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Thread: Tough Audiences

  1. #1
    Registered User Pribar's Avatar
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    Default Tough Audiences

    A friend asked me to babysit his not quite 2 year old grandson tonight while he took his son and daughter in law out to celebrate their anniversary. I broke out the mandolin and sat down on the floor to practice while the kid sat nearby playing with some toy cars, I notice the kid keeps glancing over at me, finally he gets up walks over in front of me, reaches out and takes the pick from my fingers and drops it in my lap, pats me on my arm with a "awwww" then goes back to playing with his cars

    I have also noticed the dog gets up and runs outside when he sees me pick up the mandolin case
    If you want something that "barks" get a damn dog

  2. #2
    cyclo-mandolinist! OzMando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Everyone's a critic.

    My dog used to howl everytime i practiced my violin which was a bit of a pain as I was a music major at the time.
    Play on friend, play on...

  3. #3

    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    My 2 year old mostly just says "Stop playing, Daddy." If I don't, she grabs my pick and drops it through an f hole.

    Although if she's in the right mood, she will dance a jig. Sometimes she comes along to a gig, and then she dances through the entire set. Then the rest of the audience just watches her, and we could be playing anything.

  4. #4
    acoustically inert F-2 Dave's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    I used to have a dog, a westie named Vassar that would howl when I played fiddle. My current westie isn't moved by fiddle or mandolin music. My outside dog, a blue heeler is equally unmoved when I play. Maybe I should stick a porkchop on the end of my bow. Now that I think about it, that might work with human audiences too.
    "Mongo only pawn in game of life." --- Mongo

  5. #5
    Ursus Mandolinus Fretbear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    My wife said:
    "If you play that tune one more time, I'm going to leave you. God I miss that woman......."
    But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
    And London never fails to leave me blue
    And Paris never was my kinda town
    So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues

  6. #6
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    This is my ''one cat Mandolin appreciation society'. I have this effect on most folk who hear me play as well. He even jumps onto my lap when i'm playing & i don't think it's because he wants to get 'closer to the music',
    Ivan

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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Play for cows. Seriously. They love music and are a loyal and faithful audience. I lived on a dairy farm when I first began to play and used to practice down at the pasture.

  8. #8
    man about town Markus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    One thing to keep in mind with young kids is that their ears are more sensitivite than ours (no damage or aging loss).

    If I point my mandolin away, if I limit volume, and if my keep my eyes on my daughter she let's me play every day.

    But she can hit 'too much noise' pretty easily ... I also feel that she hears the beating of poorly matched pairs better than adults.
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    My cat will sit and listen when I play the violin or mandolin, in fact he seems to like it. When I first brought a banjo home he gave it a passing look that was until play it. He sprung up in the air and bolted out the door and hid under the futon on the lanai. Maybe the animals really do know more than we do. Just the sight of that thing gives him the willies.
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    Registered User Ark Isle's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    My cat hates to hear the mandolin. It's gotten to the point that if I want him to leave the room, I just unzip my case.

    However, it probably didn't help that I chased him around the apartment working on chord changes when I first started playing...

  11. #11

    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Quote Originally Posted by mandolirius View Post
    Play for cows. Seriously. They love music and are a loyal and faithful audience. I lived on a dairy farm when I first began to play and used to practice down at the pasture.

    Yeah, but if they don't like you, you'll get "moo-ed" off the stage.

  12. #12
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Quote Originally Posted by kaybone View Post
    Yeah, but if they don't like you, you'll get "moo-ed" off the stage.
    Ha! It's actually their way of expressing approval.

  13. #13
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Quote Originally Posted by nickster60 View Post
    Just the sight of that thing gives him the willies.
    Clearly a cat with discerning tastes and considerable refinement.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  14. #14
    its a very very long song Jim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Severl years ago I was performing an MRI exam on a man who brought his approximately 5yo daughter along. She was pretty unhappy about having her father put in the machine and that she could not go in the room with him. She was sitting in the control room with me , crying, while I ran the scanner. The nature of such exams is that you program the scan sequences and then sit back and watch to make sure it all goes well. So when I was done programing I pulled a small open hole flute I keep in my backpack out and played her a couple tunes hopefully to distract her and stop her from crying. Well she did stop crying, after she choked back the last of her sobs she looked at me and said " I think we've had enough music for now" My ego has never really recovered.
    Jim Richmond

  15. #15
    Market Man Barry Wilson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    awwww LMAO I have been laughing about this for 2 days.

  16. #16
    Registered User Josh Kaplan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

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    My cat is my best audience. She will come to where ever I am playing in the house and curl up nearby. I use my daughter's room as my music room now that she's graduated from college, but I don't think the music is what made her leave home!

    Josh

  17. #17

    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    My five year old will come over and grab first the pick and then the mandolin out of my hands. "No, daddy, here, let me show you how you're supposed to do it." That was pretty cute when she would then proceed to play, but now she just carefully puts it back on the stand. Thanks, kid.

  18. #18
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Hi Folks,

    I've posted this picture in other threads, but it seems fitting here. This is my British Longhair, Robyn, listening to me play. He comes running to listen whenever I play my mandolin, but has no interest at all in my piano. I tend to play longer when he's listening, as he really seems to enjoy it. A cat and a mandolin; does life get better than this?
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    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

  19. #19
    This Kid Needs Practice Bill Clements's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    My wife says last night, "Are you gonna practice that in here?"
    I've also learned to tune up in a different room, after several evil stares.
    Don't mess with an Italian woman whose uncle is in the cement business.
    Jimmy Hoffa, here I come!
    "Music is the only noise for which one is obliged to pay." ~ Alexander Dumas

  20. #20
    Registered User pickloser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    My dog hates the mandolin. He won't stay in the room if I pick it up. If I take more than the usual amount of time between songs, he trots to me, looking hopeful. If I say, "sorry Bandit," he makes a huffing noise (sounds like he's digusted), turns tail and trots away. But I also have a budgie, Rocky, that will scream with ear piercing rage if I don't bring him into the music room when I practice. There, he happily chatters, fortunately at a much reduced volume. He really likes the Rights of Man and does that shifting from one leg to the other, head bobbing thing that tropical birds do, whenever I play it.

  21. #21
    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tough Audiences

    Our cat will sit near us when my husband and I play our usual ITM, but he'll walk out after about 20 minutes and demand to be let outside. My children all vacate the area when my husband and I play. They'll abandon the living room, where we are, and cluster in the TV room on the other side of the house and turn up the volume of the TV whether it's a show or a video game. We get lots of eye-rolls when we talk about music camp (we dragged our youngest with us the first year we went) and snide comments when we head off for a gig or our usual Monday night session. No accounting for tastes!
    We got our own back a bit, though. Two weeks ago, while Skyping with our youngest, who's a sophomore at University of Vermont, she asked for noise-cancelling headphones. Seems the guy who lives in the dorm room/suite next door plays Irish music on whatever it is kids have for a stereo these days, plays Irish on his guitar and is learning the pennywhistle.
    I just mailed off some headphones, and my daughter's pennywhistle and music book. My husband and I can't stop laughing, although my oldest daughter, who was visiting while we were skyping, kept sending her sincere sympathy to her baby sister on her affliction!
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