Told off by the 'neighbours'

[JackCampin]

Dye their llamas pink.

[Anyanka]

Now I'm confused, James. You live in Wimbledon?

[Innocent Bystander]

I wish I was told off by the neighbours. One day I took my whistles down to the stream at the bottom of the garden and had a practice. The neighbour popped her head over the fence and said how much she enjoyed it. The wife and daughter, however, made it clear that I was not to play them in the vicinity of the house again. So I practice in the park. The people there have got to know me, and I've had the odd compliment from time to time, plus hordes of children wanting to try the whistles. It's not often, and it's good public relations. Except for that one time when a child got hit on the head by a bull-roarer. I've even had an invitation to play at a local festival on the strength of being the whistler in the park.

I'm familiar with the problem of intrusive noise. I used to live in Edinburgh. The police take complaints about noise seriously, there. Where you have tenements and high population density, that kind of annoyance can escalate into violence very quickly.
Here in the Home Counties it is quite different. Noise complaint? Take it up with the local council, who will send someone around two weeks later to check the noise levels and agree that it is a nuisance and they will write a letter to whoever owns the source of the noise. Not much use if someone's party is getting out of hand at three o'clock in the morning. Perhaps slaughtering the neighbours is the way to go. At least there might be more police attention.

The quiet noises can be the most irritating. I'm speaking as an Aspie in a house full of Aspies. We are all over-sensitive to noises. My daughter listens to Internet Radio over headphones and the Pss Pss Pss drives me nuts. I can't be in the same room. I've been kept awake by parties that were over two miles away, and the music came and went with the breeze.
Fifty metres sounds like that kind of distance, where the noise is pervasive, but you can't hear the music. There are ways of muting whistles and recorder, as someone pointed out. I don't know if it can be done for a flute. The only advice I can offer is not to play music by the side of a stream or lake, because that is where insects congregate.

[I.D.10-t]

I don't know if it can be done for a flute.

It depends on how quiet you want to play, but the dynamics on a flute allow for a large volume range. One can even blow over it as one can with a whistle to make a very quiet whispering sound. Reigning in a flute or piccolo and keeping in pitch can be very taxing though.

[James_Alto]

Dye their llamas pink.

Don't encourage me! I'm trying to 'get on' with my neighbours - not alienate myself even more!

Now I'm confused, James. You live in Wimbledon?

Haha. No way. All that tennis and the pretentiousness of the crowd every year would make me slit my wrists.
No no ...hold it ..... it would make me slit their wrists if I had to put up with it!

My neighbour just happens to look like a female version of Uncle Bulgaria. That's why the wombles came to mine.

Crikes - now I'm too embarrassed to say where I live, in case my neighbours accidentally stumble on this thread, and then decide to do me in

[James_Alto]

Have you tried a mute? I use them in the early morning so that I won't annoy people.

If you use a mute you will be able to play as long as you want, while your neighbor wouldn't be bothered.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you play recorder right?
If so here's a link on how to make a recorder mute:

http://annedelong.timetraces.ca/recorder_mute.htm

I missed this post the first time - I was too busy fantasising about someone's suggestion with a brick.

A mute sounds like more in keeping with my low key profile

I'm really quite thrilled to discover this simple low tech idea. I have just the (broken) recorder to try it too. I'd be petrified of letting anything near the labium of my bass Mollenhauer, but this seems ideal. I'll have to find something to use. Floppy discs ... where to find one ...

The only advice I can offer is not to play music by the side of a stream or lake, because that is where insects congregate.

I have a flutists' outdoor survival kit to avoid this - a year of experience has taught me how to survive (ish). I should really write a flute blog

I.D.10-t - you're right. I should learn more discipline. I can play the alto flute or clarinet very softly, but on a Sunday afternoon, I tend to belt out on a C concert flute. I've just been playing on the alto flute, and I'm confident with closed patio doors, it isn't going to disturb anyone.

Today, I went past her house. It is a fair good distance - like the other end of a football pitch! I'm just amazed that sound can travel that far, enough to be disturbing. Thinking about it, I'm afraid I'm thinking, it's something to do with her village temperament (and expectations), rather than me being a (complete) nuisance.

[JackCampin]

Get reinforcements.

I used to live just above the flat where these guys practiced. (Their living room was well equipped as a practice room for this kind of music, with a bar that kept kegs of Tennents Lager on tap 24/7).

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5728367042
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX2BNIZ6JVM

In fact they weren't as noisy as you might have expected, but I can't see them ever getting many complaints.

[James_Alto]

I feel for you. Life above a bunch of kids playing snare drums and piccolo players is enough to do anyone and everyone's heads in

Music takes some discipline - I used to wonder how they could walk and play flute at the same time without tripping over shoe laces and things. I notice some concert violinists, like Vanessa Mae, do all kinds of acrobatics. When I play flute, the most exciting manoeuvre I can accomplish, is a deep breath!

[Anyanka]

Today, I went past her house. It is a fair good distance - like the other end of a football pitch! I'm just amazed that sound can travel that far, enough to be disturbing.

When I played whistle in a Chiswick back garden with an ensemble of nine or ten people (which happened to include a female cellist who looked remarkably like Uncle Bulgaria!) , my husband found that he could hear me a long way down the street, in spite of the town houses between his ears and my whistle. None of the other instruments carried that far - not the Boehm flute, either.

So there's another solution for you: play whistle till they beg you to return to the flute...

[Corgicrazed]

Have you tried a mute? I use them in the early morning so that I won't annoy people.

If you use a mute you will be able to play as long as you want, while your neighbor wouldn't be bothered.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you play recorder right?
If so here's a link on how to make a recorder mute:

http://annedelong.timetraces.ca/recorder_mute.htm

I missed this post the first time - I was too busy fantasising about someone's suggestion with a brick.

A mute sounds like more in keeping with my low key profile

I'm really quite thrilled to discover this simple low tech idea. I have just the (broken) recorder to try it too. I'd be petrified of letting anything near the labium of my bass Mollenhauer, but this seems ideal. I'll have to find something to use. Floppy discs ... where to find one ...

You should be able to find some floppy discs in an old computer store or thrift store.

Seriously, I've found them sitting in old dusty corners, forgotten by all.
I even found some under my bed, lol.
You never know where you can find stuff.

Instead of a brick why don't you use a sword?
My sister has one, works wonders on annoying neighbors.
TeeHeeheeeteehhehehe