I was reading on another forum (a flute one) about a guy who lives in a flat in Brighton, whose neighbour has complained about his practise.

He is an advanced player (so no nasty squeaky noises) but his neighbour has insisted he finishes his practise at 7pm on the dot. Apparently if you don't break the decibel level, you are allowed to do what you're doing until 11pm !!

I suppose in a way i can understand why this guy is feeling a little "put out" it must be difficult especially if one is in full time work. I am fortunate enough that even though i live in a terraced house i manage to do most of my practise during the day, and make a point of not playing after 7pm anyway

I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem with their neighbours

Actually I'm pretty awful to my neighbours because I tend to practice anytime up to 10pm. Usually no later though because I do think that's unfair. I live in a terraced house too and I've never had any complaints as yet. Although someone complained to the council about my brother playing his guitar at about 10pm and we all got a warning which I thought was outrageous! It was summer and the window was open but i thought the person who was complaining was a bit out of order really.

as I have a clarinet now too, I think my neighbours are VERY understanding - the amount of awful noises that comes out of that... also I'm getting a piccolo soon muhahahaha!!

I also play the violin until 11 pm... my teacher constantly tells me to go WILD when I practise, so I have done...

If the neighbours do complain, I shall tell them that their fourteen year old daughter has been smoking out of her window and dropping her fag ends in OUR GARDEN so her mother can't tell she's been smoking!!

I got a complaint when I was playing my piccolo before school one morning.

Our neighbours often get annoyed with me practicing, but we have an agreement that I won't practice after 9pm and that seems to work.

maybe my Mystic Meg powers were at their height when we purchased our house because our front room doesn't share a wall. One of the attached neighbours has commented on my eldests clarinet technique but in a helful rather than complaining way! My other neighbours have heard the drums and think my daughter is good so luckily we've not had any complaints.

I think I'm far too considerate. We used to practice in our spare room which is away from our neighbours, then our second child came along and selfishly took it . I never practice if I know next door is in, although it really frustrates me. I try and practice in the day when number one child is at school, and baby is in bed, but now it's the Easter hols, I'm finding it really hard! Maybe I should just go ahead and practice. Next door is really quiet and we hardly ever hear anything from them but I don't want to make things awkward. We're on the market at the moment to try and find something detached, but that worries me too, because if we move somewhere more rural, then the traffic noise won't disguise my playing and it will look even more obvious which house it's coming from
Ho hum.

We used to have a rock band which played in the shed which backs onto our garden. They were really loud. they wrote letters to everyone in the street, which was a nice touch, but they still played rather late, and had their amps turned up far beyond what they needed. The shed was unfortunately nearer to our house than any others, including their own, so we got most of it. Fortunately, they only lasted one Summer!

Without knowing all the facts, I would say it's the neighbour who is being unreasonable, not your friend, especially if he works all day and gets home not long before 7 anyway. As others on this thread have shown, there are much more reasonable solutions, like 9pmish.

I am fortunate though that my room is well away from any neighbours so I can go a bit later than that, but never 7pm.

I sometimes play until 11. The neighbours do not complain but they sometimes put their stereos on or turn their TV up. That is preferable to them complaining. Sometimes if I stop for a little while their sound dies away but when I start up again I think they are too embarrassed to turn up their stereo or tv.

I play at a normal loudness untill about 8. If it's later than that, I tend to play wuietly. My naighbors never caomplains about my playing.

I used to practise at all hours... but never after my anyone in the house went to bed, which would be about 10pm. I live in halls now and they have a music room... I have been in there at 2 in the morning when I'm unable to sleep, but it's away from the rooms so you don't disturb anyone anyway.

7pm? That's really early... Sometimes I didn't start until then.

someone has just suggested he take up the bagpipes !!!!

Thank goodness for detached houses. I finish teaching and practicing by 10pm. Fortunately have only had favourable comments. Strangely I smile when I hear someone else practice particularly if they're a child. I reminds me of when I started and the journey they're on.

I'd rather hear music practice than an over-loud stereo!

When I was growing up, our neighbours said they loved it when I practised - and they used to turn their TV off so that they could listen!

