 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SusanE
Date: 2015-03-05 22:18
What do you do to protect your hearing in orchestra or band? In my community orchestra the clarinets were put in front to the trumpets. Way too loud! Even when they moved off to the side a bit, it was too loud. Tried music ear plugs, but it distorts the sound, can't hear the conductor and does not block the loud sound as well as we would like.
We purchased plexi-glass screens and used them at the last rehearsal. They were wonderful! Blocks the loud painful sound. BUT, the trumpet player was offended by them, said we should have discussed it first with her, that we were rude (we did high five each other -- not to offend but because it worked), and it causes a glare. The conductor was OK about the screens and is now aware of the trumpets concerns. What do you guys think? We have a rehearsal tonight -- will see what happens. Believe it or not, this is an adult orchestra!
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Author: pewd
Date: 2015-03-05 22:27
http://www.etymotic.com/
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-03-05 22:38
Check out these threads
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=420773&t=420773
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=419135&t=419135
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-03-05 22:44
If it offends the trumpet players, then so be it. They'll just have to put up or shut up.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2015-03-05 22:53
I would respectfully ask to have the seating arrangements for the orchestra's wind section re-evaluated. Unless space is really super tight, there should be an arrangement possible that gets the trumpeters out of the clarinetists' ears.
In the three community orchestras I've played in, the horn section was seated behind the clarinets--not the trumpets.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-03-05 23:25
"I would respectfully ask to have the seating arrangements for the orchestra's wind section re-evaluated"
In my HAUTY opinion
The conductor would have to change directions for cuing players.
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: Jamnik
Date: 2015-03-06 01:01
As a trumpet player I have heard from players sitting in front of us that on occasion we were too loud and we knew it. I must admit that sometimes it was even intentional. In turn we would tell the trombones (sitting behind us) that they also played too loud (also sometimes intentionally) on occasion. The plexiglass screen may have been seen as some sort of passive aggressive ploy, but if the section in front of them can not hear themselves much lest the rest of the players, the balance and musicality of the performance is jeopardized. The offended trumpet player is not the director! The director passes the word down, not the trumpet players! Risers work very well in this situation although they are not always practical. The offended player sounds like they were left out of the "solution" to me which is most likely why they became confrontational.
Jamnik
Post Edited (2015-03-06 06:33)
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Author: Slowoldman
Date: 2015-03-10 23:25
There must be some "legitimacy" to the use of plexiglass screens. I've seen them used in professional orchestras and bands. (For balance? To protect hearing? Both?) So maybe your trumpet players need to be a little less "sensitive". I agree, however, that the director needs to make the decision from the perspective of balance.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2015-03-11 05:44
I have played in orchestras that used Plexiglas screens in front of the trumpets and the trombones. Depending on circumstances they can be effective in blunting the worst edge of the brass sound for the players immediately in front of them. The screens are something of a nuisance for the players on both sides of the screens if you don't have enough space between rows to keep the screens from being in someone's way. They work better, I think, if you're on risers, or at least the brass players are, because the screen can be at ear level for the forward row and still not block the trumpets' and trombones' bells to damp the sound that goes to the audience. If the rows are too close to the same height, so that to shield the forward players screens must be in front of the brass bells, they may have a legitimate complaint. So it depends on your setup, the size of your stage and the difference in height of your row and the trumpets' row. In the end the brass players ought to be happier not to have to think quite so much about what they're doing to their colleagues so they can think more about what the music needs. That brass fortissimo is loud comes with the territory as long as it's musically appropriate and under control.
Rearranging the orchestra isn't likely to help much - the trumpets and trombones (and let's also include the timpanist and cymbal player) will be behind SOMEone, so the problem will only be relocated, not solved.
Jamnik wrote:
> As a trumpet player I have heard from players sitting in front
> of us that on occasion we were too loud and we knew it. I must
> admit that sometimes it was even intentional. In turn we would
> tell the trombones (sitting behind us) that they also played
> too loud (also sometimes intentionally) on occasion.
I'm intrigued by this. I may be completely naive about it, but playing in mostly local professional orchestras most of my adult life, I don't remember ever being aware that anyone in a brass section behind me was trying to make some kind of point by deliberately playing too loud in my ear. If they were doing it for laughs, someone else would have been in the chair(s) next concert - with two or three rehearsals for a program there isn't the time to waste. What would justify this? If the section is mad at the conductor, why would a player or section deliberately endanger another player's health (hearing) this way? Why would they be mad enough at a player sitting in front of them to do this, at least initially? I guess I can imagine deliberate blasting as an escalation if the player in the forward row (depending on the ensemble and seating arrangement) has already been complaining persistently in some nasty and aggressive way. Even then there are more adult ways to react. In what kind of groups does this happen?
Karl
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Author: sdr
Date: 2015-03-11 06:11
Have tried off-the-shelf triple flange musicians plugs, custom molded plugs from my audiologist, and like these best by far:
http://www.earasers.net/
Very comfortable, flat frequency response, enough sound attenuation but not too much.
-sdr
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Steven D. Rauch, MD
Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs
Dept. of Otology and Laryngology
Harvard Medical School
Chief, Vestibular Division
Otolaryngology Dept.
Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary and Mass. General Hospital
Boston, MA 02114
Tel: 617-573-3644
Email: steven_rauch@meei.harvard.edu
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