Piano practice neighbour twunt

[runningtogetskinny]

Just wondering what people think are reasonable hours to practice the piano? Newish door neighbour is clearly very talented but practices the piano at any time from around 6am until 11pm - this goes on for at least an hour at a time, including weekends. We live in an Edwardian terrace with thick walls but can still hear him. AIBU to think this is taking the piss and suggest he practice between 9am and 9pm?

*next door neighbour

9am and 9pm sounds sensible.

9am to 8pm is reasonable. No later...

Thanks, often woken up at 6.30am by him practicing, neighbours on the other side have 2 young kids yet I rarely hear much noise so he must be playing very loudly

9am to 9pm is more than reasonable. I’d want to suggest he never practices.

Do you think he has taken any steps to minimise the noise? Next summer will be fun for you if he carries on 😕

If he's only practising for an hour he should be able to fit it in at a more sociable time, even on a weekday (I'm assuming he works). Or he needs to get a piano with a practice pedal or silent function. Failing that, he needs to invest in sound insulation.

No matter whether he's a complete beginner or a concert pianist, practising from 6.30am or until 11.00pm is highly inconsiderate.

He is being VU. Contact him, say he is waking you up, suggest strongly he practises in sociable hours!

It would certainly seem sensible to strike up a conversation with him - it's perfectly feasible that he isn't aware how much the sound carries.
I'd always start with a friendly conversation - it might help if the piano were on another wall for example.
As a rule 9am - 10pm would seem a reasonable time to limit the practising to. At least a good time to request.

In the summer he plays with the patio doors open so everyone can 'enjoy' his performances! To be honest I've heard some awful arguments (non piano related) from them so not really keen to confront him, but they're renting the house so I could mention to the landlord, complaint could come from either side! I think they're incredibly ignorant to their general noise e.g. dog barking at 5am, loud arguments etc. If my daughter was at home I would complain as her bedroom is on the same wall but above where he practices, while I can hear in my bedroom it's not so bad. Pleased to hear others agree anyway, I know it could be much worse but it's really annoying

I play the piano, and for the sake of the neighbours swapped my traditional upright for an electric piano. They can be just as good these days, and come with a wonderful headphone socket!

How people can play musical instruments so loudly is beyond me. There are ways of quietening most instruments. I know this as I play a few, and do so as quietly as possible.

I would put my stereo on at 06.30 a.m tomorrow and let the fucker enjoy that.

What a bell-end. Definitely complain to the landlord! Perhaps you could also take up singing really loudly and off-key, OP?

op as pp but I suggest opera :)

Yanbu. I be livid being woken at 6:30am after it going on until 11pm. I would tell them to be more considerate.

"Perhaps you could also take up singing really loudly and off-key, OP?" --> I second this. And sing in a different tempo and key to whatever he is playing. Smile at him when you see him and mention how much you enjpy singing to his tunes, and how convenient it is that he plays at the time of day you feel more keen to sing at the top of your voice.

My OH plays piano. However since we have a neighbour at one side he opted for an electric piano with headphones. He enjoys practising at all hours however since it’s silent there’s no cause for complaints.

Can you just let him know first before contacting the landlord OP? He may have no idea whatsoever that you can hear it.

Maybe the piano is against your shared wall and he can move it? Or if it’s an electric piano, he can use headphones (like my son has too when he’s “practising” lol)

Yes he's a twunt.

There's nothing formal in law regarding noise, but 8 til 8 seems to be the convention. If he really wants to play at night that's what electric pianos (with headphones!) are for.

Is his piano along the wall adjoining your house? Ask him if he could move it against another wall and, as others said, limit the hours he plays.

I play piano OP and I play 8 up until 8 (later when I could hear neighours in the garden having a bbq etc in summer a few evenings). I think environmental health say 11pm-7am are the hours we shouldn't be doing anything too noisy?

@runningtogetskinny please ignore all these suggestions of ways to "get your own back" and just speak to your neighbour like an adult, he may not even realise you can hear him so loudly.

I once had a neighbour who played the flute, she was really good but would practice every night from 9pm-10.30pm in her bedroom which was on the adjacent wall to DS bedroom - he was young enough at the time that his bedtime was 8pm !!

We tried for weeks of knocking on the door, even knocking on the wall but she just couldn't hear us when she was playing and pretty much wasn't home the rest of the time!

We did eventually catch her and explained about her keeping DS awake.

She was very apologetic, started practising earlier in the evening and brought round sweets for DS the next day

I think environmental health say 11pm-7am are the hours we shouldn't be doing anything too noisy?

This is incorrect @Longfacenow I believe those times refer to ANY noise regardless of level but between those hours constant noise above w certain decibel level is considered unacceptable. If your neighbour made a complaint to the local council then environmental health could decide to set up monitoring equipment in your neighbour ours house next to the adjoining wall.

If your piano playing goes on constant and is above certain decibel levels they could issue you with a notice to stop.

Argh typos lol sorry!

It comes under standard noise rules which are 8am to 10pm. My dd plays later but we are detached. Whether he's breaking the law is down to the number of decibels you can hear in your house, your local council can advise. He may have a day job so needs to practice in the evening or is teaching - my DD's teacher taught until 10pm in a terrace

Please talk to the neighbour. We had this from the other side with our kids music practice. We had done some tests on our own house and thought our detached neighbour wouldn't be able to hear noise from our house. We were wrong; the other house was built differently. We would have fixed it straight away if he'd talked to us. Instead he spent a year being annoyed and a month with the sound monitoring equipment from environmentsl health in his house (I did wonder why he had the doors and windows wide open all day in dead if winter; in retrospect it was to make the noise readings as loud as possible). Enviro health eventually told him he was being unreasonable but not before a whole lot of stress and bad feeling. If he's talked to us we could have addressed his specific concerns straight away