At the moment we live in a flat, and no one has ever complained - in fact they too seem to like it. But I do tend to try and practise during the day - and never before 9.30am or after 9pm. I work after 9pm, but then there's always practise you can do without making any noise - especially us singers.

However, we're moving tomorrow (I so should be packing at this moment!) - and I'm yet to find out what our neighbours are like. Luckily the couple who live downstairs only live there for about 10 weeks of the year, and it's only a semi-detached place, so there's just one family next door. Also, the room isn't on the edge of the house, which is a luxury I've never had before.

I live in a terrace too. I'm an early bird, but if I practise early I go down to the summerhouse and practise there. I wouldn't practise in the house in the morning before 9 am or in the evening after 9pm. I think 7pm is a little unreasonable.
If I'm practising in the evenings in the house it would be pieces I was practising. In the summerhouse and in the middle of the day I would practise the more disturbibg things like long tones and sticky bits of fingering I'm trying to get right.
We were disturbed for 2 years by a young neighbour who came home drunk several times a week and played thumping music until 4am. Compared to that, hearing proper practice can't be too aggravating.
To be in harmony with one's neighbours, is, I feel, beyond price, however.

I'm really lucky in that my neighbours are always complimentary - even when I am playing scales...........

"even" scales? I like scales
one of the nicest things I have heard was a professional trumpeter playing scales in a room below where I was staying at the time. She made such a lovely sound.....

You might not like them the way I practise them...

Neighbours haven't complained yet..Guys at home, always complain..

More often its my parents who complain - although I know my neighbours have young children so I won't play after 9pm, and try to stop well before then. I am thinking I may need to structure my day a little better though, rather than leaving practice until last as an incentive to get all that homework done, because too often I finish too late to play at all!

My husbands just finished mending a double bass he bought from a lad who had the head stock snapped off in an accident. Hubby has never played double bass but now he's merrily plucking away on it, and all I can think off is "I hope it's not disturbing the neighbours!" Maybe I need to chill a bit.

Im lucky i have a vicar on one side and a priest on the other side (do you think someone is trying to tell me something?) and they seem to love it, especially in the summer when I sit and practice in the garden.

The Vicar seems to apprciate it more though.
But its all good

x

My neighbours work night shifts sometimes; every 6 weeks I think, so it's particularly difficult to fit in a practise session. Now that I am at college, I do most of my practise there.

My Neighbours don't seem to mind the music very much that both my sister and I produce, although the piano is quite loud, as it is up against the wall. At least it's not beginner stuff though.

f (forte) the neighbours are complaining
mf (mezzoforte) testing the neighbours tolerance level.
pp (pianissimo) the neighbours are at the door.
ff (fortissimo) the neighbours`are out
fff to h*ll with the neighbours!

My friend has a mousemat with all that on! I remember some of the other stuff on it being even better, but can't remember what it was darnit.

My first neighbours were OK - I got a CD of Horn Concertos when they left, which was nice of them (and they'd been around since I was a total beginner, so they put up with a lot)! The others have been OK (no complaints), but my parents won't let me & my sister practise (even when I use a mute) after 8, which is really irritating - 9 would be much better since some nights I don't get in until 8 and this makes practise pretty much impossible

I'm lucky because I live in a detached house so you can't hear me play. However with the warmer weather coming I always worry about practicing with the windows open, especially when I'm practicing high notes - eek!!

We're looking to move house at the moment (I'm hankering after my own music room!). Everything that we can afford seems to be semi detached so I keep turning them down because I'm thinking of my practicing!!!

So have I , but I dont think I could post anymore as its probably copyright.

My neighbours are fine with me practising but I tend to stop at nine because there are a few toddlers where I live. Sometimes in the summer, if I have my window open, a few dog-walkers stop and listen to me! It's quite embarassing but at least they like (or pretend to like!) my playing!

Nobody has ever complained to our faces and we have a piano, clavinova, 2 cellos, 2 violins, 2 clarinets and a bassoon in regular use. Fortunately the girl across the road also plays the bassoon because that can be loud!

So far I've always been reasonably lucky with my neighbours. I lived in a flat for a while where I had a downstairs neighbour that would put the stereo on full belt whenever I played a note on anything.

