AIBU or WWYD. Noisy musical instruments in a semi-detached house

[EightToSixer]

If your neighbour comes over at 9:05pm to ask you very nicely whether you realise that the clarinet their daughter is playing can be heard very loudly next door and had woken their child up at 6:50am in the morning and 9:05 the same evening, do you:
A) apologise that the noise travelled.
B) ask what time the noise would be a problem and arrange to play at a more reasonable time
C) say, it's not that loud! what do you expect me to do about it?!

2rebecca have you tried a metal mute for the violin? I haven't played for a few years, but I've got one like this and it really kills the sound.

glad we are detached also-- kids are up at 6.45 to get ready for secondary school, they take turns at 10 min piano practise whilst the other gets ready - part of our routine now...

It's not recommended to use a mute for everyday practice though - how on earth would you work on tone?

My husband plays in orchestras and needs to practice getting the volume intonations right. We are very quiet usually between 9pm and 9am so I think musical instruments are just something people need to accept. We have a clavinova for quiet piano practice.

I don't see it as any different from any kind of noise - and a good neighbour should be aware of whether what they're doing - be it DIY, having a party, watching television, practising an instrument - should be done sympathetically and not at a time that will impact negatively on the neighbours.

I play my piano during the day. I'm teaching DD and she practices when we get home from school. I would never dream of playing after 7.30pm if the house next door had children.

That's fine if you're at home all day, but if you don't get home until 7 then I think only practicing until 7.30 is very restrictive. I think a certain amount of music on an evening either instrument or recorded is normal. I think there shouldn't be noise during the night or all evening every evening but some music on an evening is normal.

2rebecca if you were on the other side of a wall listening to some one else playing an instrument you wouldn't say that. It's a nightmare - unless your neighbours are your best friends and you have an understanding with them.

I would rather listen to a musical instrument than other people's music CDs...

Try it -you'd soon change your mind.

We have a piano, its on a non party wall and the kids do not play before 8am during the week, 10am at the weekends and not past 8pm in the evening but generally during the week its between 4-6pm at the weekends no set pattern but not early as I said.

Ds3 has just started playing the clarinet at school, the same rules will apply, I absolutely would not left him play before 7am and our neighbours dont have young children, its just good manners, I wouldn't want to be woken at that time by loud music.

I can't wait til my dd learns an instruments might teach my noisy neighbour a lesson

I do it regularly

My private nightmare is having a teenager (or adult) with a drum kit next door. I find drums have a very immediate effect on me- the beat winds me up, in exactly the way it is meant to, I know, but I can't ignore them. With classical music, if the child is making some effort to be responsible (so using a practice mute for scales and practicing scales gently ) then I would be OK, that's the kind of music I play myself. Not that I do enough
Practice to disturb anyone.

People underestimate the nuisance, though. There's that case in the paper at the moment of a professional pianist who may be jailed for persistent nuisance, as she practiced 7 hours a day. I had a friend who was a piano teacher and she made the mistake of moving to a terraced house and had to do her teaching somewhere else in the end. I do think that if you are a professional musician and need to play for several hours, unless your neighbours are out at work, you need to rent somewhere to do that.

My 8 year old is learning the trombone. It's awful!

I make him practice in the rooms that don't adjoin e neighbouring house. Never after 8 and never in morning. Next door are middle aged couple - he plays an organ/piano. They have a crazy barking dog. We've agreed between us that we're pretty much even on the noise stakes!

We're halls adjoining too, which limits the noise that the kids project next door.

my neighbours dc practices the flute - between the hours of 9am and 7pm and it is no problem at all, in fact she is getting better.

I would plummet for b on your list, but lucky for me my neighbours are thoughtful I guess and don't lay out of normal waking hours

Very glad we're detached - in this house we have piano, violin, drums, clarinet and accordion!!

I was a percussionist at secondary school with a drum kit and many other instruments which lived in the den which a party wall in my parent's semi. I muffled my bass drum with every cuddly toy my younger self had collected and old pillows but a kit is just LOUD!!! I also sang and played violin but nothing compares to a drum kit! Fortunately our elderly neighbours were very understanding and we had a 7am and 9pm rule. It's just polite.

Now I just sing. I live in a middle floor flat and I am very conscious of practice sounds. To the extent where I practice too much in the car which isn't the best plan!

Your neighbour sounds incredibly selfish. Invite her to stand in your baby's bedroom when her child is practicing. She may genuinely have no idea how loud it is!