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Under siege
For about 10 years now, I have been faithfully using custom musician ear plugs whenever a rehearsal dynamic exceeds 90 decibels. I do this in order to protect my hearing.
While it is not ideal – the plugs do take some getting accustomed to – it is a better alternative than foam plugs or hearing loss.
Meanwhile, in Bavaria:
They had rehearsed the piece only once, but already the musicians at the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra were suffering.
Their ears were ringing. Heads throbbed.
Tests showed that the average noise level in the orchestra during the piece, “State of Siege,” by the composer Dror Feiler, was 97.4 decibels, just below the level of a pneumatic drill and a violation of new European noise-at-work limits. Playing more softly or wearing noise-muffling headphones were rejected as unworkable.
So instead of having its world premiere April 4, the piece was dropped. “I had no choice,” said Trygve Nordwall, the orchestra’s manager. “The decision was not made artistically; it was made for the protection of the players.”
(More.)
[Extracted 2021 from a “Random Monday” post, JE]
