BillyMc
Super Active Member
I'm on that one hand.
Music and Camping?
- Thread starter adkdave
- Start date
KeizerTrailer
Active Member
I almost always have the pack radio off, unless we're out of camp or it's during the day and the camp is bustling. But, I have been known to play some tunes, but only loud enough to be heard from within our campsite. I get it, radios and the like can detract from the serene sounds of camping, even while in a SP or NP.
- Nov 30, 2012
- 2,143
My rule is easy, I don't want sound, light, or smells going from one site to another.
I do remember one night at Lost Maples State Park in Texas. A singer / guitar player was in the next campsite with his family sitting around the camp fire. I rarely speak up, I prefer to cowardly complain later on line. I finally walked over and asked him very politely to please play louder. We could barely hear him and damn he was good.
I do remember one night at Lost Maples State Park in Texas. A singer / guitar player was in the next campsite with his family sitting around the camp fire. I rarely speak up, I prefer to cowardly complain later on line. I finally walked over and asked him very politely to please play louder. We could barely hear him and damn he was good.
Something similar happened to me in Yellowstone several years ago. Next door neighbor was out playing while I was cooking dinner. I walked over with an extra beer in my hand and we started chatting about him playing. He asked for requests and could play them all. Turned out to be a well known musician on his vacation.
Toedtoes
Super Active Member
A co-worker once told us about a camping trip she and her husband took. She said that one night, her husband was playing his guitar and singing, and people would walk by and say "oh, I thought you had a radio turned on". She saw it as a compliment. She couldn't quite understand that people who walk by because they think your radio is on, aren't walking by to compliment you. They are walking by to identify your site number and go complain about the noise.
Toedtoes
Super Active Member
tfischer
A bad day camping beats a good day at the office
I think most people are a bit more tolerant of a live musician than they are a radio. They should be, anyway... singing by the campfire is part of the camping experience (not that I ever do it lol)
Toedtoes
Super Active Member
Yep, for them to come over, state "we thought it was a radio" and then walk away without another word, it appears they figured they shouldn't complain about the noise.
- Nov 30, 2012
- 2,143
I'm not certain that live versus recorded or radio is really different. With taste in music being so individual any music could elicit complaints.
While some folks may enjoy a live performance of Motorhead's greatest hits, others may not. I believe it's always OK to keep sounds, lights, and smells in your campsite.
There is also the other extreme. In campgrounds there will be some noise. I was asked at a Texas State Park if the previous night's party kept me awake. I didn't hear a thing but apparently my neighbor was complaining about a group across the road from us. We were in our pup and the complainers were in a TT.
While some folks may enjoy a live performance of Motorhead's greatest hits, others may not. I believe it's always OK to keep sounds, lights, and smells in your campsite.
There is also the other extreme. In campgrounds there will be some noise. I was asked at a Texas State Park if the previous night's party kept me awake. I didn't hear a thing but apparently my neighbor was complaining about a group across the road from us. We were in our pup and the complainers were in a TT.
Toedtoes
Super Active Member
I'm with you on that. I remember hearing the adults trying to sing American Pie one night at summer camp while drunk. You'd hear a bit of mumbling, then some laughter, then a bottle or two rolling around, and then "Bye bye Miss American Pie, took my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry, them good old boys drinking whiskey and rye singing this'll be the day that I die, this'll be the day that I die". Then there'd be more mumbling, more laughter and more bottles, and then a burst of "Bye bye Miss American Pie, took my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry, them good old boys drinking whiskey and rye singing this'll be the day that I die, this'll be the day that I die". It went on for hours because they got caught in a cycle of verses they couldn't remember.
tfischer
A bad day camping beats a good day at the office
I'm not advocating a full on amplified rock concert... but if there's a small group with a guitar singing folk songs, I think that's just fine. And I'm really not much into folk songs lol.
Toedtoes
Super Active Member
I think it falls into that grey area of consideration. If someone is playing quietly and they are enjoying it peacefully, I wouldn't have a problem. If they are loud and obnoxious about it, I will have a problem with it. If it's at my site, I would stop if someone walked over and commented with "I thought it was a radio", I would continue if they asked "can we join you".
Etexcamper
Member
By some of these comments it looks like some parks might should support and provide for a kareoke (sp) night.
We usually have music on but very low volume. DW makes sure of that. Last year we had a single girl tent camping next to us who was playing music kind of loud and dancing by herself. Was a little weird and I had to pretend I was not watching her so the wife would not hit me. Lol
Ry CooderOK this means nothing without a name...![[:D]](/smileys/smile_big.gif "Big Smile [:D]")
Toedtoes
Super Active Member
THAT IS COOL!!
WrkrBee
Super Active Member
I could listen to him after quiet hours, too.
Two of my kids play guitar and sing at the camp site. We frequent a camp ground, Green Meadow Camping Area, that is a little behind the times and doesn't advertise or have on-line reservations. Even though it is a great location, next door to Storyland and down the street from Mt Washington, sometimes it is completely empty during the weekdays. One day we were literally the only campers in the whole campground. We kept on hearing a weird noise like a flute playing. Two campers had arrived stealthily on bicycles and were sitting across from each other at the picnic table with one guy playing the flute. They were pretty far away but the sound really does travel. Probably would not of heard it with a full campground. Sound travels much farther than you think.
craig heaton
Active Member
- Jan 26, 2021
- 141
One thought though.....if you're a musician and on vacation, why would you sing and create music....isn't that just working?
As for myself, I'm in the camp of NOT listening to music and prefer to just hear the sounds of nature. With that said, I do keep an eclectic mix of music in my phone (everything from Mozart, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, John Denver, The Supremes, Janis Joplin, etc.). I also have a nice library of old time radio programs (favorites include CBS Radio Mystery Theater, X Minus One and Nightbeat). However, on the occasion when I do listen to these, it's in bed at night with ear buds. Sometimes though I'll torment my wife and slip an earbud into her ear while I'm listening....especially if it's hard rock or metal
I also prefer dark skies and have a disdain for those strings of lanterns and rope lights people like to display....
tfischer
A bad day camping beats a good day at the office
One thought though.....if you're a musician and on vacation, why would you sing and create music....isn't that just working?
I'm not a professional musician, but some of my family is, and I'm an amateur one. But I think I can speak for most musicians that playing music isn't work, it's passion, what they're wired to do, and pure joy. There are plenty of "work" aspects in their business, like setting up gigs, and being on the road, and paying bills, and rehearsing for something specific... but simply playing whatever comes to mind during their free time is how they relax and truly their happy place.
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