My Ears did not like that Flight Back

As noted in the previous post, I flew back to northern New York for the Potsdam Brass Quintet event last weekend. My allergies were bothering me to a point and on the flight back I was stuffed up enough that I managed to develop an ear problem. Some pretty good pain on the first descent in particular. Managed to plug up one ear with fluid. As a result, as most of my students know, Monday and Tuesday I could barely play horn, and I used earplugs in their lessons as my ears were more sensitive than usual.

Normally I play in lessons as needed to demonstrate things and make clearer what I am looking for. Teaching early this week though I was reminded that actually all of my major professors in college rarely played in my lessons. One teacher in fact only played in two lessons over two years of study. It actually is a good challenge, to teach without much demonstration. I know that some conducting teachers require something similar, that students conduct a rehearsal without talking, that they make things clear using only their gestures.

I did get to the doctor and now things are clearing up. I could play almost as normal today. But I will need to follow up further on my eardrum.

This is a post to maybe label as a pet peeve. It is a downside to flying, and I will be looking into ways to better protect my ears in the future.

UPDATE: The first few days my ears were really off but there was no damage and things are back to normal. Whew!