My current neighbours are really tolerant....I play Eb clarinet a lot and I know it can't be pleasant. I try to keep the really annoying stuff for when I know the neighbour we are attached to is out but I don't practice beyond 8pm.

I'm quite worried though, the houses on both sides of me are currently up for sale (maybe the Eb has scared them away). Fingers crossed for more tolerant neighbours.......or maybe one who is a great accompanist looking for a recital partner, or another clarinet/recorder/saxophone player......where's the smiley for drifts off into a dream world of her very own?

Goodness, that is a lot of instruments in one house, cellophan!!!

Lots of children, that is why!!

Ahhh that figures!

Me too, unfortunately. I got so paranoid about disturbing my neighbours when I lived in a flat that I all but stopped playing at all.

I moved out of my flat a month ago and am now living temporarily at my parents's detached house until my new (semi detached) little house is ready. It's brilliant to be able to 'let rip' with the flute again.

I said to my neighbour over the fence "I hope my playing doesn't disturb you" and she said

"Was that you playing? I though it was the radio!"

I took it as a compliment, though she didn't actually say whether she thought it was any good or not

The dining room contains a piano, 2 guitars, a bass guitar a clarinet a violin and several harmonicas and they're all mine!

I don't get complaints from the neighbours (the advantages of a detached house built by Vicotrians) but I do get complaints from the family if I play the piano before 7 am or after 11 pm (the guitar seems ok, if I play quietly!)

That's why I'm planning to buy a digital keyboard and headphones.

I live in a semi-detached house and my neighbour (who's house mine is attached to) can hear everything I play. I always feel obliged to practice every day, because I teach her piano, and if she doesn't hear me practice, how can I moan at her when she doesn't? I hear her practice too, that makes me smile, especailly if I hear it the best she's ever played it

Unfortunately they're moving very soon, so I don't know how the new couple will find it... *scared*

Well i have never had any complaints from a neighbour, even when i lived in a house last year with 2 piano players so at times there were 2 pianos playing seperate pieces and me on my clarinet/trombone/guitar! Unfortunately this year i have non musical housemates who don't get up until 2pm every day so sometimes i do get complaints about waking them up, but i don't care and they know it!

We have never had any complaints. In 25 years we have accumulated & regularly use:
1 piano
2 keyboards
8 djembe drums
1 french horn
4 trumpets
1 pocket trumpet
1 fugelhorn
2 Euphoniums
1 trombone
1 clarinet
1 Alto Sax
1 'cello
3 violins
1 viola
2 flutes & a piccolo
2 thumb piano
4 guitars
8 harmonicas
Various Recorders
(1 vocal soprano)
loads of strange foreign percussion
General percussion, claves, tambourines, bones etc

I insisted that the Drum Kit had to go! And go it did!
We are now in a semi-detached victorian house & generally all are played regularly. The neighbours and passers-by often compliment the kids & husband on their practising. Friends are welcomed to practise here. This is a house of music.

You lucky person!!

It seems to me we are mostly in the grip of our neighbours...

My kids are more likely to complain than the neighbours are - though the neighbours' kids do occasionally put on cringey kiddie stuff at top volume when the baroque recorder music has got too much for them. I did have a surprise the other day though - my younger sprog came through and said "I've never heard you play that before" - it was one of the pieces I'd played in my diploma exam, but being modern and avant-garde, with horribly high notes, spiky runs of harsh double-tonguing and weird flutter-tonguing of low notes, I'd only dared to practise it when I could be sure that everyone from my family and the neighbours' was out...and she'd really not heard it before!
....even more strangely, she liked the wretched piece - "mummy, it's cool" .

Our neighbours have only complained once, and that was when we were playing in the room which has their living room on the other side of the wall. They aren't very sociable, and we hardly ever see them. Our music room isn't attached to their house at all, and so they can't hear our music unless all the windows are open in the summer. I do try to keep doors and windows closed unless it's really hot.

A recorder playing friend of mine lives on a farm about a mile and a half from their nearest neighbours. Her husband jokes that she made him buy that particular farm so that she could practice at all hours with only 300 sheep, two goats and a donkey to worry about. It's quite a liberating feeling though, playing there until late at night.

