhere on the earth, some instruments for which playing alone, quietly, is assumed to be the normal mode of playing, so that it isn't deliberately engineered to always be audible over a train wreck? The harp looks appealing, particularly since a rich harp player could buy a "double strung" harp and play multiple notes simultaneously. But I'm not spending hundreds on a cheap harp just to find out that plucking a string at 3am will make a noise so loud that the windows vibrate.

Is my next stop an electric guitar that makes no actual noise but synthesizes it through a sound chip and headphones? Seems to me I saw something like that somewhere once. That's not a really attractive option, but if it's the only one...

thank you,
Malthus

 

[Krummhorn]

Hi Malthus,

Firstly, welcome to the forum :wave: ... happy to have you as a member here and we hope you enjoy your time here.

You have an interesting dilemma, considering the late .. or rather .. early time that's allotted to play an instrument. Any acoustical instrument is going to disturb others so that basically leaves as the only option being electronic which can be played using headphones. Although you consider an electronic keyboard as "a computer pretending to be an instrument" this may be your only alternative.

Many instrumentalists use these electronic keyboards for practice, especially when traveling as taking one's piano with them isn't always a realistic option. The great organist, Virgil Fox, once told me "it isn't the instrument that matters - it is the repetition of the keys being played, the workout with the fingers, that matters the most." I had observed him once practicing on a small spinet organ.

I realize a synthesized keyboard isn't a 'true' instrument in of itself, but you can play to your hearts content and not disturb anyone with headphones on.

You do not mention what your background in music is or whether you have played an instrument in the past. We would need to know that as it will help others on this forum answer your query.

 

[teddy]

Hello Malthus and welcome to the forum.

When my youngest daughter was learning to play the violin we bought her an electric one. Played through headphones the sound was pleasing, but of course it was silent for practical purposes. We paid less than a hundred pounds for it new, and one would assume these must be available second hand as well

Best of luck

teddy

 

[Malthus]

Hi all,

Re. My background, I'm an unemployed computer scientist with no musical background at all. Although an assorted collection of siblings, cousins, uncles and so forth all play, compose and/or teach. When I get edgy about the future, like getting my own R&D company started, I get away from it by trying to learn something new. An acoustic instrument seems like a good idea. Unfortunately while I knew they could be played loudly, I didn't know until I tried how hard it is to play them softly. My knee-jerk, unfairly negative response to the keyboard really comes from playing a computer keyboard all day. After spending hours pressing buttons I'd really rather pluck a string or blow into a tube.
Then again, perhaps there are advantages to keyboards that I'm not aware of. If they can make sounds like a lot of different instruments then maybe I could play counterpoint with myself by playing two different instruments simultaneously. Sort of like Alan Parson on a budget. That might be interesting.

-Malthus

 

[teddy]

Try it. You may enjoy it

teddy

 

[GoneBaroque]

The Clavichord is a very quiet instrument, to the point that in two people are conversing in a small room while someone is playing you will not be able to hear the music.

 

[methodistgirl]

I was thinking about a keyboard with headphones. I did that
a lot when I lived with my mother. I wanted to stay quiet
and still hear my playing.
judy jennings

 

[John Watt]

I think Malthus is quietly configuring an unresolvable dilemma,
and that's before he starts trying to play any musical instrument.
I see his reference to Alan Parsons, having played his songs when they were on the charts.
Knowing someone who was one of the first to use a keyboard to produce himself,
with some session pros, might make the thought of manufacturing your own music easy.
Yeah, manufacturing your own music is so easy now I'm hearing more children from China than real bands.
Getting an instrument you can get your fingers into is something I'll agree with right away,
especially if you're trying to lose the feel of a computer keyboard.

Other than that, if you ever figure out if pianos are left or right-handed, let me know.

 

[simpleinstruments]

Hi everyone, I've been searching for an instrument to play for ages and I'm about to give up. For one reason or another they are all (so far) unsuitable. Perhaps someone here knows one that overcomes the disadvantages that I'm facing. Here's the big one: volume. Probably for the rest of my life I'll be stuck in places where I'll only be able to play at, say, 3am, with multiple people sleeping in other rooms only one thin wall away. I need an instrument that can sound nice at a volume that won't wake people up. Every brass instrument screams like a wounded elephant. Every woodwind plays at only two volumes, "squeak" if you don't blow hard enough and "piercing" if you do. Percussion is right out, and I'm really hoping not to have to settle for an electronic keyboard and headset which isn't an instrument, it's a computer pretending to be an instrument. I've tried strings, but so far only instruments like the autoharp where it's too hard to play a tune because you can't actually pluck one string at a time unless you've got fingers the size of toothpicks or your accuracy with a pick is so great that you could slice a fly in half by flinging a pick across the room at it. I'll add that one of the attractions of my latest failed attempt, the ocarina, other than the fact that it's cheap, is that they make multi-chambered ocarinas so that you can accompany yourself, since I'll always be playing alone. Aren't there, somewhere on the earth, some instruments for which playing alone, quietly, is assumed to be the normal mode of playing, so that it isn't deliberately engineered to always be audible over a train wreck? The harp looks appealing, particularly since a rich harp player could buy a "double strung" harp and play multiple notes simultaneously. But I'm not spending hundreds on a cheap harp just to find out that plucking a string at 3am will make a noise so loud that the windows vibrate. Is my next stop an electric guitar that makes no actual noise but synthesizes it through a sound chip and headphones? Seems to me I saw something like that somewhere once. That's not a really attractive option, but if it's the only one... thank you, Malthus

hi nice to meet you in this forums

 

[kola490p]

I'm also new to this forum. My best suggestion would be a Godin guitar. It is a real instrument. It reads vibrations from the strings and plays just like a normal electric guitar, but it usually has nylon strings so its extremely quiet. You can plug it into any effects system or amp and put some good quality headphones in the mix. It has a great sound. Not like alot of synthesized instruments do.