Apologies if the title of my post is rather strange. I and my piano have recently moved house, into a flat (a Glasgow tenement for those in the know) with high ceilings. I tend to play with the practise pedal down to prevent the neighbours from having to hear my, at times, 'interesting' playing. When I do play without the practise pedal, to me the piano sounds so different to what I was used to in my last house (which didn't have the high ceilings etc). It sounds incredibly loud and echos rather a lot. The left hand in particular sounds loud, and it's very difficult to get a good balance between the hands. I also find it hard to play soft, as everything just seems loud!!

I don't have carpets (wooden flooring) or curtains (blinds) which I guess would help to absorb some of the noise, but is there anything else I can do to stop my playing sounding like this?

Throw a duvet or two over the whole thing?

This is what you get with good acoustics and no soft furnishings to damp the sound! Of course everything will sound very loud if you practise with the practice pedal on most of the time (bad idea by the way!). The balance between the hands is something that you have to learn to adjust to - the bass register does tend to drown the treble if you are not careful. I really notice the difference with this when I open the lid of my piano, and have to adjust accordingly. You could try installing rugs, curtains etc if the sound bothers you, otherwise - just enjoy!

Ah, didn't think of that one!

If you really don't want the nice echoey sound, getting curtains would be a good place to start. Carpet would be even better, but more expensive. Other than that, anything soft, so sofas, beds, rugs etc.

You sound like you should be presenting "Changing Rooms"

OP: How about going down to the supermarket and grabbing a few thousand eggs so you can line your walls with the boxes? You'll be eating ommeletes for the next few years but hey, it *might* work...*

*no, it won't

I'm just fed up of having to practise in my bedroom, which is about the most acoustically-dead room I've ever had the misfortune to play in, so have a pretty good idea of what kills acoustics.




I think you'll find it actually would work pretty well, Solari.

Two possible fairly quick fixes (assuming its an upright):-

Place a thick rug under the piano (preferably under the feet as well)
Place an old duvet betwen the piano and the wall

Mole

BTW. Yes, egg boxes do work (eggstremely well, in fact) but they are not the prettiest of decor and the side effects of eating all those eggs...

That's interesting, I may try the duvet option. Getting a rug underneath might be pretty difficult as the piano's so heavy!!

I don't think the egg boxes would really enhance my decor much though...

Sound engineers will tell you that egg boxes do work to an extent but are nowhere near as good as proper acoustic dampening foam Oh, and they are a fire hazard so not really a good idea

Besides, eating all those eggs would result in a hole in the ozone layer above your house, meaning you'd be fried to a crisp or turned into a giant melanoma by UV rays of death the moment you stepped foot outside

Actually the foam you get in computer equipment boxes which looks similar would work, I'd think...