Thanks to Kais, I learned there are iPhone apps that play the annoying sound of the vuvuzelas [plastic horns] at the World Cup. Of course there are! I have now downloaded one of the free versions and am prepared for rowdy pubs. Or maybe I'll just play my air horn app that was designed more for NHL games, I think. Or maybe the cowbells, designed for curling events. Or maybe I'll alternate until the battery runs out or I'm thrown out, whichever comes first... (I have an external battery source for my iPhone, so it'll last pretty long!)
Is it just my imagination, or are all the vuvuzelas tuned to the same note? It would make sense that they are, since they appear to have been mass-manufactured. But are the economies of scale in vuvuzela manufacturing so serious that the firm producing them has a natural monopoly? If not, and if there are other producers, is there some reason they are all produced to play the same note?
If I had one, I would cut it off at the plastic mouthpiece just a bit and insert my french horn mouthpiece (which I just happen to have with me on my travels), all so I could have a slightly higher pitched noise-maker.
Some years ago, I made some vuvuzela-wannabes to take to a local baseball game. I just cut some gray plastic electrical conduit to various lengths (to get different notes; drilling holes didn't work for that) and they were good and loud. Not as loud as the real thing, but still loud in a small stadium. And they have the advantage that they are easily smuggled in, tucked down one's pantlegs (we were told that vuvuzelas are banned from some ballparks because they are so loud and so annoying, but not at the ballpark we attended).
I'm not sure, but I think this might be my first posting ever that combines three of my interests: economics, sports, and music. If I thought long and hard, I could probably incorporate acting, too, but that might detract from the topic of the posting a bit.
For my previous posting on this topic, see this.
Btw, no pun intended in the title for this posting.