I've haven't recieve any complaints yet although sometimes I do start playing pretty late sometimes at 12 or 1 at night. They talk pretty loud though and plus our music room is connected to their conservatory so i guess they probably just don't mind as they're in their all the time.

Bring back the Vicar! I used to live next to one and he never complained about my teaching or the dog. Have only been at this house for 3 months and already we've had complaints about the dog barking (he does sometimes bark when my pupils arrive, but only 4 woofs about 5 times a day), and our son has been threatened by skateboarding at 7 pm on a Saturday night. He told him he's picked the wrong man to P*** off! Charming! He has also now put up a camera which is facing our gate, and thus, watching all the pupils coming in the gate - most being children. Does anyone know the law on this, as I'm worried that the children are on camera? I asked him not to threaten my child please and all I got was a load of abuse, punctuated by the 'F' word, which I might add we hear a lot of through our wall, yet have never complained. Any suggestions out there would be appreciated? We've had 5 houses in 24 years and have never before had a dispute with a neighbour It's very unnerving!

Contact your solicitor and/or local police and local council immediately! I am sure there are laws against this in relation to children. I have children, young people coming to my house for individual tuition and no way would I allow this. There has to some legislation some where about this. Some parents may strongly object and refuse to let thier children come for tuition if they knew. What is his purpose? I mean what does he do about storing the film? I know as a parent I would not want my child filmed by the neighbour or in a similiar situation. Its bad enough with CCTV on the streets, but at least I have some redress and knowledge about the storage of public footage.

Thanks for that! I keep putting it off, but I know I shall have to pay a visit to the police to ask them their advice. The police station is opposite our house and they might be interested to know that the camera is also on the police station! What we did was seal off the gate which leads to the front door where his camera is aimed at and the pupils now come in the drive gates so are not on camera at the moment. (I should point out that the camera is on his gate, but also takes in people coming in ours). I don't actually know what his game is as he's not actually complained about the music. I wondered if he was trying to prove that everytime a pupil comes the dog barks, but that's not true anyway. It's only now and then. I suppose, if I'm honest, I was trying to avoid the issue in case I'm breaking any rules by teaching from home. (I pay my full tax though so I've nothing to worry about regarding this matter). Anway, thanks for replying and will let you know what the police say.

Gah! I'm sure the camera thing can't be right - hope you get it sorted.

I need to DO some practice for my neighbours to complain about........

I often have complaints from neighbours. I'm in a terraced ex council house and I play trumpet !!! I only do about 45 mins when I get home from school about 4.30pm. However, I do play for the church and they only notify me of their Sunday hymns Friday night or Saturday, so I do give them a blast before church on Sunday mornings about 9.30 am for 10 mins or so. I get hammering on the wall. Mum just bangs back. It only seems to be the church music people object to though.

I'm lucky, we live far away from anywhere, and singing isn't loud anyway - or at least, not loud enough to permeate... when we used to live in a semi-detached, my brother got complaints about piano, in response he rudely clashed the keys randomly, and as loudly as possible for a long period of time... not exactly fun, for us or the neighbours...

Now though, my parents constantly complain (and my brother obviously...) about my singing - I either have to shut up while the TV is on, or stop practising exam pieces and sing their favourite songs...



My family is a bit weird...

Have experienced this for the first time myself this evening...

Started playing the flute nearly a month ago. Have been doing between 45 mins - 1 hour of practice (mainly scales and exercises) each evening to try and build up my stamina (I work full time so practice in the day is not possible).

Unfortunately I live in a block of flats (neighbours upstairs, downstairs and at the side) and the person who lives downstairs just came up and asked me to keep it to 1-2 times a week because they can hear it over their TV.

I don't know what to do...just stood there looking at neighbour blankly and apologised meekly because I hadn't realised it was a problem and didn't know that it was so loud. I have *nowhere* else to practice and now it looks like I'll have to stop playing my flute, just when I thought I was making progress.

Apart from moving as soon as my tenancy agreement is up does anyone have any suggestions for how to practise flute quietly?!