I'm learning fiddle. I don't think I draw particularly hard against the strings (at least, I'm much less squeaky than I used to be), but my fiddle is going to make me deaf if I don't either get a mute for it or plug my left ear. I try to turn my face a bit toward the bridge when I play so it's not blasting directly into the side of my head but it still makes me pretty numb after a few tunes. I can't play with it against my arm like a lot of old-time fiddlers do--my arms and hands aren't long enough and I already have some problems with my left hand and wrist and can't bend them that much for long.

An Irish-style fiddler I knew once told me this was an asset but if that were true, all fiddlers would be deaf by the time they were forty, which seems sort of counterproductive. Worse, it seems to be getting louder the more I play it.

I don't think my hearing is particularly sensitive, so is it normal for a fiddle to be so damned loud?

(Also, since I mostly learn by ear these days, will a mute mess up the sound too much? Or does it really just take the edge off?)