Airline travel with musical instruments

ByBret Pimentel

airplaneDuring the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to do some traveling with my instruments, on a number of airlines and through quite a few airports. Here are a few thoughts on getting instruments safely and smoothly to your destination.

Going through airport security

  • In most cases, your plan should be to carry your instrument(s) onto the plane with you. That means taking the instrument through airport security, and sending it on the conveyor belt through the x-ray scanner. In my experience, security personnel are generally very good about recognizing musical instruments as such, and sending them on through without raising an eyebrow.
  • Security personnel may, however, wish to open instrument cases for closer inspection. In my experience, inspectors are uniformly courteous and respectful about this, and usually notify me before they begin. Earlier this week I had a security officer let me know that he needed to open my oboe case, which I had sent  through the x-ray within a larger carry-on bag. I asked politely if he would let me open the case for him, and he was more than happy to allow this. I recommend taking this approach, since security personnel may not know which side is “up.” If you open the case yourself, you won’t have to worry about instrument parts rolling out onto the airport floor.
  • I also like to lock any carry-on instruments cases that can be locked, and, of course, make sure I keep the keys handy. This ensures that security personnel can’t open the case without me while I’m still trying to get my shoes back on. Besides, airports and planes can be crowded, and I like to be sure that my cases won’t pop open if jostled or bumped.
  • There is an agreement between the TSA, which runs airport security in US airports, and the AFM, the musicians’ union, which allows for instruments to pass through security screening checkpoints. A letter regarding this has been widely circulated on the web. Be advised that, despite some wording in the letter that seems to suggest otherwise, the agreement does not require the airline to let you carry your instrument onto the plane itself.  A number of sources recommend bringing a copy of the letter with you through security; it may not hurt, but I have to doubt that waving a letter around, telling the TSA officers how to do their job, will do much good if there’s a problem.
  • You should also keep in mind that accessories may not be allowed through security: reed knives, sharp little screwdrivers, water in humidifiers or reed-soaking containers, and so on. Water can be emptied out, and knives, etc., can be packed in your checked bag without a problem.
  • One last tip, which hopefully goes without saying: if you are polite and friendly, security staff are far more likely to get you through to your terminal quickly and easily.

Once you are through security, smaller instruments shouldn’t be a problem. All but the bulkiest of flute, oboe, and clarinet cases fit well within standard carry-on dimensions. Bassoons and saxophones as large as tenor can often be carried on, as well, but be aware that it’s a gray area and that even your best efforts are not guaranteed to get your horn into the airplane’s cabin. I can tell you, however, that I’ve never been denied bringing even a bassoon or a tenor aboard. Here is my approach:

At the gate

  • Don’t unnecessarily call attention to the instrument by approaching the airline staff to ask questions about bringing it on board.
  • Especially with smaller planes, an airline staffer may wish to tag your instrument case for gate checking. Accept the tag graciously. Don’t make a stink.
  • As the gate attendant takes your boarding pass, look him or her in the eye and smile, and say something friendly and polite if appropriate. Don’t look down at your instrument. If your case hasn’t been pre-tagged for gate checking, this may be the gate personnel’s last chance to decide that your instrument is too large to carry on. Hold the instrument in the hand farthest away, with your body casually blocking their view of it. It’s not a secret that you’re holding a case, you just don’t want it to look any larger than it is. If the case has a handle on one end that allows the case to be held in a vertical orientation (taller rather than wider), use that one.

Boarding the plane

  • As you head down the jetway or onto the tarmac, discreetly remove and pocket the gate-check tag, or, since it’s usually attached to the case’s handle, just make sure the tag is inside your hand. If the flight attendants know the gate personnel have pre-tagged carry-ons for gate check, they are likely to go along with the gate personnel’s decisions. Don’t let them know that yours has already been deemed too large. On a recent trip, I politely allowed my alto case to be tagged in the terminal, and carried it easily on board with the tag hidden inside my hand. But due to a minor mix-up, the flight attendant at the plane’s entrance needed to see my boarding pass, and I let go of my case to retrieve the pass. The flight attendant immediately noticed the neon-pink tag, and insisted that the case—which had been no problem until that moment—would have to go beneath the plane. Read on to the next tip to find out how I averted the crisis.
  • If a flight attendant on the plane balks at letting the instrument on, don’t get bogged down in arguing or explaining. The flight attendant wants the problem solved as quickly and agreeably as possible, especially since there may be a hundred or more people still in line behind you. I like to give my best smile and make a very direct and polite request: “This is a musical instrument. May I keep it here in the cabin?” This is not a time to deliver a lecture about the instrument’s value or fragility, or otherwise to suggest that you deserve special treatment. I find that when I ask simply and politely, the flight crew are usually willing to allow the instrument on board “for now” or “if there is enough room.” From that point, I have always been totally in the clear.

If you have to gate-check your instrument

Sometimes this may be unavoidable. I’ve luckily never had it happen, but I do like to be prepared.

