Piano playing

[CruCru]

How late is too late to play your piano? I ask because my new neighbour is getting on my nerves a bit. He plays beautifully - concert pianist stuff - but sometimes on and off from 6pm until after 11.

We can't hear it in the bedrooms. But when I'm pottering about its starting to grate. Not because it's bad - its great - but because it's there.

We live in a terraced house but usually can hear very little. The people before him had a daughter who would scream. They were very apologetic but there was no need because we could barely hear her.

I'm a bit reluctant to whinge at him partly because another neighbour has just had a go at him about some scaffolding which encroaches a bit onto our properties. This other guy was trying to get me to say that I was upset about it but I said as long as it doesn't cause damage and doesn't block access I'm not that bothered. It's only for a fortnight. Basically I now don't want to speak with him about the piano because I don't want him to think we're ganging up on him.

The piano neighbour is a very young guy (early twenties) whose granny has bought him a house. I think the scaffolding was just him not realising that it would be a nuisance to the neighbours. But the piano is pissing me off.

At what point would you pop round?

We're buying a piano soon,should we go for a digital or traditional?Budget no more than £500.

Some of them are amazing now prarie - I think they used to have a 'delay' when you played but not the case now.

prarie after TONS of research and talking to my piano teacher - we went for the yamaha P95 and I love it. Iirc it was about £450 - 500. Look at the reviews on Amazon - lots of teachers recommending it. I play more because I am able to play late at night without disturbing anyone

Not before 9am and not after 9 pm seems very reasonable.

It seems as though the piano is a major part of his life. As has been suggested if he wants to play at all hours he should get a digital piano.

Though they are not exactly "the real thing" they are not at all bad, and getting better.

I would refer anyone (perhaps your neighbour) who gets all snooty about digital keyboards to this article by Stephen Hough, one of the best classical pianists in the world:

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stephenhough/100058497/ive-had-a-constant-companion-in-my-singapore-hotel-room/

If it's good enough for Hough it should be OK for your neighbour.

Not before 9am and not after 9 pm seems very reasonable.

It seems as though the piano is a major part of his life. As has been suggested if he wants to play at all hours he should get a digital piano.

Though they are not exactly "the real thing" they are not at all bad, and getting better.

I would refer anyone (perhaps your neighbour) who gets all snooty about digital keyboards to this article by Stephen Hough, one of the best classical pianists in the world:

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stephenhough/100058497/ive-had-a-constant-companion-in-my-singapore-hotel-room/

If it's good enough for Hough it should be OK for your neighbour.

some that is the article that made my mind up about buying a digital one.

Sorry for the double post - forgot to convert the link.l

Yes he needs a practise pedal - not that many pianos have them but you can have one fitted.
I don't know how much it costs but they basically give you like a switch or an extra pedal and it means he can still play but the sound is damped (quietened) so only he can hear it.

I have a piano and sometimes I like to play but never for more than an hour and I do it when upstairs people are out.

I wouldn't play all evening unless I had a PP

I wouldn't play mine (without the practice pedal) past about 9.30pm.

Er, unless it's a party in which case it gets bashed loudly accompanying pissed singing at about 3am I suspect my neighbours hate me

I bought DH a Korg 350 slimline digital piano which he loves. As do I as it has a headphone jack (!!) and volume control etc. It is fantastic. But was expensive.

The practice pedal affects the action, so it's not ideal actually if he's doing any serious practice. If he's just bashing out exercises [like my pain in the arse pianist husband] he could use it, but to be honest I make him go and practice on the digital piano in his office. The action is perfectly acceptable on a decent digital. OH has an old Yamaha P90, which still works fine. Our neighbours popped round after a month or two of living next to us and asked us to keep the piano down (OH was having a Hanon obsession) and we try to keep to the not before 9 am and not after the kids are in bed rule. We also moved the piano from the adjoining wall, which did help.

Yes, it does affect the action and tbh I don't particularly enjoy using one - but that said, he could turn it off for a while, play normally and then if he knew it was late or the neighbours might be getting fed up with it, he could stick it back on.

It's not like, a permanent thing - it's on and offable (sure you know that already! but OP won't)

Hanon is evil

Wait a second people... the OP is quite explicit that it's NOT disturbing anyone's sleep because you can't hear it upstairs in the bedrooms.

So what is the issue about lateness? I can't see why the time of day or night make any difference? Surely it would be as irritating at 8pm as it is at 11pm?

My neighbours' kids all play: violin, guitar, piano. I love the sound of them doing it, because I figure they're having fun and I have had so much worse in past places: all-night screaming arguments, TV noise from a deaf neighbour, that Grace Kelly song by Mika played over and over again literally all night, a howling dog, constant midnight vacuuming... Surely we can be a bit tolerant of someone with a real talent wanting to practice, providing it's not disturbing anyone's rest?

Up thread I said you couldn't hear it in the bedrooms. Now I can, maybe because I'm tuned in to it and it's pissing me off

She can here it upstairs

Yes, but only if she 'tunes in' to it... which suggests that it's not that loud. If you made a noise complaint to the council about something that you had to 'tune in' to hear, they would probably not take the complaint that seriously.

