<p>The neighbor behind me considers himself a fine musician, however I beg to differ. Every evening around 7pm he sits on his deck and practices violin for nearly an hour. I cannot recognize any tune and frankly it sounds like a sick animal. Originally I thought it was his 6 or 10 year old, but one night caught sight through the bushes it was him. He’s a stay at home dad, which further annoys me that he doesn’t do this during the day, but instead chooses the time when we want to sit on out deck. It is painful to listen to, so we don’t. </p>
<p>His kids also practice piano during the day and seem to have inherited his ability, or lack there of, however the piano sounds can be drowned out by conversation. </p>
<p>They’ve lived here 8 years and we’ve never gotten along as its his way or nothing on issues I’ve brought up, including poisin ivy growing all over his garage and creeping into my yard. Is oldest kid is 2 years behind my youngest, so we have no common link. </p>
<p>Pretty soon it will be too cold and you will all be inside. I’m not sure there is anything you can say or do since he really isn’t doing this too late or for a huge length of time.</p>
<p>Harley is good. Drum set is awesome. And so is a large dog who begins to bark as soon as the “music” starts. Record his “music” and play it back as soon as he finishes. Point the speaker so the sound waves hit his deck. OTOH, he is probably not just tone deaf - simply deaf, so he might not even hear the recirding (or Harley). I really feel your pain! Bad violinists can sound like a cat who is being skinned alive. :eek:</p>
<p>Start playing music on your deck before he starts practicing each night- not loud enough to be an annoyance but just loud enough to interfere with his violin practice. Maybe he will go inside. Or buy a cheap used violin and start practicing on your deck each evening. Maybe he will get the idea.</p>
<p>Maybe you can start a symphony, with his kids playing the piano and you & neighbor playing violin duets. You can become exterminators and people will pay to get you to stop! (Just joking. Sorry about this. I know it was annoying when S was learning to play the trumpet. Happily, he improved quickly and was a pretty decent player. He also played at reasonable times so didn’t bother TOO many people but we did have him play outdoors. D never practiced her violin, which was one reason she never improved much. )</p>
<p>There might be sound ordinances in your town that he’s violating. Worth inquiring at least. Otherwise, I think drowning him out with your own music is your best bet.</p>
<p>Thanks. He’s such a jerk I almost wonder if he does it sometimes just to infuriate me. (We put a hottub on our deck in early 2012, however i use it mostly at 6am). </p>
<p>Maybe I will record it one night and post it to YouTube with the link posted here.</p>
<p>OP, I’d ask your neighbor nicely if he can practice inside his house instead. If that doesn’t work then I’d probably videotape his entire “concert”, play the video with the volume on max to the police and ask them if this can be considered noise disturbance. Now that I think about it I’d probably skip the first step so when police does inform him about noise complaints from neighbors he won’t know it’s you that reported him.</p>
<p>Wait, did you mean to say 6PM? Hot tubs can be noisy. My neighbor’s is. Yes, it’s more of a “white noise” thing than bad music, but they can be noisy. Six AM is very early. I’m an early riser but don’t not every household is.
Maybe (and yours may be different than my neighbor’s) turn you tub on and see how loud it is as you walk around your neighborhood at 6AM. He may be passive-aggressive enough that he IS doing it to get at you.</p>
<p>This story makes me sad, actually. S plays the piano (beautiful, btw) but D hates it when he plays. I would have liked to play more when they were growing up, but I try not to play when she is at home, so that really limits the times when I could do so. Sometimes that has made me angry, since it’s MY freaking piano after all. </p>
<p>Maybe you will learn to appreciate the Bartok :).</p>
<p>If you want to sit on your deck at that time, you certainly should. Why not bring a boombox (or whatever portable music player you have) with you and listen to that. Maybe loud enough so that you neighbor can ‘enjoy’ your music. Fair is fair.</p>