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Origination: Classical Music Mailing List
 Originator: Robert Bigio [Robert AT bigio.demon.co.uk]
       Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 20:53:53 GMT
    Subject: Battle of Wills over Classical Music
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I once had an obnoxious neighbour who used to pound on the party wall
whenever I started to practise. Now, while I accept it can be a pain to
have to listen to someone next door practising the trumpet at midnight,
few people would have cause to complain about my flute playing at midday.
Anyway, the woman next door did object. I took to pounding the wall back,
in time with whatever I was practising. She then took to turning on her
stereo, very loud, playing Strauss waltzes. I played along. She played
Beethoven symphonies. I played along with those, too. She played Haydn,
Brahms, Schubert and Mendelssohn. I took the opportunity to practise the
orchestral repertoire. 

This would go on, day after day. I would practise, she would pound on the
wall, I would pound back, she would put on her music, I would practise the
flute parts of the standard repertoire. Eventually she would go out and I
would be able to practise whatever it was I was supposed to be learning. 

One she went too far. She put on (and this really was dirty pool) a
recording of a Mozart flute concerto played by my least favourite player,
easily recognisable by the machine-gun vibrato and the farting sound on
the lower notes. 

The gloves were off, as far as I was concerned. I went nuclear. My little
boy had been given an electronic keyboard that could play thirty-six
different movements from Beethoven Sonatas and the like, one after the
other, and then repeat the sequence. I positioned this monstrous machine
in my music room. I put on a CD of the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique and
pushed the repeat button. I got two transistor radios and tuned them to
different stations. The whole lot was turned on, fortississimo, and I went
out for the rest of the morning. 

Yes, I hear you say, it was childish. I agree. But I loved doing it. 

She never bothered me again.