Hi!

I recently bough an upright piano and it is situated in a small room. There is quite a bit of furniture but the piano is just wayy to loud! I can't play too loud because its uncomfortable for my ears. I thought about buying earmuffs but I really have no idea what to get. Any suggestions?? Oh and my budget is around 50-70$

Thank you!

You can try using the middle (mute) pedal, or get musician's earplugs (http://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-ETYPlug-Protection-Earplugs/dp/B0044DEETC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318107537&sr=8-2) for about 10 bucks.

You could also try moving it into a bigger room if you have one. Like what you mentioned, the piano might be too loud because of the room. But do remember that some pianos can also be unnecessarily loud if the hammers are wrongly adjusted.

If you feel that this is the case, then you should go back to your dealer and talk to him about your problem. He should be obliged to cover your cost if you had the piano for less than a month or two.

Open up the lid and muffle the strings inside with cloth/towels?

thanks for the suggestions!

I can't move the piano in a bigger room sadly :( oh yea and for now I am using the soft pedal but it's just a little sad to use because the is reallly muffled. I have a question what about like earmuffs? like the things that drummers use? Can I also use it for the piano?

And about the earplugs, if you use them is there like an 'echo-ish' effect? Because I tried using high quality earphones that block the sound around you, and yes the piano was a lot less loud and it was great but the echo-ish effect it gave was awful! So I stopped using it

Earplugs shouldn't give you the same trouble that noise-cancellation headphones do.

I would try putting a wool blanket over your piano, much like how some people put a cloth over the entire piano to prevent it getting dusty. Much of the upright piano sound comes from the back of the piano, putting extra EXTERNAL insullation behind the piano will help reduce the volume. Painting your walls with a sound absorbing paint would work well as well. If your piano is in a corner, try moving it away from the walls more. I wouldn't put cloth inside the piano though. To me, introducing any foreign objects into an instrument that wasn't designed for it is a bad idea, especially if you plan to leave it in there.

Basically, so long as you can weaken the soundwaves bouncing off the surrounding space, you will reduce the volume so there are plenty of ways.

And about the earplugs, if you use them is there like an 'echo-ish' effect? Because I tried using high quality earphones that block the sound around you, and yes the piano was a lot less loud and it was great but the echo-ish effect it gave was awful! So I stopped using it

Those earplugs reduce all sounds by 20db across all frequencies. In other words, it's like turning down the volume knob for your ears.