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It has been over 10 months since we have lost our jobs, the ability to create music with others, and so much more. Some of us had to adapt to new living situations, others had to find a new means of making money, and most of us have been annoying the **** out of our non-singer roommates. This is how you can create a healthy set of boundaries between roommates so that you can get your practice time in and they can have some peace and quiet.
1. Communicate With Them - Communication is the key to building any strong relationship, so it only makes sense that to have a civil co-living partnership, you would need to communicate with each other. This could mean telling your roommates that you need to practice that day or that you feel like you can’t get enough time in the day to practice. This could also mean listening to your roommates when they tell you that they need a day without hearing you run scales or sing the same 4 bars over and over again. The more clear you are about how you’re feeling and what you are planning for that week, the less room there is for feelings of resentment and miscommunication. These negative feelings will harbor bad behaviors and make your living situation (which is already pretty awful because of the pandemic) even worse. A lot of times, a kind word or acknowledgment and appreciation can go a long way.
2. Set a Schedule - This falls in line with communicating, but it is important to set clear expectations for how your week is intended to go. If they have meetings or classes during certain times of the day, it might make sense for you not to sing during those quiet times. Instead, try these quick and silent exercises shown here! Let them know ahead of time that you are planning on singing or practicing. Sometimes it might even make sense to create a shared calendar to remind each other what your individual schedules look like and when each person needs something specific from the other, whether it be quiet time or 1-2 hours to practice.
3. Create a DIY Music Studio - This is not as expensive as it sounds. It can be as simple as stuffing a towel in the space under your door. Dampening the sound in your room can make it easier for your roommates to ignore the loudness that is your voice and find an easier time focusing on their daily tasks, while you are able to sing your heart away. The most basic way to create a music studio is to cover all windows and hard reflective surfaces (like desktops and mirrors) with blankets and pillows. The more soft and plushy material in the room, the better. If you want to be a little bit fancier, you can buy some acoustic studio foam (linked below) to stick around the walls and ceilings of your room. This foam can absorb any sound that would otherwise bounce off and reverberate in the rest of the unit. Turning your room into a makeshift music studio can make it feel more like you aren’t just singing in your room and that all of your practicing and music creation is really truly worth everything it used to be (and so much more).
At the end of the day, there is only so much you and your roommates can do to accommodate each other's needs and you have to figure out a system that works best for you. Singing is your job, and nobody should be preventing that. Who knows... maybe they really enjoy listening to your vocal warm-ups and practice sessions. I hope that my tips helped you find a better solution to your living situation! Don’t forget to wear a mask. Happy Singing!
Read my first blog of the series Singing in a Pandemic here!
Mini Story Time: An Hour in the Life of Leora
I had recently moved into a new apartment building in the busy city of San Francisco and immediately noticed that the walls were paper thin. I could hear every word of the arguments from the neighbors next to us and the live Bluegrass music of the neighbors above us. On one hand, it felt like there was no privacy, and on the other, I got to listen to my own personal reality Podcast every night.
My instant thought was that if I was able to hear regular conversations, my neighbor's eardrums would burst from hearing my practice every day. So what did I do? I did some research and figured out how to create my own DIY music studio (read above ^). The room that originally echoed every sound made, became more stable and dead.
I knew that my sound wouldn’t be completely drowned out by a make-shift studio. But I wasn’t expecting what happened next - During my practice session and warm-ups, I heard what sounded like knocking and an echo. I soon came to realize that this echo was actually my upstairs neighbor mimicking and making fun of my voice exercises. At first, I was embarrassed, but that embarrassment quickly faded into frustration and anger. So, I did the only passive-aggressive thing I could think of - I yelled “You’re welcome for the free voice lesson!” And without a beat, they shut up.
Let me know if you like these Mini-Stories and would like to see more of them in the future!