Piano playing in a terraced house!

[FuckingPiano]

Have put up with the neighbours fucking piano playing for the last couple of years! We live in a terrace housed, 2 up, 2 down. Theirs end-terraced with 2 reception rooms, the fucking piano could go in the reception room not attached to our house. But no, they've decided the reception room that shares the wall with our house is their music room!
It has actually got better. The playing was anytime from morning through to 10pm at night whenever they fancied a 'quick tinkle'. I haven't asked nicely if they'd move the fucking thing to their other room away from our house as if they respond with no (which I imagine they will) I'd combust! Banging on the wall stops the fucking thing.
It is now a half-hour piano lesson a week for the kid but is on the day I work from home and dread having to listen to the fucking thing whilst trying to concentrate on work. There's been no progress with the playing in these couple of years and don't get why they don't give the fucking thing up!
However, they do still occasionally like to have a 'quick tinkle' on the thing at random times -usually late at night. (We have small children and none of us can get away from the fucking playing it can be heard in every room).
The kid is now also learning the fucking trumpet!
All this time I've considered contacting environmental health and providing a record of the times it's played. However, we don't plan to stay in this house forever (all uncertain, dependant on finances) and don't want to have to declare a dispute if we do (as per plan) move in the next 5 years.
What would you do?

Actually, I have had noisy neighbours. One was a woman who played loud hip-hop and rap in my block all day when I was trying to sleep after a night shift. The other was doing up his house from 6am until 10pm and later when I had a newborn in the house.

I know what truly noisy neighbours are like.

I also know what stroppy, unreasonable neighbours are like. One of ours moaned constantly and banged on the walls at the slightest sound. She also accused my DH of stealing her cuttings from her garden and spying on her. She had mental health issues brought on by dementia, though.

I've lived with a neighbour upstairs who played very loud music from 10pm to 3am at least 2 night a week.

OP, YABVU.

In all the years this has been going on you haven't been round to try and resolve the issue with the neighbours?

Have you combusted yet?

OP maybe shouldn't have to reorganise her life to avoid the 30 min piano, but really who benefits if she does/doesn't?

I live opposite a school and the parking situation could drive me to distraction but provided I sort things so I don't need to get on or off my drive between 8:50 & 9am or between 2:50 and 3:10 it doesn't need to send my blood pressure soaring. Of course it would be better if the parents were more considerate, but they're not going to be and getting wild about it, like OP and the piano, only upsets me.

YABU while I was growing up we actually lived in a flat next to a piano teacher for 15 years (my room was next to the room they played in). She gave piano lessons every day and her daughter also practiced piano, the flute or violin every day (she went through several instruments over the years). It was a bit annoying, esp at 9am on Sunday. But that's it. A bit annoying. And now she only gives a lesson a week? YABVU and, given the aggressiveness of your post, in dire need of anger management classes.

Ds plays the cello (not rather well) for 20 minutes twice a week. It's fair game considering my neighbour hoovers/runs the car/lets their DD run around from 07:30am until 10pm, has the TV on loud until 1am, lets their dog yap from 7am, plays their stereo at full blast in the garden every day from Spring to Autumn, pisses off for the weekend leaving their smoke alarm beeping....

I'm temped to get him a drum kit.

I haven't read all the responses to this thread, but I wish I could my son to do music practice for 30 min every day. I salute your neighbours.

I think previous posters (I am at the bottom of page 1) have everything else more or less covered as far as the reasonableness of your complaint goes.

Learning to play a musical instrument has increasingly become the preserve of the children of wealthier parents. If only the children of parents wealthy enough to live in a detached house were allowed to learn it really would become very elitist indeed, which would be a shame for everyone.

If you're in a terrace, you need to be considerate of your neighbours, but a bitof give and take seems reasonable.

Banging on the wall stops the fucking thing
If you were my neighbour I'd be at your door telling you to stop banking on the wall as I'm trying to teach my child to play the piano and you shroud respect parents who want their kids to learn.
If you don;t like neighbours move to a detached house.

I do have sympathy as I also live in a terraced house where they have 3 kids learning the paino. One is okay-ish, the 2 others are less so.

I don't mind the playing at all during the day, but I did go around at night a couple of times to say that 9:30 PM - or 10PM, or 11:30PM depending on the occasion - was too late to play the piano.
The last time the dad was pretty stroppy about "his children having to practice" but not my problem! His kids can practice when they get home from school, I don't see why they need to practice at 10PM. It's been ok since then, as I didn't back down (firm and polite but with a clear "don't mess with me" attitude ).

All this to say:
I think some pianists don't realise how loud their piano is, and how well their neighbours can hear every single (false) note, and that their neighbour has no choice about hearing it. I personnally can only take so many renditions of "Happy Birthday to You", "The Pink Panther" and "Katyusha" (with hesitations, restarts, false notes etc) before losing my sanity .

Some pianist also have to realise that their neighbours might not care if they are fantastic pianists, oh-so-cultured musicians and the reincarnation of Arthur Rubinstein - and should have a little bit of consideration for their neighbours: aka, don't play at stupid hours (I think after 9PM is starting to really push it). I'm pretty laid back, but when I get home from work, I want to be able to enjoy my own bit of down-time and be able for example to watch the movie on the TV without having to crank up the volume (and then annoy the other nighbours next door!) or simply have some peace and quiet for an hour or two.

Reading this and some of the other responses on here, I can clearly see that none of you have ever had to live next to a noisy neighbour
How do you know?

As a matter of fact, having lived in terrace houses a lot, i've lived next to all sorts of noise. The noisiest neighbours were generally those with small children -- either the kids crying, or the parents telling them off.

But that's life, and if you live in a terrace house, that's what you deal with. It's easy enough to block it out, and it's not as if the piano music is amplified death metal at 2am.

The advantages of living in a terrace lower heating costs for a start far outweigh the noise of a piano. In fact, I wish I could hear that rather than my neighbour's hoovering.

I would knock on the door, say hi (politely) and that I wondered if they realised that their music playing was coming through the shared wall quite loudly. And that I would really appreciate it if they could keep the piano playing to sociable hours only (say, after 7.30am and before 8pm) as it was very intrusive at other times, or whether they could consider moving it to the other room where it might be less of an issue. Without swearing, or aggression, or multiple uses of the word "fucking".

Depending on their reaction to that I would then escalate to EH / letter to council / taking up the drums myself.

We had a letter of complaint from the neighbours about the dogs barking (all day every day - which was impossible as they were in kennels during the time complained about) when they hadn't even come over to talk to us first and find out if it was our dogs. I'd been hesitant about getting DS2 the drumkit he was desperate for until then - he got it for Christmas and practices at least half an hour a day :)

Why do so many people enjoy making other people's life a misery when they complain?
Why can't you just say "Sorry - that's not a fair complaint and we will not be changing our behaviour." Why do you have to go out of your way to make things even worse and brag about how much more of a misery you made your neighbour's life?

I'm lucky to live in a semi now, but have lived in flats and terraced houses. Some noise is inevitable, but you've just got to have a bit of give and take, and talk to neighbours.

DS has a piano. Her neighbour called round once to say that it sounded really loud in their house. DS hadn't realised, invited neighbour in, talked about where it could be moved to and they shifted the piano between them. End of problem. Everyone happy.

You honestly need to wise up I mean you’re obviously a bit of a snob, feel bad for your kids growing up with a mother who is so hateful of those who try to feel fulfillment through music and hates the fact someone is learning a news skill.
I think you should go to the police, and be told to wise up.
And to your neighbors “play on”