[TPIN] Trumpet Shields

[Achias1 at mchsi.com]

Don't they hurt your ears?

When I played "Carmen" earlier this year, the trumpets were in the last row and in back of the 
trombones - so we could get out and back in for the stage parts. After one of the more "robust" 
sections, I noticed that my ears were ringing and I figured out that it was because I was playing right 
into the back of the chair of the person in front of me, sending the sound right back to me. I moved to 
the side a bit and didn't have the problem anymore.

Also, and I debated mentioning this ever since this thread started, I heard the Navy Band a couple 
weeks ago and the first trumpets in that group used these. It didn't take long to figure out why. 
Although I hope that it was the hall and not the players, the first trumpets were overbalancing the 
entire group for most of the concert. With a group of such fine musicians as this, I was hoping that 
their balance would be as great as their other musical qualities, but I was disappointed.

It reminded me of when I played in the NORAD military band around 35 years ago. We had a concert 
group and a jazz group and at every concert, the trumpet players from each group tried to play louder 
than the other group as a sign of masculinity. The recordings of those concerts are sometimes comical 
to me these days.

Dave

P.S. I have no idea why the subject line of some of my posts reads, "To TPIN" instead of the subject that 
I list.