Kickin’ out the Jams

 

Hey there all you renters, landlords and property owners. This week on the rant, we’re here to talk to those of you with songs in your heart.  The musically inclined individuals among you, from the classical junkies to the deadheads to the crate-diggers and record spinners, should listen well, listen with your eyeballs to this edition of the Hometown Rant, where serenade you with the highs and the lows of playing music in a rented house, apartment, condo, yurt or houseboat.

Any good musician knows you have to practice. Quite a lot, actually, if you want to get to be a good musician. Part of practicing music is playing the same thing over and over again, even if you sound bad the first couple hundred times. Bottom line is, you’re going to be making a lot of noise. This is something you’re going to have to take into account if you’re a musician looking for a rental property. If you’re a landlord, this is something you may want to take into account when deciding between potential tenants and advertising your rental property.

As a renter, you’ll need to think about what instrument it is that you play. Certain instruments will require more planning and foresight than others. If you play the piano, you may want to look for properties that have a piano in them already. By the same token, landlords who have pianos should advertise it when posting about the rental property in question. Wouldn’t you rather have a tenant practicing Thelonious Monk instead of using it as a weird, kitschy quasi-mantlepiece? Pianists/tenants who are looking for an instrument might consider getting a nice electric for ease of transport, as well as the fact that most electric pianos have a headphone jack, eliminating the noise problem altogether.

What if you play the trumpet or another loud brass instrument? These are some of the most difficult instruments to play in a discreet manner–so much so that the military has used them to wake people up for hundreds of years. This means it would probably be wise to keep your practice hours to reasonable times for people to be awake and enjoying brass music, especially if you live in an apartment, condo or duplex, or if your neighbor’s house is close to your own.

If your schedule means you have to get some playing in later, you might want to consider some homemade soundproofing. HowStuffWorks has a nice basic guide to soundproofing rooms both to keep your own sound in and to keep outside sound out in the event that you want to create a home recording studio to lay down your tasty jams. Remember though, certain measures like foam on the walls are pretty easy to put up and remove, but be sure to check with the landlord before building double walls or dropped ceilings–that may very well be a violation of your lease.

If you’re not a musician yourself, but you live within earshot of one, try to enjoy it when they take the time to serenade you every day. And remember that it’s never too late to start playing. Get yourself one of these bad boys and find out where the jam session is at. Who knows, it could be fun.

 Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? Hit us up:  Hometownrant@hometownrent.com

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