View Full Version : What kind of music peeves your pets, and other plays?
Upis Land
Dec-12-2016, 11:01pm
One of my cats is none too fond of fast music and strumming, but will cuddle contentedly while I practice traditional melodies. The other cat I'm content if he refrains from knocking my mandolin off the wall with his tail.
UsuallyPickin
Dec-12-2016, 11:10pm
My cat likes mandolin melodies but anything on my fiddle pitched higher than second position causes an immediate exit from the room. R/
F-2 Dave
Dec-12-2016, 11:21pm
My cat lives in the barn and has never heard me play. He does however become annoyed when I run out of food, forcing him to live by his wits. I used to have a West Highland White Terrier that would sing when I played fiddle.
soliver
Dec-12-2016, 11:33pm
My dog exhibits no signs of interest in my Mandolin playing at all. But I don't hold it against her because she's still awesome.
Jim Garber
Dec-12-2016, 11:49pm
I have two dogs but only my mini-schnauzer sings along especially when I play mandolin. I can't tell if it bothers him or not. If it did why doesn't he leave the room or cover his ears? Old sample from years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l37hFOMXYgw
John Rosett
Dec-12-2016, 11:59pm
I used to have a cat that would lie right next to me when I played mandolin. If I started singing, he'd leave the room.
darrylicshon
Dec-13-2016, 12:07am
My cat loves laying on my mandolin and also likes any style i play
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foldedpath
Dec-13-2016, 12:09am
Our cats have now joined the Choir Invisible after a long life. When they lived with us, they didn't mind me playing mandolin or guitar. One in particular, liked to hang out in the music room. But she couldn't stand the sound of my S.O.'s fiddle. It got to the point where if she saw my S.O. picking up the fiddle bow, she'd run out of the room.
Sounds like this is a common theme here with cats and fiddles.
My dogs had no reaction to my mandolin, absolutely hated my fiddle. They would howl like wolves and try and drown out the fiddle. I the high notes hurt their ears.
Jess L.
Dec-13-2016, 6:24am
Harmonicas. Regardless of key, volume, genre/style, or player talent.
The cat hated it worse than the dogs but all of them would get up and move to a distant room while there was harmonica music being played. They've all long since went to [insert name of preferred destination depending on one's beliefs :) etc etc etc] but I'll never forget how fast that cat would zoom out of the room at the first harmonica note! :))
chrisoff
Dec-13-2016, 8:42am
I used to have a cat that would come upstairs and sit in the room while I played my guitars and mandolins. It even sang along. That was when I mostly played very loud guitar music with lots of distortion.
Now I have two cats that run away as soon as they see me reach for an instrument case. Though they will sneak back if I'm playing quietly.
Tom C
Dec-13-2016, 10:37am
I don't think the sound bothers too much, but she gets jealous that I'm not paying attention to her and starts pouting, then barking. It's been difficult to practice alone since I've had her the last 2 years.152113
chrisoff
Dec-13-2016, 11:25am
I don't think the sound bothers too much, but she gets jealous that I'm not paying attention to her and starts pouting, then barking. It's been difficult to practice alone since I've had her the last 2 years.152113
Sounds like my (almost) 2 year old daughter! Minus the barking...
Randi Gormley
Dec-13-2016, 11:28am
Our cat seems to follow me around, so if my husband and I are playing music, he's sitting there listening for about 15 minutes (sometimes in the guitar case) before he walks off. Or demands to be let out, depending. in a very loud voice.
If my husband is playing his guitar by himself, the cat doesn't bother him or come into the room.
HonketyHank
Dec-13-2016, 11:35am
My cats really love it when I open up their preferred cat-bed and get the mandolin out of their way.
Tobin
Dec-13-2016, 12:13pm
I no longer have indoor pets, and am quite content with the freedom and cleanliness we now enjoy. So, no dogs or cats to listen to my playing. But horses love it. They will stand there in a daze, as if they're mesmerized by it. Unlike indoor pets, they don't hear music sounds coming from the television or radio. So I think music is a very foreign sound to them, and they are very curious about it. Years ago, I used to play my mandolin on the picnic bench in my neighbor's pasture, and I would get a group of 10 or 12 horses crowding around to listen. Made me feel pretty good about myself, LOL!
Even the rabbits and deer don't seem to mind my playing when I sit on the porch. I've even tried to scare the deer out of my flowerbeds by twanging my banjo or screeching my fiddle at them, but they don't spook at it.
pjcrawford
Dec-13-2016, 12:24pm
Our doesn't mind me playing the mandolin but leaves the room as soon as I turn on the metronome when I'm practicing. The fiddle is completely different as she will try to nip at me whenever and no matter what I play.
JEStanek
Dec-13-2016, 12:25pm
My cats don't care either way. Nor my German Shepherd dog he's 18 months so everything excites him. He will howl to the M*A*S*H theme. Every time.
Jamie
I no longer have indoor pets, and am quite content with the freedom and cleanliness we now enjoy. .
