Klarinet Archive - Posting 000128.txt from 2007/07

From: Audrey Travis <clr91nt@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] loud bands
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:40:28 -0400

A few years ago I had a horrendous experience at the famous Cocacabana
in Havana (I'm Canadian, so yes, I went to Cuba). They had every
single trumpet and sax player not only miced but each one playing every
part of every piece at ffff if not sfz times 5. Nowhere in that huge
open air space could one escape the totally unnecessary amplification
and just listen, so I sat in the bus for over two hours while the rest
of the group listened and apparently enjoyed it. How those musicians
did that every night without quadruple hernias, I can't fathom. Even
covering my ears didn't help. I don't understand how people could have
stayed to listen to that. I was in pain after 3 minutes.... What a
waste of time and money (which I couldn't get refunded, either).

Audrey (the energizer bunny) - if you were at ClarinetFest and had run
in to me, you'd understand....
On 15-Jul-07, at 7:04 PM, Lora Crighton wrote:

> On 7/15/07, kurtheisig@-----.net> wrote:
>> Remember----throughout the entire Big Band Era, bands were not miced.
>> Does that mean that ALL players today are grotesquely incompetent to
>> be heard past the footlights?
>>
>>
>
> More likely it means that audiences have worse hearing, especially the
> young people. I have been commuting on public transit for years, and
> I used to enjoy some quiet time to read, or listen to my own music,
> but I can't do that any more, because other people have their music so
> loud. Sometimes I can hear 5 or 6 different pieces at once, and I
> don't understand how they can stand it (unless they have already
> destroyed their hearing), because if I put my iPod or CD player on
> that loud, I would be in too much pain to listen to the music. I
> still remember the first time I heard a rock band live - it was at
> some kind of neighbourhood celebration in a local park, and once the
> band started, my friend and I took our food and sat down on the steps
> of a church a couple of blocks away because it was too loud at the
> park.
>
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>

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