I'm letting myself down

August 23, 2006 at 7:37 AM

I just realised that my name dissappeared from the blogs list. I'm not really doing a good enough job am I?

It's not that I haven't been doing much, it's just been all the same sort of stuff.

Today, I had a lecture on Occupational Health and Safety. Talked about various things, such as Stretching, Diet, Stress (Emotional, Physical and Chemical), and Hearing. In light of reading some of the statistics, I've decided to try some earplugs.

Just some of the statistics: Prolonged exposure to noise levels of 95dB-120dB will cause hearing loss. Violins head around the 75dB-95dB range. A full orchestra can peak around 137dB. A Jet engine ranks in at 140dB.

So I asked my mum if she had any (I remember that my dad bought her some when he was snoring badly). She had two sets left. I'm going to try some out during my practice session tonight, and also during an orchestral rehearsal that I have on Saturday.

I've kinda joined an orchestra, but haven't really. It's a project set up by one of the conductors in Perth, an Orchestral Repertoire project. Basically, we rock up to the venue, take our seats, and play through the symphonic repertoire. The session I'm going to on Saturday we'll be playing through three Beethoven Symphonies, 5, 6 and 7. We just have the three hour session - no performances, no other rehearsals. It's a great opportunity to try out the orchestral repertoire, and also it opens the opportunity to try out Concertos and other such things in later sessions. I'm really looking forward to the session, not only to play the symphonies, but also to meet new players.

That's it for now. Sorry, no fancy pictures like other people, but if you want to add me to your myspace, feel free. http://www.myspace.com/violin_ben

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on August 24, 2006 at 3:28 AM

I wondered what had happened to you, Ben. I'm glad you're alive and well. I tried using ear plugs when i played in a concert earlier this year, and my experience was not very good. I was glad i had them on when the trumpets or timps sounded right behind me, but the rest of the time, I found the experience confusing. I tried to compromise by using just one of them, but that was even more confusing. Maybe I'll try them again at a rehearsal.

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I'm letting myself down

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