Learsfool: Interesting that you should take my comment as referring to musicians such as yourself. Instead, I intended my comment to refer to people who attend concerts and do not play instruments in their home, and therefore have little or no experience with how the dynamics are changed within a small space.
Your comment notwithstanding, I would suggest that most non-musicians do indeed have no idea of the sound levels of instruments played in a small space such as a home.
For example, I believe that most people who have never heard a violin or piano played by a competent musician in their living room have no idea of the dynamics of which that instrument is capable in a small space.
Similarly, even most people who do have a piano at home have no idea of the difference in dynamics that would result if their piano was replaced by a concert grand.
I would also suggest that most people have no idea how loud instruments played in a home sound compared to the level at which most home stereos are played. The story told by Unsound is particularly interesting in this regard, since he said that his friend was a musician, and even he was astonished at the relative difference in sound level between his instrument and the stereo system.
Let me further suggest the following: Like a musical score, the written word is often ambiguous and susceptible of multiple interpretations. Most people learn relatively early on that if their interpretation of someone else's words results in the sense seeming "bizarre," there is usually another, and more likely, interpretation that makes more sense and does justice to the speaker's intelligence and intent.
And most people also learn early on as part of their basic social-skills training that it is often useful to think for a moment what that other interpretation might be, before blurting out that the speaker has said something "bizarre."
Your comment notwithstanding, I would suggest that most non-musicians do indeed have no idea of the sound levels of instruments played in a small space such as a home.
For example, I believe that most people who have never heard a violin or piano played by a competent musician in their living room have no idea of the dynamics of which that instrument is capable in a small space.
Similarly, even most people who do have a piano at home have no idea of the difference in dynamics that would result if their piano was replaced by a concert grand.
I would also suggest that most people have no idea how loud instruments played in a home sound compared to the level at which most home stereos are played. The story told by Unsound is particularly interesting in this regard, since he said that his friend was a musician, and even he was astonished at the relative difference in sound level between his instrument and the stereo system.
Let me further suggest the following: Like a musical score, the written word is often ambiguous and susceptible of multiple interpretations. Most people learn relatively early on that if their interpretation of someone else's words results in the sense seeming "bizarre," there is usually another, and more likely, interpretation that makes more sense and does justice to the speaker's intelligence and intent.
And most people also learn early on as part of their basic social-skills training that it is often useful to think for a moment what that other interpretation might be, before blurting out that the speaker has said something "bizarre."