To complain about the piano noise

[Noisedrivingmemad]

We have recently moved into a semi detached house. On our attached side are a couple aged about 60, and a couple of lodgers.
They are friendly people, dropped a card in when we moved, the woman has spoken to my DH a fair bit over the fence about gardening, not intrusive ,very nice, all good.
HOWEVER, she is a piano and violin teacher.
3 week days (mostly after school) she is teaching piano and violin and it is like. She. Is. In. The. Room.

I can just about handle the lessons, although the violin is pretty awful. My kids are fairly noisy after school so I kind of see it as fair game, and accept that being in a semi-detached house means we need to accept some noise. I just tolerate it, even though every dinner time it feels like we are accompanied by the god awful piano playing.
But even at the weekend she is playing (not teaching). She has been playing for the last 2 hours, I could kill her. I literally want to rip that piano out the wall. My kids were watching a film and I turned it up as loud as possible out of pure rage, but in the kitchen I can still hear it, tinkle tinkle fucking tinkle, the tunes go round and round in my head.
I think I might crack and throw myself off my own balcony. Sometimes I go to sleep dreaming of taking a big machete to her musical instruments or chopping her fingers off with my bread knife.

So what would you do? Should I say something?? Do I just live with it? Is it anti-social?

Help.

No, plenty of working class people had pianos 😄

Yes this true. A singsong round the piano was the evening’s entertainment.

I’ll swap you gladly for the drum teacher that lives behind us and plays the damn things constantly. It’s one of those things that goes with residential living. Just have to suck it up.

Piano playing is beautiful. The violin (by a beginner) is horrendous noise, but I love the piano. It wouldn't bother me at all.

When I lived in an Edinburgh tenament (flat), my neighbour practised the bagpipes. I rather liked it! I imagine others were less keen.

I'd take musical instrument noise over children being allowed to "express themselves" at whatever volume they please, any day of the week.

Yes of course that did.

But I disagree that 'most' homes had them.

*They

Prior to television, most homes did have them.

I think asking nicely if it's possible for it to be on the non adjoining side of the house would be reasonable, and probably better than revenge by loud films...

I have no advice but when we moved into our terrace I apologised to our new neighbour about the noise our 2 and 5 yo's routinely make and they laughed and said it's really nothing compared to the piano that the former owners had in the hall 😂

I wouldn't say anything if you can work around it. You take on a joined home knowing its luck of the draw how loud your neighbours are and I say that living in a terrace.

I would say that if your baby is going down at 7 and she's still playing and it's stopping your wee one from sleeping then I'd maybe ask her about not playing later than that if it's causing a big sleep disruption but tbh I'd imagine that baby will get used to it as well. When we moved ours into his nursery he struggled with the traffic but now he's fine with it.

Good neighbours are hard to find and given its her job I'd be loathe to mention anything. Maybe get some noise cancelling headphones?

@HarrietJet

Prior to television, most homes did have them.

See you've got your middle class privilege spectacles on there.

😳

Yep.

I would go easily here TBH. She sounds nice and her DH as well.Good neighbours are a marvellous asset! If you have DC then realistically how much noise do they make? Maybe think about trips out on a WE afternoon instead ? Say watch a film in the evening .If still unbearable maybe carefully have a discreet word

We used to live in a semi, next door to a music teacher when I was a kid. We had the piano, cornet and trombone coming through the wall every day and often all day on a Sunday for years until one day in a rage, my hungover dad turned the speaker to the wall and played The Beatles' "Give Peace A Chance" through the wall on repeat.

Im suprised that its her annoying you and not the lessons more? Is she not a good player? Why dont you request your favourite pieces?

Having had some horrendous neighbours over the years in terraced houses and flats - screaming, slamming, parties, thumping music at all hours, violent arguments, compulsive banging on a metal sink with a metal bar for hours - I would happily take a normal, sane, pleasant couple with a bit of piano in civilised hours and thank my lucky stars.

I say that as someone who is noise-sensitive.

I've just spent 10 minutes trying to find a link to how many uk homes owned pianos from 1920s onwards and I can't find anything.

Do you have a source?

This is like suggesting someone requests their favourite song when next door are playing loud music at a bbq.

The OP doesn't want to hear next door's noise, although there doesn't seem to be anything she can do about it to be fair.

I sympathise. Sadly she isn’t doing a lot wrong if it isn’t incessant - 3 after schools per week and a Saturday lunchtime isn’t unreasonable - but noisy neighbours such that you can’t relax in your own home is awful.

Maybe it should be added to all the enquires when you move house: "Does any neighbour play or teach musical instruments"

I really don't know which would be worse, your children or her piano.
And as for bad violin playing- well it's not an instrument that can ever sound good without a really good player.

By the way I have never played a piano with a mute pedal, and such a thing is certainly not standard on older pianos. Of course electronic pianos you can just turn down or better, jut use with headphones.

Consider yourself lucky, it could have been Megadeath or Metallica.

Or, a 1000 times worse, Jamaican Ragga at antisocial hours in my case 😵‍💫

My DH is a pianist and when we first moved into this house ate then neighbours loved to hear him play. But to the next lot of neighbours it was just noise and they complained all the time. DH now has an electric piano he plays with headphones so he doesn’t disturb anyone.

I would get the sheet music for some of my favourite pieces and give it to her. But yes, also ask the piano to be moved to the opposite wall.