Klarinet Archive - Posting 000989.txt from 1998/07

From: "Mary Sotnik" <marys@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] MAHLER WAS A BIG CONDUCTOR ALSO!
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 19:15:57 -0400

> Anna
> (hoping that her hearing won't be further damaged by overenthusiastic
> trumpeters) >>
>
>I hear you, Anna. I sat with trumpeters behind me, and their bells were no
>more than 7 inches from my head. When we performed "March to Scaffold",
the
>trumpet fanfare was so loud, my ears were ringing. And at one rehearsal,
the
>first trumpeter didn't have any lip, so when he hit the high notes, he
pushed
>and strained. Well, we all know what that sounds like. There were a few
>cracked tones. And boy, did that give me a headache!
>Chris Hoffman
>(who will probably need a hearing aid before he is 25)

Some orchestral players apparently use earplugs (industrial-strength ones, I
think??), which sounds a bit daft and probably makes their playing a bit
worse,
but I think it's better than the alternative, where they'd have actually
gone
deaf so they wouldn't be able to hear anyone else anyway. Not to be too
scary
or anything, but if it really is a hearing risk then it'd make sense to try
to cut
down the noise as much as possible. I don't know how much noise *is* a
hearing
risk, and maybe the odd event won't do any lasting damage (though I think it
can
*if* it's very loud), but I think it can all be scientifically measured (I
don't
know how easily or cheaply, though I'm sure people have made similar
measurements already) if things are really bad. If that's not feasible, I
suppose
ordinary earplugs might help a bit... don't know what the band director
would think.
Still, he hasn't got trumpets blasting down *his* ear (unless he's a
clarinettist? or
back-desk string player)...
Mary

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