Amen. It's amazing how all musicians in the rock & pop crowd
(as opposed to those in the orchestral or chamber music crowd)
now take amplification as a given. It has found its way into
churches now that (since the 70's) churches feature music with
drums, electric guitars, electric keyboards, etc. Some churches
are better equipped with amps, monitors, mixing boards,
speakers, mikes, mike stands, spotlights, etc. than many small
theatres!
In almost all bars, clubs, lounges, and most retail stores
aimed at younger consumers, rockin' comtemporary pop music at
high volume is considered necessary for boosting sales. When
bartenders and waitresses come to work, first thing is to crank
up the sound system and it blasts until closing time, at which
time it gets cranked up even further for mopping and cleaning.
As a sometime jazz musician, I always felt a bit smug that
our group could just whip out its instruments, quickly tune, and
start in playing within 5 or 10 minutes, while rock bands had to
string cords, lug amps around, plug everything in, make sure
there's juice, then do sound checks and fiddle and futz with
stuff to minimize feedback and finally after at least a half
hour or more, they were ready to go, when the jazz (or
bluegrass) band could already have finished a set.
If the population had never grown and concert halls had
never gotten larger, pianos may have remained 2-string unison
instruments with no cast iron plate. The plate was developed to
hold the higher tension of 3-string unison instruments that had
to project to the back of larger concert halls and had to be
louder to be heard over larger symphony orchestras. Later it
became necessary to mike even pianos, but only because most of
the other instruments were amplified. I wonder if amplifiers
hadn't been invented, if they would have started stringing them
with 4 or 5 unison strings and even heavier plates?
I am now accustomed to wearing earplugs during movie
previews, in bars, all rock concerts, some loud restaurants
(loudly babbling people, clinking, clanking rattling, crashing
dishes, silverware, and busboys), while operating most power
tools, and in many other situations where most people consider
the sound (noise) level to be "normal." And if you protest the
noise level at a rock concert, bar, or movie theatre, they look
at you like you're unreasonably picky or not macho enough cuz
you can't take it.
--David Nereson, RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Alkana" <josephspiano at comcast.net>
To: <dave at davispiano.com>; <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 4:11 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] sounds was Faulk tuning lever.
> Because our society seems to demand more volume (noise) for
> every kind of
> situation requiring an auditory emission. When was the last
> time you could
> even hear a "pin drop" in most people's homes. Hear a whisper
> from the
> living room into the kitchen? Actually hear a bird outside
> singing down the
> block. Etc.
> We have the great privilege of taking care of a little baby
this year. It is
> just amazing to watch her reaction to loud, obnoxious sounds
> all around her,
> yet respond so positively to a whisper in her ear to get her
> attention. And
> for now, she can really hear that pin drop in the next room.
> Give her ten
> years and an iPod and she'll be as deaf and out of touch as
> most of the
> world today.
> Yes, bring back the piano. Please. With a Bel Canto voice to
match.
> Joseph Alkana RPT (Retired)
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