Due to personal circumstances, I shall be moving house soon, so I thought I'd conduct a quick survey on how pianists and their neighbours get on. As I have a fairly large grand piano, this might affect the sort of place I should go for.

So, please vote as above, provided:
1) you have an acoustic (not electric) piano
2) you do not live in a detached house

If you have several neighbours with differing reactions, select the worst one.

Any good/bad piano/neighbour experiences also are of interest.

Thanks!

Good Luck with your house move. It's a stressful experience.

Although I live in a semi,my piano is situated as far away as possible from my neighbours. I don't think they can hear me at all. Absolutely no complaints whatsoever.

Many years ago I had the misfortune of living next to a nutter ( his mother also lived there ,who was OK ),who lived in a housing association place...terraced.I had no trouble from the neighbours on the other side,but he made my life a misery.In the end,they moved after his mother apologised to me! He threatened all sorts,including setting a pit bull terrier onto me.

Not long after I met my ex husband and moved out too! It wouldn't be a place I would ever want to go back too,so I suppose this poll can represent the personality (ies ) of neighbours too.

I haven't voted as I live in a detached house. We've got a neighbour one side and a large open area the other side. I've also got double glazing so definitely no problems with noise. The only thing that bothers me is whether cars arriving to drop off/pick up/wait for pupils are inconveniencing my neighbour. They've not complained but I sometimes wonder if they mutter about it in private. As well as thinking about noise and neighbours perhaps you need to consider this as well when selecting your new house.

Hi

Maybe if you have not bought a house yet it might be worth thinking about an older rather than newer one. Or one with more solid walls. We live in a Victorian Semi and the piano is in a room that does not share a wall with the neighbours. The property next door is rented but we have never had any complaints.

An older house should also have large enough rooms for your piano

Good luck

They get on great - partly 'cos I do most of my practice in the mornings/early afternoons, but mainly beacuse we live in an old attached house (not a proper terraced house, in the true sense of the word, but with houses attached either side, if you get what I mean) and the walls are a good 2 feet thick.... of absolutely solid stone (as our builders found out when they spent several hours drilling through just one part of a wall for a soilpipe once........ and broke one of their drill bits too......)

Thanks for your views so far. I am not a piano teacher, so don't have the issue of cars arriving and departing. My view at present is that provided you get on fine with your neighbours in general, the piano is not likely to be a big issue, but if you don't get on for whatever reason, then it may become a focus for disputes.

Same here - I don't know if the neighbours can hear or not as they have never mentioned it. My piano is quite a loud upright, but I was actually more concerned that they might complain about the cello, which is louder and more penetrating and - certainly to start with - made the sort of noise that you might well complain about! I mention this as I know you play the cello too, storini. I know you play your cello musically, but there are always going to be occasions when practising when you make horrible noises in order to get where you need to!

Attached houses built after 1992 had to meet a higher standard of insulation against noise, and the building regs were further amended in 2002 to increase the specification, so if you can find a new house, and a space away from the separating wall in which to put your piano, I'd have thought this would be the best bet. (Solid walls aren't necessarily the best means of noise insulation, unless they're unusually thick.)

I'm not sure if my neighbours like the sound of me practicing my piano or not. The downside is that I live next door to a nursing home!

Car Expert

I'm in a mid terrace now, from a lovely detached. I used to play piano in the old place with the French doors open at times, never had any complaints. Don't get any from our neighbours here either (mostly because I've only met one of them!)

I haven't voted, as I live in a detached house. During the summer I play with the patio door open and none of the neighbours mind. My bassoon is louder and sometimes can be heard throught the door. They told me they prefer hearing me practising than listen to the arugements and late night parties over the fence.

Good luck with the house move! Well I live in a detached house, sorry I voted before I read that, but sometimes the slide door is left open and people have siad to my mom it's really nice.

At a previous house the name reported me to the Council for teaching at home. An official came around and had a "chat" with me. If I didn't stop teaching within two weeks, they'd take me to court! Wow I was shocked. I've lived in this house (a semi) for over a year and generally try to finish teaching by 20.00. So far I've had no problems with the neighbours, though I'm careful that pupils/parents only park outside of my house.

I don't really play myself very much as I'm a bit scared of neighbour's complaints if it's too late! Oh well.

I dont think they are musical but mine have said they love it and advise me to 'make a good living out of it'..er..no

Whups: edit I hadnt read the thing before voting either. But in my old house they certainly didnt mind either, though I made sure I didnt play too late/

I'm a mid terrace... on the one side my neighbours say they love the live music, and when I have apologised for playing scales over and over when learning them, have told me they don't mind at all... on the other side, with a thicker wall, the only complaint is that Nadia can't hear me when I do my singing practice like she can for piano or flute...

I've put my vote as a don't know as I live in a mid terrace house-I'm on very good terms with the neighbour on 1 side-who has said she doesn't hear my teaching much-and has even said to let her know if her TV or radio is disturbing me when I'm teaching. Neighbour on other side I rarely bump into so don't know-and he's away a lot I think. I don't teach after 9 o clock and have a clavinova so use headphones for my own practice. I do worry about cars/congestion when dropping off pupils-parking is less of an issue as there tend to be no spaces anyway so they have to park up the road. It is a concern for me, as 1 thing I've been considering for a while is whether in the long term to stop doing music school teaching and concentrate on private teaching at home-quieter environment, considerably more money so I could work less long hours-but I do worry about cars/noise, etc even though I've not so far had any problems. It would be interesting to know how many hours or days other private teachers feel comfortable about working from home-without having a detached house, that is!

