From Jennifer Zarek
It is unsurprising that pan players in steel bands risk the same hearing loss as orchestral musicians (13 November, p 19). I write as one who has regularly suffered the back-blast of assembled French horns while sitting in the front row of a chorus.
Some years ago I had occasion to carry out some acoustical tests on steel pans made for the Notting Hill carnival in London. Tuning pans requires the vigorous application of a large hammer, carried out (in this instance) in a large breeze-block workshop. I guess that steel pans are the only musical instrument for which the wearing of ear defenders while tuning is mandatory.
Driffield, East Yorkshire, UK
