Orchestras may be asked to rehearse and even to perform more quietly under new health and safety regulations.

Earplugs and clear plastic screens separating musicians will also become familiar sights on stages while concert directors will be encouraged to balance noisy pieces, such as those by Wagner and Mahler, with quieter works by the likes of Mozart and Bach.

Regulations controlling the amount of noise permitted in workplaces came into force last year for most industries. They limited the daily average exposure to 85 decibels.

Music and entertainment were given an extra two years to adapt and a working party was formed to draw up guidelines for the sector. It includes English National Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Association of British Orchestras, Equity, the Health and Safety Executive and the Musicians’ Union. Public consultation on their recommendations will begin next month. The Health and Safety Executive said: “Reducing noise exposure in this industry isn’t as simple as in manufacturing because no one wants to see the impact of the overall performance reduced.

“We don’t want to stop people enjoying the music but we have to balance this against the health of the performers.”

The Musicians’ Union has campaigned on the issue since the mid1990s. Pauline Dalby, the union’s safety official, said that venues would now have to take noise levels into account when planning concert programmes.

“You couldn’t have an orchestra playing a loud repertoire five days a week – you’d have to have loud pieces mixed with quiet ones,” she told The Stage newspaper.

“You should also make sure you play more quietly during rehearsals. There’s no need to belt it out. You should try to

keep exposure levels down as much as you can.”

Thorben Dittes, projects manager at the Association of British Orchestras, said: “The most important issue is that we get to protect our players’ hearing. There are a whole range of measures in which this can be achieved.

“It’s unlikely that orchestra managers are going to programme Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and then Mahler’s Eighth Symphony but that would be an unusual combination anyway.”

Liz Forbes, concert director for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, said that there may be resistance to the use of earplugs.

“Very few concerts at the moment use earplugs. They’re not ideal for hearing the ensemble and what your colleagues are doing,” she said.

She added that rehearsing at a lower volume could cause problems because conductors needed to know what the music sounded like on stage.

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