Flute playing and dogs....?

asoalin · Post by **asoalin** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:20 pm

Do you play your flute around your dogs? I'm going to be playing my flute a lot now that I'm getting back into it, and I'm afraid it might hurt his ears because dogs hear at a higher frequency, so the flute may sound a lot louder to him than it does to me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid...I just love my dog!

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:46 pm

I know that I havent ever met a dog that likes my playing....

They all tend to howl when I play.

.......

My cat hates it too.......

But, that being said, I have a lot more volume/power in my sound than most people, so that contributes some. I have found that each animal is different, so perhaps yours wont mind.

asoalin · Post by **asoalin** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:42 pm

My dog isn't very vocal to begin with, so I think if he hated it he would just hate it silently...hard for me to figure out what he thinks sometimes.

dayz · Post by **dayz** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 10:55 pm

I have 2 dogs one old, one young. The old one just goes about his business. But my young dog even sits at the door for a bit to listen or just for company. So no I don't think it is at a frequency that will hurt them.

That's to say you are playing your flute in a way that was intended for the flute

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:32 am

fluteguy18 wrote:I know that I havent ever met a dog that likes my playing.... They all tend to howl when I play.
.......

My cat hates it too.......

But, that being said, I have a lot more volume/power in my sound than most people, so that contributes some. I have found that each animal is different, so perhaps yours wont mind.

my dog howls too!! I thought my dog was just a complete weirdo - i guess its more common then i think! but that was messing with a friends also sax - lower than a flute!

nasxxx · Post by **nasxxx** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:44 am

Can hear the next door neighbours cat meeow when up in the higher register, or whilst playing certain songs.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:03 pm

I have a friend [sax player] who noticed that his dog would howl at random times throughout his playing. It was after a few months that he realized that his dog howled whenever he played a Concert Ab on any instrument...

So, his dog just hates that single pitch regardless of the register. Ab.

asoalin · Post by **asoalin** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:04 pm

Very interesting! I wonder if there's been any studies on this kind of stuff...

nasxxx · Post by **nasxxx** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:49 pm

asoalin wrote:Very interesting! I wonder if there's been any studies on this kind of stuff...

Have to admit would be interesting results, pitch tone frequency etc if they play a part + resinance etc. (spelling) Supose its like playing in different locations also different aspects to sounds as to what can be picked up listened to by various animals.

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:19 pm

that would be quite an awesome study!!

brina · Post by **brina** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:46 am

i have two cats. one hates it and the other one is ok with it. lol.

Flute_star3 · Post by **Flute_star3** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:16 pm

I once house sat for a family that had just had puppies. The house had a great high ceiling that was really fun to play in. But the puppies didn't like it they whined. I didn't think of it hurting their ears at the time, but now that I think of it, that's probably it.

nasxxx · Post by **nasxxx** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:34 pm

Perhaps the flute is creating high resinance + sounds that we can't hear but the animals can. Bit like when you are young can hear bats but as you grow up you loose that frequency of hearing. Or like a dog whistle, which we can't hear but they can. Ideally only with sound meters can you measure and try to depict what is happening outside the human hearing register.

mia · Post by **mia** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:37 am

My dog always sleeps next to me when I play...
The "noise" doesn't seem to bother her a bit.

smurph · Post by **smurph** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:00 pm

My flute teacher's dog always sings with both of us and she only does it with us and none of my flute teacher's other students.