What To Do About My VERY Annoying Neighbours

Community Hub đź—¨ Just Chatting
1

My next-door neighbours are very noisy. They are making lots of noise, during the day, and well into the night every day.

But that is not what they are annoying for.

They are jazz musicians. They have set up a studio in their shed. When they are not practising at home, they are jamming in there.

They are good.

No, you do not understand. They are not somewhat good, or they are not pretty good.

They are mind-blowingly, freakishly good.

A drummer, a guitarist, and a pianist. They all recently got their music degrees from Uni. Soon as they graduated, they started playing at prestigious jazz venues around London.

And that’s not even what I admire them for.

Just as I am typing this, they are practising next door. That’s not a coincidence. They practice all the time. From when they get up in the morning, till after when I sleep. Weekdays or weekends. No exceptions. THEY ARE PRACTISING ALL THE DAMN TIME.

When I’m happy having able to sneak in a half-hour practice for the day, they end up having completed hours of practice and jam already and still going on. Every single day.

I went to bed a bit late last night. Just as I was trying to sleep, they’d been making their noise. I could not even be mad at the noise. In the silence of the night, I was hearing the piano very clearly. How beautiful the playing was.

Here I am, desperately trying to get good, need all the time in the world for it but have an hour on a good day. There they are, half my age, better than my wildest dreams, still practising for hours and hours - that I have all the respect in the world for.

It is doing my head in! I want to go there and tell them enough is enough stop practising! What are they still getting better at for! They should go to work not me! I need that practice time not they! I love, hate, admire, envy the talent and dedication of these young people!

It is kind of an odd feeling people in front of your very eyes killing what you are desperately trying to half-do. Not sure where I’m going with this, just wanted to share.

8 Likes
2

If you can’t beat 'em join 'em :rofl:

2 Likes
3

I tried, they politely changed the subject :joy:

4 Likes
4

I suppose the positive thing is you can see how they got so good. It’s easy to believe, as we all go through our own struggles, that it just magically happens for other people. If they did their practice somewhere else and just once in a while played at home (and were brilliant), you, might assume they didn’t practice and you’d hate them much more!

6 Likes
5

Are they good because they practise a lot? Or do they practise a lot because they’re good?!

1 Like
6

@rossbd I do not know but it must be the former! I think you have to practise a lot to get good. I also think the better you become, the more desirable practising becomes. I can tell that from personal experience at least.

7

Its a bit like any job or career…if you are going to do it well you’re going to do a lot of it and be interested in it! It sounds like it’s their job/career and they are treating it like that. Us hobbyists on the other hand “dabble” “tinker” “noodle” we practice when we can and enjoy it as much as we can…we only aspire to be as good as we can be…we are all “rock gods” (insert appropriate guitar icon) in our own minds (and dreams).

3 Likes
8

Serhat, I would try to make the best out of it. If they are really that good, and have a lot of potential, I would let them all sign my guitar - and in 30 or so yrs, when they are popular jazz gods, I’d sell the guitar for a fortune :wink:.

4 Likes
9

Interesting. I have several musician friends who practice for hours on end like you describe. I usually play/practice for about an hour daily, but there have been times where I’ve played for 2 or even 3 hours. Then I sort of hit a wall and have to do something else. My brain just seems to say “That’s it, I’ve had enough”

1 Like
10

Well you know what they say -
Amateurs practice till they get it right.
Professionals practice till they can’t get it wrong. !

6 Likes
11

Those exist?

I’m reminded of the saying “Rock guitarists play three chords for 20,000 people. Jazz guitarists play 20,000 chords for three people.”

When Dave Clark met Buddy Rich, he said he was embarrassed to even call himself a drummer in front of the great jazz drummer. Buddy said “hey, you put 15,000 people in a stadium. I can’t do that.”

4 Likes
12

PLaying a lot, all day every day, with opther musicians, thats how you git good

13

Record their practice sessions to use for backing tracks

2 Likes
14

Thankfully it’s jazz, so you could sit outside their garage and play your own thing and nobody will be able to tell you’re not part of their band.

3 Likes
15

What I want to know is how they have to energy, finger strength and discipline to practice 5+hrs every day. My fingers get sore if I practice over 3hrs/day. Then there’s the burnout etc.

16

Well, they are just about 20 years old. I had all the strength and energy then but I did not have 1% of the discipline.

1 Like
17

Hmmm, I do not think they are doing technical practice on the same instrument all day. They do a lot of jamming, musicians come and go to the shed, and sometimes they pair and practise one particular thing as a duo for an hour or so (I sometimes see two of them with acoustic guitars trying to do something in sync for a duration of time, or they one of them will be using bongos etc.) They swap and change instruments. Varying might be helping with soreness and boredom.

1 Like
18

:joy: :joy: :joy: Yep, hearing ya! I’m so jelly just reading about them!
What an awesome way to spend all day, every day!!

That’s gold! Love it!

1 Like
19

Knowing that there are 20-year-olds interested in jazz is the best part of this post.

2 Likes
20

It’s easy for those who started at a young age and went on to study at a music school.

Also, not having to worry about having a day job helps with finding the time to practice.