Monday, May 5, 2014

Assaulted by Sound

Just in the past three days I have felt assaulted by sound:

On a city bus when the elevator is in use to enable a wheelchair-bound person to board or leave the bus, the beeping alert is so loud, so high-pitched, and so insistent that it must exacerbate the already high tension generated by the population who have to wait for this operation to take place.  Isn't life for the disabled hard enough without this negative reinforcement?

At a funeral at a small country Roman Catholic church when the recorded and then miked music that was supposed to lead the congregation in song just turned everyone off.   (I won't even go into the sickening quality of the songs...that is another topic for another day.)

In a gym locker room when a locked-up cell phone wouldn't stop its idiotic blare.

Then came a message on the Music Theory Society's on-line chat from a theory instructor who, seeking to make his Freshman Music Theory class more "piano-centered," wants advice on whether or not to have the students purchase $100 keyboards.  Really? More assault by pseudo?