If you’ve ever seen a really tight percussion/performance group, and wondered how they got to be so damned well tight, so deeply in unison, I can tell you. They practiced like mad. Like absolute mad. The dance steps and everything. Outside my window.
If I had more time, I would grab some audio and post it. Maybe tomorrow. They’ve been practicing for hours every evening and I’m sure they won’t suddenly stop tomorrow.
I’m not complaining, by the way. I can always put music on, and it basically drowns it all out. But it is quite amazing how singlemindedly dedicated the practice regimens can be. I imagine this particular ensemble is practicing specifically for some event or other. The odd time, when practice sessions intrude on a headache, I mind; but usually, it’s no big deal to me.
This happened to me once, in Pusan. I just stuck my head out the window and said:
“Students, I am studying” in Korean.
I was living in an on-campus instructor dorm at the time. Anyway, it worked. They went somewhere else on the campus and never cam back.
I am living on campus, but they’re not so close by as to annoy me much, and certainly not close enough to hear me complain. As I say, I don’t much mind it, though if it were right outside my window, I might.