  • Even if you’re not a traveler, a good solid case and a good insurance policy (deal with a company that specializes in musical instruments!) are your instrument’s best friends. I lock my cases while traveling, if possible, to avoid them coming open accidentally. My bassoon case is solid but it doesn’t lock and I’m not sure how much I can trust the latches, so I bring a couple of bungee cords along in case I have to strap it closed for gate checking.

If you have to check-check your instrument

Sometimes you know in advance that an instrument isn’t going to make it onto the plane in your hand.

  • If at all possible, I like to pack the instrument in its case, inside a larger suitcase with my clothes around it for extra padding. Sometimes I have to do this because I’m bringing multiple instruments and can’t carry all of them on. I usually choose to put my metal instruments into the suitcase because they won’t crack like wooden ones might in the non-climate-controlled cargo bay.
  • I also highly recommend taping a friendly note onto the case, in the event that your suitcase is inspected, and your case opened by security personnel:

    Turn the other side up before opening, please!

  • …or politely and succinctly give any other vital written instructions that will help them handle your instrument properly.

Have a nice trip!

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    Frequently I think about something one of my teachers said to me as an undergraduate student. I was preparing for a rapidly upcoming recital, and played one of my repertoire pieces in a private lesson. There was a tricky page turn in the printed sheet music, and my run-through came to a halt while I fumbled with the pages. A little embarrassed, I assured my teacher that I intended to photocopy a page at some point so this wouldn’t happen in performance.

    “You know, it’s not too soon to do that,” he said with a tired smile.

    Of course I learned many valuable lessons from that teacher, but “it’s not too soon” is one that has really stayed with me, and now I try to pass it along to my students. Here are some things they (and sometimes I) like to procrastinate, but I try to remind them it’s not too soon to do:

    • Photocopy pages to ease page turns
    • Mark in all the places you intend to breathe, and practice them
    • Look up any unknown foreign musical terms, and pencil in the translations
    • Decide exactly what all ornaments, trills, and such are going to sound like, and practice them
    • Listen to recordings
    • Get that sticky pad or crumbling cork replaced
    • Plan good fingerings, mark them in, and practice them
    • Study the accompaniment part
    • Pencil in any rhythms, accidentals, or other reminders that will improve your performance
    • Start stockpiling good performance reeds
    • Add dynamics or other expressive markings that support your interpretation, and practice them

    What small things are you procrastinating in your own preparation? It’s not too soon to do them now.

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    Practice slump checklist

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    Sometimes my students complain that they have had bad practicing days or weeks. Not that I have ever had this problem (ahem), but here are a few ideas for breaking out of a practicing slump.

    photo, Katy Wrathall
    photo, Katy Wrathall
    1. Check equipment. Slightly-malfunctioning gear can make you feel like a bad player. Be sure to eliminate this possibility.
      • Are your reeds functioning well? Prioritize response-balanced-with-stability over more subjective and malleable things like tone. Many reed players use unnecessarily stiff reeds; consider trying something a little softer if you haven’t lately.
      • Is your instrument functioning well? If you know how, check the most important adjustment screws (oboe: left hand stack, left G-sharp key, F resonance; saxophone: bis, G-sharp, right hand stack). Re-check basics like alignment of bridge keys. And, of course, make sure your instrument gets regular (at least annual) maintenance checkups. Professional instruments should probably get full mechanical overhauls every 5-10 years.
      • Are you using the best equipment for you? Don’t let new purchases be your go-to solution for every problem, but in some cases replacing an instrument or accessory can remove a roadblock to progress. (Do a reality-check with your teacher to make sure you aren’t just throwing away money chasing a quick fix.)
    2. Check technique. It might be you after all.
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      • Have you reviewed all your fundamentals? Take a closer look at your posture, hand position, breath support, embouchure, voicing, finger movement, etc. Have you slipped back into a bad habit? Are you suffering the effects of a technique deficiency you know you should fix but haven’t gotten around to yet? If you don’t know how to fix it, check in with your teacher.
      • Can you release some tension? Frustration often goes hand-in-hand with tense muscles. Consider doing a little deep breathing, stretching, mindfulness practice, yoga, Alexander Technique, or whatever else puts your body back in balance.
      • Have you laid sufficient technical groundwork? If you are working on something especially difficult, is there something else you could practice as an intermediate step? Études, technical exercises, or other preparatory material can help bridge the gap between your current ability level and the ability level you need.
    3. Check your health. If your body isn’t responding well, your practice sessions will be difficult and unpleasant.
      • Have you been getting enough quality sleep? Implementing good sleep habits is a major upgrade to the function of your mind and body.
      • Are you eating balanced meals? Are you eating enough? Are you eating too much? Is your diet too low on good stuff and/or too high in bad stuff?
      • Are you getting outside for at least a few minutes of sunshine and “fresh” air? Sunshine is important to your body’s vitamin D level.
      • Are you stressed, or otherwise not at your best mentally? In some cases, professional counseling and/or treatment may be needed. If you are a college student, there is a good chance there are free, discreet counseling services available on your campus. In other cases, taking a break, getting a little exercise, talking something out with a friend or loved one, or just getting a change of scenery might be enough.
    4. Check your mindset.
      • Are you practicing mindlessly or without direction? Try making a short list of goals you would like to accomplish during this practice session. If you’re not sure where to start, make a quick recording (perhaps with the voice memo app on your smartphone) and listen to it to get some ideas about what needs improvement. If you don’t meet all your goals, you can tackle them again tomorrow or re-prioritize.
    5. Check your environment.
      • At what time of day are your practice sessions the most productive and pleasant? Do you practice best in the morning before your body is tired and your brain is full? Or do you get a second wind after the sun goes down?
      • What locations are most conducive to good practice sessions? Sometimes just changing the scenery can revitalize your focus and productivity. Practicing in places with different acoustical qualities can make you hear yourself in new ways and get your creative juices flowing.
      • What distractions are getting in your way? Can you reduce or remove them?
    6. Check your ego. Practicing should challenge you, but not overwhelm you.
      • Are you working on music that is inappropriately difficult for your current abilities? If you have some freedom to choose what you practice, consider working on something else for now and tackling this project later. If you are committed to a performance of something very difficult and have to make it work, be sure to include other things in your practice session that you can be successful at, to keep your motivation primed.

