to be an equally shit neighbour?

Do you mean this?
https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/

You both sound petty tbh

I'll add what I added on another thread recently.

"I know a song that'll get on your nerves" on repeat might be quite effective...!

I vote for Lohengrin.

Your sister doesn't live down the street from me, does she?

Joking...Two of our neighbours complained about the noise coming from a terraced house next door to my pal's. This was in the afternoon, but you could hear the music a couple of blocks away. Police came out.

My pal was out at the time. After she got home, there was a loud banging on her door. The woman from next door threatening her "for calling the police". This time, she did call the police.

I hear my neighbours' kids playing all the time and it's lovely, lots of giggling, asking what people want at the McDonald's drive through and "mummy mummy watch me on the trampoline/slide/bike", but no screaming!
Carry on as you are OP

I’m unsure how you could strategically place speakers so only that one neighbour can hear this music but anyway…. I would be careful with this - playing loud music can be reported to the council where as noise from 6 children can’t. He could also retaliate, especially if you say they are “asbo” kind of people. Living at war with your next door neighbour is not fun.

As soon as I saw the word basketball I thought I. Am. With. You.

I just knew someone would say 'but it's just kids playing' 🙄

People who havent experienced the constant thudding of a basketball over and over and over and over again for years just cannot imagine what it's like.

Yes, but there’s a reasonable level of noise…

When I was a child, my mother would tell me to keep the noise level down, so as not to disturb the neighbours. Yes, I was allowed to play, but screaming and constant ball play was discouraged.

Because they're playing basketball. They're not robbing dust caps and bricking windows. They're kids.

OK

Can we suggest songs for the playlist?

Good idea! Just not John Cage's 4'33"😁

Some years back, the neighbours; kids held loud parties while the parents were on holiday. It went on for all hours.

I cured the problem by turning my speakers to the party wall and playing Yugoslav turbofolk at 7 in the morning.

@Abigorange @MessyHouseHappyHouse
Classical music is a good recommendation but to drive the neighbours utterly crazy I'd vote for avant-garde. Had some sterling success in the past using Meredith Monk's vocal arrangements in similar circumstances.

Most reasonable response ever, the level when it becomes children playing making reasonable noise into fucking annoying and needs stopping is being breached. Our neighbours are thick as pig shit, and aren't able to negotiate so we have to mitigate in other ways seems like the op is doing the same

I feel for you op. My ndn has particularly screamy dc. I quite like the sound of them playing in the garden, but it's the screaming that I hate. We put some music on in the garden Saturday afternoon, so we could sit outside and eat our bbq. It was just a small speaker placed on the table, but it was effective at drowning out the noise.

Sounds awful.. I cannot deal with any loud noises. When my NDN kids start kicking the ball around I have to go in a shut the door. And they are really quiet 99% of the time. Any more and I would have to wear earplugs

What will you do when they start playing music at full volume directed at your garden?

Get one of those high pitched cat scarer alarms and turn it on when they get loud: adults won't be able to hear it, but kids will.

Play your music as loud as you like, I do when my neighbour bounces their ball off my wall 🧱, I've asked them not to repeatedly but falls on deaf ears so presumably they don't mind my shit music. It's like for like as far as I'm concerned

Wow! What a range. We need to communicate with our neighbors. We don't have to agree on everything they believe or do, we just need to keep the lines open. It makes it a lot easier to say something when their kids are screaming bloody murder & trampling gardens all day to say, "I love kids. But I keep getting up from my work to check on your kids because someone's scream sounds like someone in terrible pain. I understand kids will be kids, but I don't need any more gray hairs. And, is there something I can do, or you can think of that would help to protect my garden beds? They're getting trampled. There's got to be something I can do to protect them." This might have made the speakers unnecessary. It doesn't hurt to kindly ask the kids to keep it down too. Offer them some popsicles. I understand the basketball is also bothersome. But, that isn't something they should have to stop until 11 PM in most places. As for the beds, a sign to keep out(CYA), and some good-sized(somewhere between the size of a softball and a volleyball) river rocks placed throughout.
If you try this & nothing happens, you might want to bring it up again. If that fails, then you go with the speakers. But, before using them, you explain to them that you're getting the speakers for some music & why. In the meantime, if you really want to make a point, you record the kids playing on a particularly noisy day. When you get the speakers installed, you wait for a morning after they have had a late night and play their kids recording on a loop as early as is legal just to make a point. Not really. But the thought of it is fun.
The important thing is this. A lot of us grew up with parents that allowed us to be kids within reason. We were taught not to scream a certain way unless something was REALLY wrong, and told the story about the little boy in the well. We were taught to be respectful of those around us. Somewhere, much of this is being lost. Recently, some local kids(10-16) were shooting a rifle into an abandoned car located in the center of the city(rural)! People who reported it were criticized by folks saying it was "just kids being kids." No, I was not involved. But a stray bullet could have been catastrophic. There was no adult present. There are limits to kids being kids.
I have a neighbor whose child screams bloody murder every few minutes while they're playing. I am particularly sensitive to this. I had just started at the States Attorneys Office in Miami-Dade County, Florida when Adam Walsh was abducted. That case changed so much in law enforcement, as well as schools, & how they respond to missing children. And, for a while it raised awareness among parents in making sure their children knew what to do when faced with a situation that wasn't normal. One of those responses to a hostile stranger was to scream bloody murder. If I hear a kid screaming like that, I am up, and out, and finding that kid ASAP. That's how most of us are wired. If that kids horrific scream has grown commonplace, it's unlikely to happen. We can only hope that in a real emergency their might be something a little bit different about it that would signify a real emergency. Lives depend on it.
So, sorry for the length. But, don't wait for a crisis to talk to your neighbors. And remember, you will likely live next to them at least 10 years or so. Try to build a foundation for those years to be mutually enjoyed. Listen & communicate. And when all else fails, buy speakers! Kindness is Badass!😁👍