My dad ran the in-house print shop for Seattle Public Schools, and also had a home publishing business with a printing press in our basement. I don’t remember ever seeing him wearing industrial earmuffs or earplugs, either at his noisy day job or at home. Predictably, his hearing began to fail in his 50’s and he wore hearing aids the last 20 years of his life.

Over the course of the Fall-to-Spring teaching/performing season, I notice the low background ringing in my ears gradually increasing after each day of teaching, orchestra rehearsal, or gig in an amplified setting; each recital, concert, or blockbuster movie. By March, it’s harder to ignore the high-pitched whine. I know from experience that I need to minimize the decibels entering my ears for a while before the nerve endings will calm down. (18 hours of quiet is recommended in the resource linked below!) I also “should know better” and not wait for the ringing to tell me I need to protect my hearing.

Enter the earplugs! There are models specifically for musicians. I’ve used Earpeace High Fidelity, and most recently a set of Minuendo Lossless adjustable earplugs. I feel the relief as soon as they are in, and even used them successfully during a recent set of orchestra rehearsals of Beethoven’s 5th. Yes, the earplugs do dampen the experience of note timbre and volume, but I am still able to play in tune and to blend with other musicians. I also become more aware of the vibration-feedback from my violin and bow, telling me how much resonance I am producing to augment the muted notes I can hear. It’s like wearing gloves on a cold day to do something that you’d usually use bare hands for; not ideal, but workable. 

I think it’s important to destigmatize the wearing of ear protection by working musicians, starting with our students. If you choose to wear hearing protection in lessons, let your students observe this, and explain why! Teens wear earbuds constantly as fashion accessories now, so they need to be especially aware of the long-term effects of high noise exposure. There are smartphone apps for immediate feedback on the decibel levels of our environments, so all can take appropriate precautions.

For further reading: NIOSH, the CDC division that advises OSHA, published a helpful bulletin in 2015 entitled Reducing the Risk of Hearing Disorders among Musicians. 

To your good aural health!

Jane Melin, NCTM
WSMTA Vocal/Instrumental Chair
jane@melinmusicstudio.com

“Genius is 1 Percent Inspiration and 99 Percent Perspiration” – Thomas Edison (who maybe left out a few ingredients!)

WSMTA aspires to create more connections between students and teachers of different instrument-disciplines.

This has inspired the 2024 Conference Committee to dream up a panel discussion of teachers who have worked with chamber groups, especially groups involving pianists. Topics covered would be how to start such a program, ideas for scheduling, collaboration, and repertoire ideas. 

I have been asked for input on this topic, which leads to feelings of frustration. This is not the first time chamber-collaborations have come up at the state and local levels! In my chapter, we have many vocal/instrumental students, and yet we have not been able to come up with a way to mix them together with piano students in ensembles. Why is this?

Not for a lack of interest! Perspiration is involved in just thinking this through. The roadblocks seem to be:

1) Lack of chamber repertoire written below an advanced level for all participants. Classical chamber repertoire for 3, 4 or 5 musicians that includes piano was not written for student-level players. Modern equal-difficulty student-ensemble repertoire is written for the types of student groups that make up most of the commercial market: youth/school bands, orchestras, choirs, and single-discipline studios. Therefore, any piano parts are blended into a larger ensemble, are at an advanced (teacher) level, or missing completely.

2) Lack of an organizational structure for communications and scheduling. The students who are involved in ensembles are probably in their school or community youth orchestra, band, or choir; or in small chamber groups organized by their private teacher around strings or winds repertoire. Bringing together students outside of these structures and disciplines is very difficult.

3) Lack of student availability. The very students who have developed the skills for playing chamber music at the (required) intermediate and advanced levels are usually involved in many other activities. They are studying demanding solo repertoire; defending their seating position in a competitive band or orchestra; and/or preparing for WMEA Solo and Ensemble. And of course, they are usually hard working students in college-prep classes. Do they have time to dedicate to another type of music-making that might be considered “just for fun” or “on the side”? Most would answer “No.”

All of these obstacles return us to the status quo (resignation).

Is there a way through? I would love to hear from any GENIUS teachers who have experience in this area! Maybe you got there through experimentation, innovation, or negotiation. Do you have a treasured source of student-level repertoire for piano-plus ensembles? Have you composed or arranged any music for this purpose? Please contact me with your successful ideas. At least I can share them with others. Or, perhaps a panel discussion in June 2024 is not so improbable after all!

COLLABORATION. What does it look like to you?

–Jane Melin, NCTM
WSMTA Vocal/Instrumental Chair
jane@melinmusicstudio.com