I fail the eligibility test for this poll on both counts, but my neighbours have never said anything to me about music, even if I'm practicing altissimo clarinet notes during the summer with the patio doors and all windows open. Most of it depends on the neighbours though: if you get on well with your neighbours they're less likely to grumble about it (and playing a few recognisable tunes after ten minutes of top As probably helps win them back round!).

Sorry to reopen this so much later, but there seemed little point in starting a new thread on the subject!

My neighbour does not get on at all with my piano. I sound-proofed the room, don't practise nearly enough, never play after nine at night, but she's trying to insist that I move the piano into the middle of the room (!?!) I teach for one hour on a Tuesday, when I know she's not in the house. It's never (or very rarely) played for more than half an hour in an evening, so reducing hours isn't an option.

She claims that it impinged less on her when it was there (briefly) before I got the soundproofing than it does where it is now with soundproofing. Claims that having it near the wall (near, not touching, and not even the adjoining wall) sends vibrations through her whole house. Personally I think she expects to live next door to a musician and hear no music!

So my question is, does anyone have tips on how to reduce the sound from the piano further? I've got cardboard in the back of it, with a heavy blanket over it. The room is carpeted, and has a lot more furniture and books in it than it did before. I also now have curtains in the room where there were none before. Is there anything else I can do?

My neighbours don't mind...i think it's because we have to put up with their son's drumming at night!!!

tumeltyni, do you have double-glazing? I think that makes a fair bit of difference to the sound escaping. You can get secondary double-glazing to fit inside existing windows I believe.

There are architects and consulting engineers who can advise on more elaborate sound-proofing, but that's not something to underake lightly.

My one side neighbors, my parents love it. My other side neighbors who are only here in the summer, like it too. My back side neighbor is an empty field, and it hasn't complained!

I live in a detached house and teach in the evenings. I have had no complaints about my personal practice nor my teaching. I make far more sound when singing and get complements for that. My neighbours appreciate my job and are happy for me.

Is there any chance you could suggest to your neighbour that you get someone to play your piano for you while you go into your neighbour's house to hear for yourself what she's complaining about? Perhaps it's not noise she can hear, but vibration she can feel, and maybe it's through the floor? - just guessing here. You seem to have done all you can to reduce the sound. Or would you be able to move the piano to a different room which doesn't adjoin her house?

Thanks for the feedback!

I don't actually have another room it could be moved into - I've a pretty big sitting room, and a kitchen/dining room, but both touch her house. I do need to get my windows double-glazed at some point, but I can't afford it at the moment. I'll see if I can save quicker.... But there's the worst thing, I'm only 24, I've bought a house by myself, where does she think I'll get the money for all this work? Especially if I can't teach...

I haven't completed the survey as I have a digital piano. I live in a terraced house, and after moving here with my small grand piano I was told in no uncertain terms that the neighbours (on one side) didn't like the 'noise' - insults! After their various complaints, I decided to part exchange my lovely piano for a digital so that I could turn the sound down a bit when I was teaching. This has worked very well, but the neighbours concerned have since moved, and I'm left with a piano I don't much like and still pining for my little grand.

Now I have two very loud alsatian dogs on one side, and 8 (yes eight) children on the other!

What a shame, nannyjay!

I'm so fortunate that both my sets of neighbours seem to enjoy my playing, and never complain even when bombarded with scales... I hope that doesn't change anytime soon.

Living in a detatched house does help.

However my neighbours love my playing!!!!

(probably because of my talent)
haa haa haa.

Regards

My neighbour has always said she enjoys my playing, and even points out if I haven't been practising for a while.

I think its really sad that anyone would complain about piano music especially classical! I think it used to be standard practice for many families in terraced houses to have a piano in the parlour (front room) so I suppose they all accepted it as normal. (Im not that old honest - its just that both my grandparents had a piano in the parlour of their terraced houses!) Things are so different now.

When I lived at home with my parents my father used to play his concert grand piano every evening and it would always lull me to sleep even with grand pieces like Beethoven's "Pathetique" !!

good luck with it

Got the solicitor's letter... Luckily I'm getting free legal advice from a friend of mine who's also a solicitor, apparently this letter says between the lines that the neighbour hasn't a hope in ###### of winning a case. But still...

If you can't live with normal neighbourhood sounds, move down the country!

I'd be interested to hear how you soundproofed the room and specially the floor which can be more problematic than the walls.

this is why people choose a cottage/converted barn in the country to set up a studio. it's nigh impossible to keep out unwanted noise in a town. can be done but at some expense and the room gets smaller!

it can be a nuisance for neighbours who have unusual sleep patterns or prefer quiet but need live in a town for some reason. we all have to put up with some noise but whose noise is more important?

I believe it is undesirable to let a dispute escalate to the level of legal correspondence, as if and when you or your neighbour come to sell your houses then you will have to disclose this to the intending purchaser before exchange of contracts. Disclosure of ill-will between neighbours may result in the sale falling through, leaving you both "blighted" and stuck with each other indefinitely.

On the other hand, concealment and failure to disclose material particulars pre-exchange of contracts may result in you subsequently being sued for compensation over the omission.

Hi everyone.

I live in a block of flats containing six flats. Fortunately, my neighbours have never complained but some of them do tend to switch on their stereos sometimes when I am practising. I suppose it cannot be much fun for them listening to me repeatedly practising scales or practising sections of a piece of music several times. In the future I would like to teach the piano but have decided that the best option will be for me to travel to pupil's homes.

i.

Sharrie

Update - haven't heard a word from that neighbour since that solicitor's letter. I still teach for one hour on a Tuesday night, still don't practise enough, but still haven't stopped playing either... I'm hoping she's realised that she was being just slightly unreasonable *fingers crossed*

Thanks for the update

- I just read through the whole thread and was wondering what had happend to you.