If you have a piano, what's your experience with neighbours

[PineappleB]

Just bought an upright piano. I used to have a digital one (so I change change volume) but want to have a change now.
Now I am slightly worried if neighbours would find it too noisy and complain.
Upside is that I live in a detached house. But it's summer now. Should I close all windows when I play? Or am I worry too much ...

[Chesneyhawkes1]

My next door neighbours have one. We are semi detached. They only play on Sunday from what I can hear and I like it.

I turn the tv down and sit and listen 😊

[Sipperskipper]

I've got an upright and we live in a semi. Piano is i our (attached) dining room. I used to be very good, now not so much so I'm sure its not massively enjoyable to listen to! I only ever play in the daytime though and not for very long.

DD (3) has been under strict training since she was tiny not to bash it, as that would be very irritating for next door. She plays it very gently and if other children come round I just close the lid!

[HowFastIsTooFast]

If you're in a detached house stop worrying and crack on! If you've neighbours very close then maybe make sure you're only playing during sociable hours but with no shared walls I wouldn't let it worry you.

[ActuallyItsEugene]

Depends if you're good or not to be brutally honest op
My neighbour is fantastic and I could listen to her play all night.
She does, however, do lessons and listening to same scales repetitively and really bad practicing makes me want to cry.

[ActuallyItsEugene]

Forgot to add, I'm in a semi. Piano against shared wall.

[CommunistLegoBloc]

Our neighbours (semi) have one against the party wall. It's like someone playing in our house, tbh. We never hear their general noise, which is why I don't complain, so there's something about the piano that really carries. Children plonking their way through scales slightly drives me to distraction 😬 I wish they'd move it, but like I say they're good neighbours in lots of other ways so I leave it.

[IwishIhadaMargarita]

Talk to your neighbours agree a time for playing and if it disturbs them they can let you know. If you have that conversation it’s less awkward.

[lillylemons]

The old lady downstairs used to ask my husband to play his piano before she passed away she loved it.
No-one else has ever said anything but dh has not played since the lady downstair passed away he mainly played for her.
We also have drums and no-one as ever said anything about playing them either.

[RHTawneyonabus]

I love my neighbours playing the piano. But he’s really good! If he was awful it would be different.

[Mulledmead]

I live in a semi detached. I only play occasionally. I know my neighbours can hear as she has commented (nicely) particularly at Christmas time when I play festive stuff.
I try and keep it to social hours, so for me I wouldn't play after 8 (would be earlier if they had small kids).
I agree with pps. Just talk to your neighbours if you're worried, but if your house is detached I wouldn't think about it too much.
You could always get someone (friend/relative etc.) to stand out in the garden when you play to see how much the sound travels?

[TreacherousPissFlap]

No piano but DS has a number of guitars and we live in a terraced house (though it's very old with thick stone walls)

I have spoken to all our neighbours and asked them to please make us aware if he is an issue. For example one set of neighbours occasionally has young DGC to stay and without them mentioning it, there's no way for DS to know he might wake them when they're napping. Without asking you cannot know when it would be inappropriate or annoying for you to play.

All in all this seems to have worked well for us and nobody is horrendously pissed off (or they're too polite to show it )

[MrsAvocet]

We have a few musical instruments including a piano and as we live in a detached house quite well seperated from the neighbours I have never really thought about them being disturbed. You can just about hear playing in our own garden if the windows are open but its not loud, so if its audible at all to our neighbours I would be very surprised. Can you get someone to listen in your garden with the windows open and see how loud it is? It its very noticeable it might be prudent to keep the windows shut but if its quiet on your own property I wouldn't worry too much.

[mbosnz]

Our neighbours (semi-detached) have a piano, and I can't get over how quickly their playing has improved!

They don't play it for too long, or too often, and they put up with this family of 3 acre paddock voiced Kiwis, so it would be churlish of us to do anything but enjoy their music.

[Beachhuts90]

I have noticed someone in one of the detached houses behind ours practices sometimes in the afternoon. It's nice to listen to, especially as it's just for an hour or two a day. And its much nicer to overhear than recorded music in the garden.

[Housewife2010]

As you have a detached house I really wouldn't worry. It's more of a problem with a semi/ terraced or flat.

[TennisButterfly]

We are an end terrace, have ours against the far extension fall, as far away from the neighbours as possible. And to be honest when the doors are shut you can't hear in the living room let alone the neighbours.
That said our neighbours are nightmare noise levels so we could probably have it in the living room and them not hear it.

[NameChange84]

I’d only have a digital if I lived in a semi or terrace with no non attached spaces. Detached is fine.

Is there any way you could do a bit of sound proofing?