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I guess I'm very bad at piano playing because every time I play my wife says "please stop, I have a Headache".

I'm sorry but I find it hard to believe that someone has a Headache every day of they're life.

Dose this happen to you?

Dan Piano Tinkerer

I'm sure its not your playing. Some people just don't like to listen to someone practicing. Try a digital with earphones on.

I( don't have to play or practice for my wife to get a head ache. Comes naturally I think.

Maybe it's time a doc tried to find out why.

If she has a headache every day she either

a) should probably get checked out by a medical professional

Or

b) stop telling you about it.

While there very well could be a medical problem, let's say it isn't and her headache is from the piano, but not necessarily a comment on your playing.

Women often have more sensitive hearing than men, especially in the higher frequencies. If your piano and/or your room are bright, room treatment, tuning and maybe even voicing may help.

If a person has a slight hearing loss, as my wife does, loud, percussive or bright sounds can be uncomfortable or even intolerable. In view of this problem, I try to give my wife advance notice of when I plan to practice. She'll usually plan to do something in another part of the house or ocassionally ask me to practice at another time.

Woodfab, is your piano very bright?

I think Ventil is correct about people's sensitivities. I once auditioned a piano for sale by owner that was extremely mellow and I couldn't get a read on what its normal sound would be. I had a technician brighten a few hammers while the owner was there, and the owner had to leave the room! The sound became too clangorous for him, just average for me.

Time to get a new wife! Piano is much more important.

BTW - Does she ever use the 'I have a headache' excuse in 'other' situations?

I grew up with four brothers and a sister playing the piano every day, and quite often till 11:00 PM

I always encourage people to play no matter what level they're at.

My piano is definitely on the bright side.

I'm trying to be more considerate of my wife and come up with a plan to move the piano to another room with doors.

"...I'm trying to be more considerate of my wife and come up with a plan to move the piano to another room with doors..."

There you go. A wise man; a happy wife--- and now I feel happy, too.

"...If a person has a slight hearing loss, as my wife does, loud, percussive or bright sounds can be uncomfortable or even intolerable..."

If hyperacusis, as described here, is part of the picture, it's possible to address that as well--- not just to help with headaches, but to conserve your wife's hearing for the rest of her life. A lot of pianists know about this because many of today's instruments as so loud (and it's a noisy world).

Basically, (1) protect the ears from overloud noses (the world is full of them; keeping inexpensive foam earplugs around can help quite a bit), and (2) evaluate any medications that may be aggravating the problem. A surprising amount of common medicines have hearing loss as a side effect. These risks stack up; low incidence becomes much greater if several are taken or if they're taken for a long time.

Lost hearing cannot be gotten back, but hearing loss can be stopped or greatly slowed by protecting the ears.

I'd guess she meant that the piano playing gave her a headache and not that she had a headache beforehand. And I wouldn't take "headache" too literally. I can't imagine I'd like to hear anyone practicing for any length of time, perhaps not even some world class pianist.

There's another thread discussing how people feel about lengthy recitals and some don't like those. Listening to lengthy practicing would seem to be far, far worse.

What a thread! All I have to say to many of you guys is "oink, oink."

To those who provided serious advice, which presumably is gender-neutral, congratulations on resisting the obvious temptations.

Piano playing is often quite nice, at least hopefully, but piano practice .. just about any non-musical, or maybe musical, person listening would get a headache, especially day after day. IMHO

There is a condition that develops into extreme sensitivity to sounds. Seeing a doc will at least eliminate medical concerns.

My piano is in my office at the other end of the house to the bedrooms. It's there so I can play at night and not bother sleeping people. The piano in the living room approach generated complaints.

Well everyone can't be serious all the time, it would get real boring. Besides, the obvious temptation just too great and overruled my sense of restraint.

Cheers,

allthumbs

OT, but maybe funny, I recently went to a seafood buffet in another town because I traveled there to purchase a car for the business. I told the waiter that I hadn't been there in years, but when I was married, my wife and I used to enjoy eating there. I told him "my wife went away, and I knew, once I got out of prison that I would return." All the diners in earshot perked up a little until I told him that I was joking. All this in Cole Porters birth town, Peru, IN.

I grew up with 4 brothers/sisters. In a tiny house. The piano was played all the time, the radio was on, the telephone beside the piano was in fairly regular use, my brother would strum a guitar when he couldn't get on the piano, we sang along to the radio or piano - whichever took our fancy at the time, we conversed - sometimes across the room. Most of the time we didn't have a television. The open plan kitchen/dining/living area had hard flooring. But I never noticed that it was noisy. It was normal.

40 years ago, my wife, after the first visit to my home asked me afterwards - "How do you stand it?". "Stand what, dear?". "The noise!!"

I went to her house - the comparison was obvious. Nobody talked unless a pressing reason came up. The piano sat silent (she and I were the only ones who played). Nobody sang to the radio - because it was never turned on.

Experiential background can have a large bearing on how we appreciate or loathe noise.

Peru, IN, home of Cole Porter! Been there lots of times.

I agree that practice is sometimes hard to listen to, so even though my husband says he doesn't mind, I try to do repetitive practice or metronome work when he's not around. For folks who can only practice in the evening when everyone is home, of course, that doesn't really help. At night, I often practice with the una corda pedal on and try to keep things soft. My family seems to be able to sleep through that.

Do you keep the lid down? Maybe also consider putting a heavy quilt or two over the piano to soften the sound?

Finally, if your wife is willing to experiment, maybe think about buying her a nice little ipod with ear buds. She can listen to what she wants (soothing music, audio books, etc.), and it will block (somewhat) the sound of your playing. Works like a charm with my husband's snoring at night, as well as the TV playing too loud...