Dynamics in the 80's

In 1967 it was my pleasure to have been the guest of the Icelandic Band Association while giving a lower brass course in Reykjavik. During two free days my host took me on a two hour drive to an incredibly quiet and peaceful village called Reykholtsdalur where we stayed in the home of my host’s family.

The man of this household was a gentleman of 84 who had never before met a foreigner, had left Reykholtsdalur only once as a young man to spend a few days in Reykjavik and complained that Reykjavik was much too noisy. (Those who have been to Iceland know that Reykjavik by western capital city standards is comparably very quiet.) He also had encountered very little sonic pollution during his lifetime; the need to compete with any sounds outside of nature was virtually unknown to him.

This old gentleman had the softest speaking voice I have ever heard, yet it was clear and resonant. Conversations with colleagues have convinced me that musicians latently long for this sonically pure environment but the reality is that sound pollution in most of our lives is sempre poco a poco crescendo.

In music, as surely as the general pitch has risen in the past century, so has the general dynamic level and as surely as techniques have expanded in the past century the ability to play louder has been a part of that expansion.

Economics and overpopulation have caused the vast majority of new concert halls built within the past two decades to be large enough to accommodate today's audiences and to assure box office results that will at least come close to absorbing the enormous operating costs that all modern day musical institutions must face.