Choral Evensong service halted by buskers mid-way at Bath Abbey

[Honoured Guest]

Isn't that sort of amplification to make the music audible rather than to make it very, very loud?

No! Isn't it also about texture, tone, sound - extending the range of the instruments or music?

[french frank]

No! Isn't it also about texture, tone, sound - extending the range of the instruments or music?

But even texture, tone and sound need to be audible. Just not necessarily VERY loud.

It reminds me of the French 'Music Days' where all sorts of musicians set up all over various towns and play, each one finding a good 'pitch' (as in place!). I was very sad for a Breton folk group that found a good place to play until one individual with electric guitar and amplifier set up nearby. After trying to mount a protest they had to give up and go away.

[Flosshilde]

Isn't that sort of amplification to make the music audible rather than to make it very, very loud?

Surely Heavy Metal is meant to be very, very loud - impossible without amplification?

[french frank]

Surely Heavy Metal is meant to be very, very loud - impossible without amplification?

I expect so. Was it Heavy Metal? The story said 'singing and playing guitar through an amplifier'.

[Vox Humana]

It's worth keeping in mind that last Sunday's denouement was but the straw that broke that camel's back. If the report in the Torygraph is accurate and both choristers and nearby office workers had been forced to resort to earplugs then the problem must be significant. I was pleased to read at the end of this piece that the council is proposing to ban the use of amplification outside the abbey. I hope that will solve the problem.

[MrGongGong]

Reading a bit more
I don't think it's really as clear cut as what is being presented

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/23/bath-buskers-fight-threat-ban-amplified-music-abbey

[jean]

Reading a bit more still
I think it's every bit as clear as we thought at first

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/24/bath-abbey-choristers-break-silence-busker-row

[MrGongGong]

Reading a bit more still
I think it's every bit as clear as we thought at first

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...nce-busker-row

humm

Interesting how some folks who were at the service that was stopped said there wasn't a problem and others said there was.

If they can't sort this mutually what chance Gaza ?

Interesting subject for my mates in the WFAE (World Forum for Acoustic Ecology)

[jean]

If there was a problem for anyone, there was a problem. The only thing that's necessary to sort it out is for buskers to agree not to play during services.

The Abbey has tried to find a solution by making it clear when there are services in progress. It's not as if they're going on all the time.

But some buskers won't respect that. I think someone said somewhere (though I can't find it now) that of course they won't, because it is very important to them to resist authority.

This is both childish and unhelpful, but is probably the result of being told what to do while they were still at school.

[jean]

Here's the post I was thinking of:

...With respect to the Abbey clergy, they've been a bit naïve with their fancy traffic-light system; of course some folk will enjoy flouting it - most humans enjoy flouting authority from time to time...

[MrGongGong]

If there was a problem for anyone, there was a problem. The only thing that's necessary to sort it out is for buskers to agree not to play during services.

The Abbey has tried to find a solution by making it clear when there are services in progress. It's not as if they're going on all the time.

But some buskers won't respect that. I think someone said somewhere (though I can't find it now) that of course they won't, because it is very important to them to resist authority.

This is both childish and unhelpful, but is probably the result of being told what to do while they were still at school.

Maybe the solution to these things ISN'T more rules at all ?

Before Clayton forge stopped banging 24 hours a day you couldn't hear the bells of Lincoln Cathedral from many places in the city.

Who owns the air ?

Don't get me wrong, i'm not a fan of buskers at all (strummy strummy Beatles guitarists at Lime Street )
There is always a problem for someone.

I would suspect (time to get out Murray Schafer to catch up on this ?) that there is LESS noise in Bath than when the Abbey was built.

Is there a recording from inside of the sound from outside ?

[french frank]

I would suspect (time to get out Murray Schafer to catch up on this ?) that there is LESS noise in Bath than when the Abbey was built.

Really? There might have been more general babble (though why that should have been, I don't know - there would have been fewer people) but not the volume of sound created by amplification.

[MrGongGong]

Really? There might have been more general babble (though why that should have been, I don't know - there would have been fewer people) but not the volume of sound created by amplification.

We assume that the world is getting louder.
Many of our cities are quieter places now than ever before even allowing for amplification.

These folks might know

http://wfae.proscenia.net/journal/

(I only said "suspect")

[french frank]

We assume that the world is getting louder.

We assume the world is capable of producing louder noises reaching a wider area.

(I only said "suspect")

Indeed you did. And I merely queried it

[Beef Oven!]

This is both childish and unhelpful, but is probably the result of being told what to do while they were still at school.

Or possibly being told what to do by their parents/other adults, irrespective of the school.