I found the more interesting part of this article related to more of the "what do we do about it" part. We all know musicians can and do lose their hearing. I found it very interesting that labor laws were trying to either force musicians to wear ear plugs, play softer, or in one drastic example, to simply not play the music.
It was this part of the article that really caught my attention:
Quote:
Alan Garner, an oboist and English horn player who is the chairman of the players’ committee at the Royal Opera House, said that he and his colleagues had been told that they would have to wear earplugs during entire three-hour rehearsals and performances.
“It’s like saying to a racing-car driver that they have to wear a blindfold,” he said.
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I guess that I just disagree. If noise levels continue to go up and up, playing with earplugs may become just another "skill" musicians will have to learn. The reality is, either we don't use earplugs and risk losing our hearing, or we learn to deal with them and potentially save our hearing. The only other option as I see it is to simply play softer or completely redesign our instruments so they don't play as loud...and those two probably aren't going to happen.