As an aside, that is my dilemma right now. I used to have two small dogs, and they have since passed on. And in the intervening years since then I have gotten used to cleanliness and not having to be strategic about going in and out of doors. I am not sure that cleanliness and freedom compensate for not having cute little furry rascals to play music to, but I am not sure that it doesn't.
This always puts a smile on my face....
https://youtu.be/lXKDu6cdXLI
Upis Land
Dec-13-2016, 3:48pm
I have two dogs but only my mini-schnauzer sings along especially when I play mandolin. I can't tell if it bothers him or not. If it did why doesn't he leave the room or cover his ears? Old sample from years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l37hFOMXYgw
Awesome.
There does seem to be various interpretations of animal participation on this thread. Is he singing, trying to drown you out, or maybe just trying to help you tune the e string?
My own sense is if they are participating they are singing. My sisters dog used to sing when she played harmonica, and a friends dog always and only joined in any round of "Happy Birthday".
Anyone who has listened to coyotes or wolves howling in the moonlight knows its a song.
Denny Gies
Dec-13-2016, 4:55pm
The problem is having a cat in the first place.
T.D.Nydn
Dec-13-2016, 5:31pm
My cat just loves my playing,loves my playing,,just loves my..oh yeah,my cat is completley deaf,,but I can see it in her eyes,,
cat #1: fine with acoustic and my poor singing, GONE if I get the electric out
cat #2: fine with acoustic, tolerates the electric, GONE if I sing
foldedpath
Dec-13-2016, 5:58pm
Years ago when I was playing in an electric Blues band, we'd have band practice once a week at my house. Smallish room, two electric guitars, one electric bass, one drum kit, and running our PA for the vocal mics. I actually close-mic'd the kick drum and snare and ran it through the PA system, because it was a cheap drum kit that sounded terrible without a little reinforcement and EQ. It was a lot of volume in a small room.
At the time, we had a cat that would insist on leaping up on top of the tall bass amp cabinet, and she would sit there during the entire rehearsal. The band even wrote a song about this cat and we included it in our set list. Maybe it was the vibrations from the bass cabinet, although she also had a thing for the bass player. And not the first time THAT's ever happened in a band I've been in (ba-da-boom!).
One of my cats is enthralled whenever I pull out one of my more reflective instruments, she'll frantically chase the light reflections around the room. The other cat is completely disinterested. The music itself they don't seem to really mind one way or the other.
Bob Clark
Dec-13-2016, 7:03pm
I've shown these photos on the Cafe before, but here they are again anyway because they fit this discussion. Robyn loves my mandolins. It doesn't matter which one I play, he immediately comes running to listen. He usually dozes off at some point, but he really likes the sound. It's a really gratifying thing to have a cat who loves your music.
Another cat of mine, Jessee, doesn't really like it. Sometimes it makes her back itch. At those times, she starts to twitch as soon as I start to play. Sometimes it seems she is just doing that to mess with me. Everybody is a critic! Otherwise, though, she's really cool.
So, here are two pictures of my pal Robyn.
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Ivan Kelsall
Dec-14-2016, 8:05am
Both my cats have the answer for everything - sleep !. It's something that cats do for between 12 & 18 hours a day. Both are used to me 'making a noise' & as far as i know,have no music preferences = they sleep through it all :grin:
Ivan;)
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CelticDude
Dec-14-2016, 8:33am
My cats never cared about the mandolin one way or another (the case is another story - ready-made cat bed that I insist on putting that stringed thing into). The tin whistle has always been another story. Any cat I've had has run from that, usually with an expression of annoyance and horror. Flutes are also suspect as well. My older cats actually liked lower pitched string things - OMs and guitars.
Shelagh Moore
Dec-14-2016, 8:37am
My cat always comes to join me if I'm playing mandolin or guitar but not if it's banjo (perhaps a cat of good taste!). My previous cat also like to be around the music.
Tom C's post reminds me of a musical get-together I once hosted in France where I found one lady mandolin player playing to a little group of fascinated cows!
Br1ck
Dec-14-2016, 12:11pm
My dogs go into a frenzied barking mania at the first sound of a harmonica.
The only time I don't have one, two, or all three of them in my lap is when I'm playing guitar or mandolin, or standing up.
HonketyHank
Dec-14-2016, 1:49pm
...
The only time I don't have one, two, or all three of them in my lap is when I'm playing guitar or mandolin, or standing up.
I trust you are not a St. Bernard fancier.
Why yes I am, but not as part of my family. No it's chihuahua mixed with whatever pound puppies for me. No more than thirty rowdy pounds at a time. Two are puppies.
And if you ever ask yourself how much more trouble could two puppies be than one, call me and I'll tell you.
Sheryl McDonald
Dec-15-2016, 6:16pm
Neither of our two cats care one bit about mandolin playing.... but the violin?
Cat #1 ignores it all
Cat #2 follows me to where ever I'm playing, meows incessantly, paws at my legs, and continusouly meows (did I say that?), and attempts to jump in my lap, eventually succeeds, then wants to snuggle up for a lap nap. There are times I've had to lock myself into an area of the house (her out, me in) to finish a practice. ... All the while, she's sitting at the door yowling to get in.