Hearing protection for playing in a "too loud" band?

[KEW]

When is this happening? Has it occurred? Will there be video?

Vape a little weed before you perform.

Saturday 3/31/18
Don't know about Video. I may get an audio recording on my Zoom.
It has been to long! I would worry about getting too distracted by something and botching things entirely. 40 years ago, it would have been in my comfort zone..

 

[highfigh]

As someone who is shy around strangers and used to have stage fright, I have a few suggestions, nothing earthshaking.
My old man made me take a speech class in high school. I hated it but it did me good, speaking to a bunch of kids who all had to do it in front of the rest of it as well. The class bonded over it and was very close. So having someone sympathetic in the crowd you can focus on helps a lot.
I did radio in college and speaking on the air to "no one" was very difficult at first. So I imagined a friend sitting on the couch and spoke as if I was talking to him. You can imagine someone in the crowd if that helps.
You needn't make eye contact at all. Just look out blankly or stare at your instrument. Everyone will think you're just a very intense musician. No worries. Hardly anyone will realize if you mess up. If the band drinks a lot, I'll bet the crowd does too.
A little fear can be your friend. It keeps you alert and avoids being complacent. Learn to make a little adrenaline and the butterflies that go with it an expected friend, not the enemy.
Lastly, and perhaps most important, there is no substitute for preparation. I lecture regularly too, and my best talks are all well practiced where I am an expert on the material. With music there is no substitute for practice.

Best of Luck

Dan aka Little Swerd

I was painfully shy for a long time and after a bad breakup, I found myself needing a job, too. I called a friend to see if he wanted to go skiing and during the conversation, he asked if I could sell HiFi. The owner of the store hopped on the call and we set up an interview, which got me the job. The first day, I realized I had to constantly talk to new people, which I had neglected to consider but because of the breakup, I had stopped caring about a lot of things. The fact that one of the people who worked at the stereo store was gorgeous and she was very nice to me, didn't hurt. Once I had gotten through the weekend (we had a huge sale), talking to people really wasn't a problem. Before that, speaking to even ten people was white knuckle time and I hated it. The next time I had to do that was when I took an acoustics class at UW-Milwaukee and it was a piece of cake- I didn't even use note cards and I was up there for over 45 minutes with a Q&A period at the end. Both times, I watched the teacher's reactions and didn't pay any attention to the rest of the class.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Hey Kurt,

A quick Google search found these.

https://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Fidelity-Earplugs-ETY-Plugs-Standard/dp/B0044DEESS?th=1

That led me to this chart;

https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/hearing-protection/which-earplug

Congratulations on the gig!

I forgot to respond to this post. My wife uses the Music Pro Etymotics, and I've tried them. They're not as good as the 3M foam plugs, IMO, and they're very expensive. My wife won't use foam plugs because she thinks they look stupid. (I told her that I think old gray-haired people playing 50s, 60s, or 70s rock and roll music about teenage sex and love-sick longing looks stupid, so orange ear plugs are probably not going to be a big factor.)