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for those of us not blessed enough to attend university for music, there are still a lot of options to practice and rehearse outside the home. speaking as a drummer, the last time i was reasonably able to play at home was growing up as a kid in a detached single family house. as an adult, i've always rented shared spaces with other musicians (in the US and in Europe).

there are a lot of facilities where you can either rent by the hour (including or excluding the instrument) or by the month (usually 100% self-furnished including some, but not all, instruments and equipment) and play as loud as you want.

most of these hourly spaces will provide a drum kit minus "breakables" (cymbals, snare drum and kick drum pedal) and a basic PA system for singers/keyboards etc. the facility is responsible for maintaining these things (YMMV; some places replaces drum heads often, other places you might end up with a broken cymbal stands or worse). often they'll also come with speaker cabinets for guitar and bass amps, and the guitarist or bassist will bring their own instrument, cables, effects pedals and often a combo amplifier or amplifier head, per requirement or personal preference. sometimes you can pay an additional fee to rent an instrument like a guitar or bass but this isn't guaranteed at all spaces and quality is usually not great.

i don't personally know much about how it works for brass players. not sure people are too excited to share those instruments that involve a lot of bodily fluids :) i imagine most horn players prefer to keep their own instruments. i know a lot of rehearsal facilities also provide storage for large instruments - you just retrieve your instrument when its time for rehearsal or for a gig, then return it to the storage facility.

the monthly option is usually called a "lockout" in US slang and a lot of times you go in on a unit with other musicians; for example, a full band will rent a room, or multiple bands; or a group of individuals who agree to keep a schedule for reserved access to the room. i've been in spaces that have up to 7 different full bands and time is precious, and others where the monthly cost was low enough that only one or two bands used the space.



Fantastic explanation, thanks.




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