About elderly neighbours and my daughter’s piano

[user1499173618]

My DD is practising for her Grade 4 piano exam, which is due to take in June. We live on the second floor of a very nice apartment building of six apartments. We are the only occupants with a school aged child living at home. DD is very quiet and polite.

Our neighbours on the fourth and fifth floors have complained about DD’s piano playing and asked whether she could wear a headset and use the electronic keyboard. While I understand that they would prefer not to hear the piano at all, DD only plays for 30’ or so a day, apart from on Friday afternoons when her piano teacher gives her an hour’s lesson.

TBH I am quite hurt! DD is beautifully behaved and we work hard to keep her usefully occupied. I would have appreciated a more supportive set of neighbours! AIBU?

If it can be heard three floors up then yes I think you need to do something!

I agree with Sirzy. What sound proofing do you have? A noisy musical instrument in an apartment is very anti social.
And what difference does it make that they're elderly?

It's an age old argument. Can you ask them to agree practise times and not play outside of that? A keyboard, even a weighted one is not the same for practise.

The noise travels up the chimney shaft. Our fireplace is boarded up but the neighbours use theirs.

30 mins a day doesn't sound too bad. I wonder if it's the timing, more than anything? They're having an afternoon nap, say, and then dd wakes them up?

A piano in an apartment block is insanely selfish.

How your Dd behaves is irrelevant imo

Would you want to hear your neighbours music two floors up every day?

Could you move the piano?

It isn't anti social to play piano, actually I would say it was antisocial to complain about a child in your community learning an instrument. Apartment or terrace living requires mutual respect and tolerance on all sides, not silence!

The younger neighbours don’t mind - indeed, they have their own lives (dogs, smoke) that infringe on our space. Give and take!

The deeds of a flat I once lived in actually specified that no piano was allowed to be held, or to be played, on the premises.

The piano is in the best possible place - far corner of the dining room, as far away from the bedrooms as it could possibly be. Moving the piano could only make things worse.

Our deeds specify that pianos may be played!

So you've done nothing to stop neighbours being bothered? No sound proofing? Tried moving the piano? Having lessons at the house of the teacher to at least give the neighbours a day off?
Having a quiet dog or smoking in their own apartment is not comparable to a noise nuisance.

Our deeds specify that pianos may be played!

How funny!

I would ask them if you can compromise by sticking to certain practice times when they're less likely to be disturbed.

It isn't really anything to do with the behaviour of your daughter - I'm sure she is lovely but that won't stop her piano being loud!

Insanely selfish??? Good grief.

Insanely selfish to complain about 30 minutes piano playing a day which at Grade 4 is probably quite pleasant to listen to. Miserable sods.

The lessons definitely cannot change location. We have placed the piano in the best possible position and sound proofing would mean blocking the chimney, which we would be very happy to do but our fourth floor neighbours like their three open fires in winter.

If you are making such a noise every day that neighbours two floors up can hear it? Yes that's selfish and unneighbourly.

YANBU in my opinion. A bit of piano playing is not remotely offensive. If you'd said she was practising the drums for 2 hours a day I might think differently.

I regularly hear some rather dubious trombone and violin practice from my neighbours. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

If your neighbours want silence they shouldn't live near other people. And if they can't afford to do that, then they need to put up with the fact that other people make some moderate noise.

DD plays after school - around 5pm or 6pm. And on Saturday and Sunday late morning. But the neighbours did say that it definitely wasn’t an issue of timing.

30 mins a day and an hour once a week sounds perfectly acceptable to me. It's not great having a piano in a flat but if she really is only doing 30 mins a day it does seem churlish to whinge about it! I assume this is an acoustic piano? My DS had an electronic piano - full size weighted keyboard with the huge advantage that it came with headphones and could be silenced! He still passed all his music exams on it and says he wasn't disadvantaged by having to change to an acoustic piano for his actual exams.

I'd rather listen to 30 mins of piano practise a day than smell cigarette smoke every day.
I'd let them know she is working towards an exam, she will be playing 30 minutes a day between x and x time and has a 1 hour lesson on a friday at x time. They may want to put their radio on to disguse the sound if they like. But you will not be stopping her lessons or practise, as it is permitted in the building, and it is not happening during unsocial hours.
They are being unreasonable and need to get over it, I'd want to tell them she's begging to learn the trumpet, she'll be getting one for Christmas.

This doesn’t seem unreadable amounts of noise.

As this is MN, and your dd is playing the piano (or violin/cello/flute/opera singer) EVERYDAY then yanbu to wish for more understanding and supportive neighbours. However, if she was a budding drummer/rapper/dj/rock guitarist then yabvu. These are the rules.

We used to live next door to a piano teacher. The noise was awful. Much longer than half an hour. Try getting work done, having a conversation or enjoying a leisurely meal through that noise.
Was so great to move out.