Deaf violist plays with Baltimore Symphony
mainLovely story about Wendy Cheng, a viola player who has been deaf since childhood.
‘Even though I have a hearing loss; I keep thinking, Beethoven would approve,’ she says.
Watch here.
Wendy is the founder of the Association for Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss.
But aren’t all viola players kinda deaf… (sorry, couldn’t resist)
If you had to sit right next to that ear-piercingly high-pitched noise coming from violins all the time, you’d be deaf too.
More to the point, they normally sit right in front of the trombones. Anyone who wants to laugh about that should try it for a week of Mahler #5 rehearsals and then see how funny it is.
(BTW I love viola jokes. Here is a page of them, with a link to more: http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/viola-jokes.html)
As one of the violists who sat near Wendy at the Rusty Musicians, I can assure you that she played beautifully.
As one of the violists who sat next to Wendy at the performance, I can assure you that she played beautifully. I would suggest, however, that your unfortunate attempt at humor was quite “tone deaf” although, of course, your decision to post anonymously is wholly understandable.
There are ways to protect your hearing while sitting in an orchestra . . . Etymotic Research makes good ones; so does Sensaphonic.
http://www.etymotic.com/consumer/hearing-protection/erme.html
https://store.sensaphonics.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ERSeriesPlugs