Ethics Newsline®

New York Times and Times of London note that some musicians say enforcement of laws designed to protect factory workers will doom some types of music

LONDON
New European Union laws designed to protect workers from unhealthy noise levels have produced an unintended consequence: symphony orchestras are having to drop some loud pieces from their repertoire, or at least tone down the loud parts.

Reporting from London, New York Times reporter Sarah Lyall writes: “Across Europe, musicians are being asked to wear decibel-measuring devices and to sit behind see-through anti-noise screens. Companies are altering their repertories. And conductors are reconsidering the definition of fortissimo.”

“Alan Garner, an oboist and English horn player who is the chairman of the players’ committee at the Royal Opera House, said that he and his colleagues had been told that they would have to wear earplugs during entire three-hour rehearsals and performances,” Lyall reports. “‘It’s like saying to a racing-car driver that they have to wear a blindfold,’ he said.”

Some critics argue that enforcement of the regulations is an example of government overreaching and overreacting.

Some musicians go so far as to say that certain types of music are now doomed, according to the Times of London. A bagpipe band director argued, for example, that requirements that bagpipers wear earplugs make it impossible for them to hear and play properly in an ensemble, warning that if the regulations are enforced, “pipe bands won’t exist.”

Sources: New York Times, Apr. 16 –London Times, Apr. 4.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Sep. 15, 2003 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 5, 1999.