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How about playing with earplugs?
I just assume it is going to be unpleasant and carry on.

Luckily, I'm seldom placed adjacent to the timpanist, and I've learned to not set my chair in line with the trombones, but to back up a bit so the bass trombone bell is not in my ear...
That maybe why Gene has decided to sit behind the Chicago trombones...(??)

summary: no earplugs, or - if a critical situation - hopefully only one

bloke wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 10:56 am Luckily, I'm seldom placed adjacent to the timpanist, and I've learned to not set my chair in line with the trombones, but to back up a bit so the bass trombone bell is not in my ear...

I was placed (squeezed) directly in front of an upright piano for a Christmas pit. I wonder how many years that experience advanced my eventual need for hearing aids. The next performance was my first time wearing ear plugs (ugh). It was a more percussive experience than standing next to a beer-enthused bass drummer pounding out rock charts in a college alumni free-for-all.

Speaking of tympanists…

What about playing near an enthusiastic tympanist and feeling their drum strikes through the air column right up to my lips?

Many years ago, I was asked to sub for an outdoor concert in a large park. On the concert was the 1812 Overture. As I was setting up, a guy puts a metal trashcan right behind me and then takes a shogun out of a bag. Immediately a couple of cops show up and I hear the guy tell them the orchestra has gotten approval to use the shotgun for the 1812. He's got some "blank" shells and he going to fire them into the metal trashcan that is three feet behind me. Earplugs? No! After a brief discussion with the orchestra manager, I convinced him that the 1812 would not sound right without a tuba and that the orchestra did not want to pay for hearing damage to most of the brass section. It was moved much further away.

On the other hand, I have never even been near the hammer for Mahler 6 and I still think I should have worn earplugs and will next time I play it.

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I dropped out of the best concert band in town because there was no way for me to get away from the timpani in the rehearsal room. Even with ear plugs, my ears were ringing, and it wasn't worth it to stay.

Mark wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 10:20 pm I still play it every year. We used to get 6 105 Howitzers from the Army for my muni band - they were placed in line right next to our summer outdoor venue and facing the crowd some just 30-40 feet away! Every time they went off the building shook violently and you could feel it in your seat - they were loud - I started using ear plugs. After a few years we turned them around to point away from the crowd...

When I was in high school, early 90s, the 399th at FLW would invite some of the more accomplished high school players to join them for their Independence Day concert. I played with them twice. It was always outdoors. The field artillery was placed directly behind the band stand facing away from us. As 1812 was ending, the annual fireworks display would start. All of that really got the crowd going.

About 2 or 3 years back I ran into a kid who was playing tuba at my high school. I asked him about the Army band's summer concert and he said they didn't invite the high schoolers anymore. Such a shame. It really was a wonderful experience.

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Mary Ann wrote: Sat Mar 08, 2025 12:28 pm I dropped out of the best concert band in town because there was no way for me to get away from the timpani in the rehearsal room. Even with ear plugs, my ears were ringing, and it wasn't worth it to stay.

I made a point once of putting a few quarters on the timpani head under the music stand (the way timp players often place it) during a rehearsal. Much foot shuffling from the trombone section ensued.