There are some things you just have to tolerate when living around other people. It's not reasonable to get wound up about something so minor, and to risk ruining an otherwise sound relationship with a neighbour. We probably all have habits to which we are personally oblivious that irritate our neighbours. If we want people to be nice and reasonable to us and the racket our own families make (and kids can be loud even just going up the stairs!), it's worth cutting them a bit of slack in return.

I do think that a gentle request not to do it after 11pm on the grounds of the OP's sensitivity to the sound would be worth a try - I'm sure he doesn't want to upset anyone, and may not even be aware that he can be heard.

11pm?! No way is that reasonable, in exactly the same way it's not reasonable to have the telly on really high so it disturbs a neighbour.

Where I used to live I could hear the girl across the road practising her saxophone - I wasn't going to create a fuss because I think it is great to devote time to that. Much better than the disturbance from the permanently drunk next door neighbour shrieking with her equally vocal friends, and better than the tv sound from my other next door neighbour (on her 90s and practically deaf). But, when you live in a terrace house, you have to accept that there will be some degree of background noise, don't you?

People who are at school/working need, often, to practise before they leave the house in the morning, and again, after they finish work/homework. Personally, I do also think that after 11 is unreasonable, but before that, and anytime after 7 in the morning is perfectly ok.

Should also point out that I am a music teacher, and encourage my students to set aside practise time before school when they are fresh, and also that I recommend shorter blocks of more frequent practise time as opposed to an hour's session every other day.

I work full time, and teach after work, so am often doing lessons til 8 or 9 (as I also have to sort the children out), and then really need some chill out time, when I can sit and play to wind down from the busy time I have had.

If someone came round at 9pm and asked me to stop playing I would feel very put upon in my own house. That said, I have never had a complaint in 11 years of living in a terraced house. Just moved to a semi and the instruments are on the non-detached side, so hopefully will be even easier now.

OP - if I lived next door to a bunch of 20-somethings, I would be chuffed to bits that the only "disturbance" was the sound of classical piano, as opposed to drunken parties and the like!

Mu old music teacher used to say that if the neighbours aren't complaining then that means you aren't doing enough practice ...

Seriously though he really should get a digital piano. If he's a lawyer then presumably he is not (or at least will not be before too long) short of a bob or two.

I'll swap you... We moved into our house in July 2005.

The (approx) 8 yo lad next door was learning the piano, and we could hear it in the lounge. Fine, that's what happens when you live in a semi. Although we did think it was a bit strange that he was learning 'We're Walking In The Air' in the middle of summer. He wasn't very good , so we thought that maybe his teacher was getting him to start early, so that he'd have mastered it in time for a Christmas Show.

Christmas came and went, and he was still playing it constantly. He didn't get any better. The strange thing was it was the only thing he played; no scales, no other tunes, nothing. It was driving me bonkers, although it wasn't stupidly loud, it did interfere with the TV at times. I found myself listening to it, knowing where he would make mistakes, and waiting for them.

But still, you don't want to discourage kids, and being totally non-musical myself, I know how frustrating it can be trying to get it right. By about March/April, I was ready to string him up though. This went on most evenings for about half an hour, and for a chunk of the weekend daytimes. Always the same bloody song.

Fast forward seven years and it has got better. But still, every few weeks, we get a rendition of Walking In The Sodding Air. It hasn't improved. He's still making the same mistakes. But now that he's older, it's later in the evenings. We went round at 2330 one Sunday night to complain, and he was very apologetic. I didn't dare ask him why he only knows the one song!

I realise this sounds like an unlikely story, but I swear on my life it's true. I almost wish we liked the parents more to ask them what the heck was going on!

Hi all

The real issue is that the music is very loud in the bottom two floors, quite loud on the first floor and reasonably quiet on the second floor (where my bedroom is). I have one of those very tall thin London houses. It isn't loud in DS's room because there is a hallway between him and next door.

When I am in any room apart from my bedroom or DS's room, I can't get away from the noise. It seems a shame to go to bed at 9 just to get away from it.

I don't mind him playing. It is good. But I do want it to stop (ideally by 9 but definitely by 10) so I feel like I have some leisure time. Five hours of listening to (admittedly very good) music that someone else has chosen every evening gets upsetting.

Guy above me plays a flute but he never plays past 8pm.

IMO 10pm is too late, I would say 9 is reasonable.

Our rule is not before nine, not after nine too. For the piano and the drum kit....

I think you need to talk to him - maybe stressing that he is really good and that sometimes you do enjoy hearing him. Only a very unreasonable person would fail to understand that a family with small children needs piano-free evenings.

I have been guilty of this kind of noise pollution in the past - me and my band used to pile into the bassist's house at 2am and sing (with guitars) in four part harmony until dawn. Perhaps his neighbours were deaf - they never complained, but of course we would have stopped instantly if they had.

YANBU. It's noise. It may be very cultured and beautifully played, but it is still noise!

A friend of mine is a professional conductor and organist, and he rents a room to practice in because he is well aware that playing for so many hours when you are audible to neighbours is not on. Every music student I've known has been aware of the same thing - even if it's your job, not everyone will want o hear it for hours!

I think this guy is forgetting that although it is relaxing to him, it is not quite so nice for you.