Complaining neighbours…eek.

[keziah-thomas]

Hi again Alex! I sympathise 100% with this….I have the same problem. I live in a flat and the lady above me hates my harp playing/teaching. She is a shift worker and sometimes sleeps in the day when I need to play. I have lived here for 2 years and it is such

[unknown-user]

I can totally relate to such a problem….we have a house on our own property and the
neighbours were simply shouting abusive things at me etc etc about me and my playing
(repeatedly over the years we’ve lived here) even though we always had our windows
closed. I’d tell the whole thing but it’s a long story. We are probably going to have involve
a lawyer and a bit of salt and pepper to the whole thing because the way they were
shouting at me would be in fact child harassment, because I’m still underage.(As well as
that they were using extremely abussive language to my father as well) We tried sorting it
out with them kindly but they’re not willing to listen and now with what they said and did
they’ve crossed the line.
I hope that things work out for you, Katrina

[alexander-rider]

Just now, I have heard the lady in the house behind complaining in a
loud voice and with bad language about my harp playing. This is not
the first occasion of this. I am so angry! I understand that not
everyone wants to hear me practice, but the summer holidays will be
over soon and I need these oppurtunities to get extra practice
especially since normally i’m out of the house 10 hours a day
getting an education. I have also spoken about this with other, MORE
IMMEDIATE neighbours, and they have told me very positively that my
harp is not a problem and

[carl-swanson]

What an awful situation!

[alexander-rider]

Bonjour! My heart goes out to you Katrina, that really is an awful to happen to a nice lass like you- we should chat soon on msn! You haven’t been on for ages! Thanks for your advice on the above post. Although I feel abit red faced that both your respective situations seem alot worse than mine! Thankyou for your advice Carl, although I am tempted not to try as I am almost certain that she will be the only one who will complain! And given her attitude I don’t particularly WANT to accomadate her, especially since my parents have been such good neighbours to her. But still I should probably do that as it is probably fairer to all concerned, though I hope I don’t end up in a predicament like that of Keziah! Oh by the way Keziah, I live about 20-30 minutes outside of Chichester, West Sussex- know it? I probably shouldn’t bang on about the love of my life (joanna Newsom) but she is doing another set at the Komedia (Brighton)in September, if you don’t make the London one again. Thankee.

[carl-swanson]

Hi Alexander-

[unknown-user]

Alexander – does this lady shout to you directly, or is the shouting around to herself about
your playing? I think that that writing her that letter explaining your priorities would be a
good idea. If she responses in a relatively friendly tone to your letter, than you could
probably talk to her personally and make compromises about when you can practice etc.
I’m wishing we could do this, but as we’re on our own property they have no right to say
anything at all. I should (technically seen) be allowed to practice between 6am and 10pm,
with the windows open. Of course, musicians have to learn to live with such problems.
(although my parents are both professional musicians and have never experienced
something like this!)
Oh well, I’m sure that all these cases must have end sometime, and that things will work
out for the best. Katrina

[unknown-user]

I’d tell her if she didn’t shut up that I’d stick the harp somewhere she’d REALLY complain about.
But that’s just me 🙂

[M Rodgers]

Your situation sounds miserable.

[unknown-user]

My situation was a bit different.

[paul-knoke]

Hi

You seem to have found a sympathetic audience here. I wonder if you
could get a few more hours of practice time in while obnoxious
neighbours are near by muffling the harp. Cut yourself a long strip of
felt about 1/2 inch wide, and weave it through the strings next to the
soundboard. You may have to use two thicknesses in the bass, or weave
it up farther from the soundboard, to adequately mute the harp. You’ll
figure something out with a little experimentation. With practice it
will take only a few minutes to prepare the harp in this way. Granted,
it’s not the best way to practice, but it’s good enough for exercises
or working through the mechanics of tricky fingering.

Or, you could do what I did, which is to grow over 6 feet tall with
long hair and a beard. People don’t complain at you as much if you
look scary enough. Hee hee!

Paul

[unknown-user]

Carl is right. I’m sorry she’s doing this to you. People always have to have something to complain about, don’t they? I live in an apartment with 3 other music majors. We just practice at all hours of the day. We normally wouldn’t, but the people who live around us are really terrible, so we do it just to spite them. Of course, this isn’t always the right course of action, but it is the funnest!
I recommend sending out a letter like someone mentioned, for security purposes, and just continuing on.
best of luck.

[alexander-rider]

Thankyou all for this wonderful response, they were ALL really helpful as well as pretty funny! Tempting as it is to trade my acoustic for an elctric guitar (or perhaps one of those KNEE TREMBLINGLY cool

[Evangeline Williams]

The closest I’ve come to this problem was my downstairs neighbor in college complaining I walked too loudly (and she complained first to the landlady without talking to me first..of course this girl complained when people flushed the toilet at night….).

I know it’s been a few weeks since the original post, but I agree with getting a fan instead of leaving the window open.

[unknown-user]

I play the uilleann pipes as well…so the neighbors never complain about my harp
practicing lol…

here’s a thought…or rather a philosophy for the situation…

one icy february when i was complaining that the house was too cold, my mother
threw me outside without a coat for five minutes and locked the door.

[Author]

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