What kind of music peeves your pets, and other plays?

[Upis Land]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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:

[John Rosett]

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]

My cat loves laying on my mandolin and also likes any style i play

[foldedpath]

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.

[JeffD]

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.]

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]

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]

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.

[chrisoff]

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.

Sounds like my (almost) 2 year old daughter! Minus the barking...

[Randi Gormley]

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]

My cats really love it when I open up their preferred cat-bed and get the mandolin out of their way.

[Tobin]

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]

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]

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

[JeffD]

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.

[Tom C]

This always puts a smile on my face....

[Upis Land]

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:

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]

The problem is having a cat in the first place.

[T.D.Nydn]

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,,

[mtm]

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]

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!).