Playing quietly at an airport OK?

Ukettante

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Does anyone have any experience playing their ukulele at an airport? I don't mean performing but just practicing, noodling quietly in a corner while waiting for your flight. Lots of people talk about flying with their instruments, but I'm wondering: how about while you're at the airport? I'll be flying budget on an upcoming trip overseas and can't decide whether it's worth the hassle to try to sneak a ukulele with me onboard after reading the strict carry-on restrictions. First time flying budget. If I'll likely be stopped while playing quietly in a corner, then I won't bother taking it with me for the relatively short, four-day trip.

I read on the forum a while back that a respected Hawaiian ukulele performer was asked to stop playing at a Hawaii airport.
 
I was at Budapest airport recently, and there was a piano there you could play. One guy played for a bit, and most people seemed to enjoy it. I suppose it might depend on how good you sound :) mind you I would have thought the amount of noise there is at an airport, you could find a corner to play where nobody could hear you much ...?
 
I have no experience but i reckon that if your playing was annoying someone and they complained, they'd ask you to stop. But if its just quiet, probably no one will mind. But i have never seen anyone playing even quietly in an airport. If i heard someone playing and i didn't like, i'd probably move as airports are so big its quite easy to get away from something or someone.
 
OP here.

I neglected to say the departure time for my outbound flight is 7:30 a.m., and that for my returning flight is 10:00 p.m. I'm thinking while the airport should be less crowded during those times, I would appear conspicuous picking my uke. Then again perhaps airport security would just let me be since there won't be too many passengers around.
 
It probably depends on the airport. I hear it's illegal to play your uke in public in Key West! They have fear of busking there I think.
 
I'm a nervous flyer so I always practice my ukulele in the airport before boarding. I play quietly, I'm an intermediate player, and I've NEVER had anyone complain. On the contrary, I've had lots of people ask me about the uke and seem to even enjoy my simple quiet playing.
 
I just do it anywhere and everywhere. People can always ask me to stop. That has only happened one time and ironically it was at a ukulele festival! LOL, go figure. If I'm in a small cramped situation with a few people I ask them if they'd mind. Usual answer is nope. I play quitety in these situations and am sometimes asked to get louder. Actually many have thanked me for the lovely background music. Play on ( :_/*( )o}==#
 
. I hear it's illegal to play your uke in public in Key West! They have fear of busking there I think.

Why do they fear buskers? They sound like real dull people. Fancy not wanting buskers around. Sheesh!
 
its fine as long as you are playing "tiptoe through the tulips" and "tonight you belong to me".
 
Think of it like playing your music without headphones. If you could go some place where nobody will hear you, fine. But what would you think if some somebody sat within ear shot and played some genre of music you don't like on their phone without headphones, even if it was very quiet.


And I type this as I stand at LAX with my uke in its case. ;-)
 
You could always get something like a RISA Stick and no one past a few feet from you would hear it. I recently used this each day in an Intensive Care Unit and the doctors and nurses always inquired about the unusual looking device that I was playing. You would probably get more stares about the Stick than the playing.

RISA Stick.jpg

There are also other companies that produce relatively silent Ukes.
 
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In short, I don't believe it's appropriate to subject others to things they didn't ask to hear, no matter how good you think you sound. It's different in a park or other setting where people can choose to move if they don't like it - in an airport you're all stuck in the same spot until you board.
 
I have either an ukulele or a mandolin with me whenever I travel and I always play it at the airport - but I do it in an empty section of the terminal. I too hold the belief that you shouldn't subject anyone to potentially unwanted noise, music, etc... So I start all alone in some empty corner and anyone who wants to join me there already knows I'm playing. And they usually come over because of it. Some sit near me and listen, some ask about the instrument, but most people stop and stand right next to me pretending to look at a flight or something while they listen for a minute and move on.
So my experience is that it's a great place to quietly practice as long as you pick the right spot.
 
When I travel with my ukulele I almost always play a bit in the airport prior to or between flights (with parking, check-in and TSA I tend to arrive early enough that I have a lot of time before boarding!). I always seek out a non-busy area, typically with not many (or any) folks nearby (that way if people *choose* to sit within listening distance, it's their own fault!) and then I just play/"noodle" along quietly.

At Orange County (CA) airport once, I was working on one of the first songs in Mark Nelson's fingerpicking book, "Las Mananitas"; it's a song traditionally sung to Mexican children by their mother on the morning of their birthday. I was putting it all together and playing it over and over when I became aware of one of the airport maintenance workers drawing closer and closer. He'd been emptying trash receptacles and when I looked up I saw him smiling broadly at me. Then he began singing the song in Spanish as I played along--and I couldn't stop smiling, either. As we finished together, he nodded his head at me, said "gracias" and slipped back to his work. That was one of the "most connected" airport layover experiences I've enjoyed.
 
I think the law against playing music in airports may have originally been directed at Hari Krishnas who, back in the day, would go to airports to solicit funds and interest people in their religion by chanting. To avoid enacting a law that was directed specifically at a certain religious practice, many states banned making any kind of music in airports, which would include chanting, to discourage Hari Krishna's from soliciting in airports. Some states (apparently including Hawaii) still enforce those laws.
 
Think of it like playing your music without headphones. If you could go some place where nobody will hear you, fine. But what would you think if some somebody sat within ear shot and played some genre of music you don't like on their phone without headphones, even if it was very quiet.


And I type this as I stand at LAX with my uke in its case. ;-)


I was a bit conflicted by the piano in Budapest. It was right at the gate as you waited to board - so not like you could just wander off. Fine if someone plays nicely, but if some bell-end starts playing chop-sticks over and over, and you end up getting arrested for hitting him over the head with the piano stool ....
 
Last spring I traveled to Wash DC and coming home had a hour layover in Salt Lake City. They had a smoking section with a few people in it, so I broke out my tenor and played quietly some of my limited selections. A steward, who was laying over, commented when I stopped for a minute, "Very Relaxing", he said and smiled. that was the first time anyone ever complemented me on my playing. It kind of made the whole eight hour trip worthwhile.
 
Why do they fear buskers? They sound like real dull people. Fancy not wanting buskers around. Sheesh!

Yes, buskphobia runs rampant in our tighta--ed society. Too bad.
 
Check with legal regulations where you will be, but....

At the Chicago O'Hare airport, I was traveling with my university choir, accompanying with Irish flute, and we had a mini Irish session near the terminal! Followed by a choral practice. It was certainly not unobtrusive, but everyone loved, even had airport employees coming to film it.

Unless its literally illegal, I see no problem. Nor did they at O'Hare.
 
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