    Don’t let poor practice sessions bring you down—use them to refine your habits and make the next session your best yet.

  • Playing full-spectrum music

    ByBret Pimentel

    I’m far from being a photography expert, but I do have one trick. (This is a music-related post, I promise.)

    In general, good photos take advantage of the eye’s full light-to-dark range. In other words, the very darkest part of the photo should be very black, and the very lightest part should be very white.

    Here’s a photo that doesn’t meet those criteria—the darkest and lightest parts of the photo are both sort of medium-grayish.

    blah

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  • Basic tuplet math

    ByBret Pimentel

    A young music student with some basic competencies might be comfortable with these kinds of rhythms:
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    tuplet-math-1 tuplet-math-2

    Divisions of the pulse into twos and threes is simple enough conceptually, but in most cases we really learn those kinds of rhythms better by ear—we just learn what eighth notes or triplet eighths sound like against a quarter note pulse. A division of the pulse into fourths, like sixteenth notes against a quarter note pulse, is something that could ostensibly be derived: you could start from a duple subdivision, then make the mental shift to hearing the subdivided pulse as the new pulse, then subdivide that. But the quadruple subdivision is common enough that I think most of us ultimately learn to play it by ear, too.

    The quarter- and half-note triplets in the first two bars of the example above are a little harder to place accurately, I think, because the “extra” pulses are hard to ignore. If I can somehow mentally block out the pulses (audible or implied) on beats two and four in the first measure, then I’m playing three notes per pulse again, and that’s really no different than, say, eighth-note triplets in 4/4. Same thing for the second bar: if I can tune out the pulses on beats two, three, and four, then I’m just playing that same triple subdivision.

    One approach to this problem is to simply learn the less-familiar subdivision by ear. Music notation software is the perfect tool for this; with a little skill you can usually enter rhythms as complex as you like, and hear them played back with the utmost precision against a pulse of your choice. But here are a couple of other useful tricks.

    Trick #1: Subdivide long-duration triplets

    To play triplets against a duple or quadruple pulse, you can derive them from triplets played against a single pulse. For example, this rhythm…

    tuplet-math-1

    …can be derived in this way:

    tuplet-math-3

    Trick #2: Approximate complex tuplets with duple/triple subdivisions

    “Tuplets” that are prime numbers greater than three can be difficult to audiate on the fly. But in many cases (not all cases) there is some room for complex tuplets to be somewhat less than perfectly even. For example, a composer might write a scalar “run” that contains a certain collection of pitches that doesn’t divide neatly into the number of beats allotted, and use a tuplet to make them fit into the score in a legible way. In such a case, it might be appropriate for the run to accelerate or decelerate a bit. If so, the tuplet can be reimagined as a series of duple, triple, or quadruple subdivisions.

    This, for instance…

    tuplet-math-2…could be approached like this (with a slight acceleration effect on each tuplet)…

    tuplet-math-4…or like this (with a slight deceleration effect on each triplet:

    tuplet-math-5Rewriting the rhythms into duple/triple/quadruple subdivisions of the pulse makes it easier to practice these rhythms methodically and consistently with a metronome, and allows for some anchoring which ran really solidify longer runs. Even if the intention is eventually to play the tuplet with more exact evenness, practicing them this way can help to shore up technique in the early stages.

  • Mormons and musicians

    ByBret Pimentel
    Mormon Tabernacle Choir and organ pipes
    Photo, More Good Foundation

    Some of you know that I am a “Mormon“—a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I find that sometimes fellow musicians are curious about my faith and how it connects to my career in music, so I’d like to share a few thoughts.

    Music in LDS (Latter-day Saint) theology

    Mormons embrace the biblical Old and New Testaments and find in them reason to consider music, both vocal and instrumental, integral to worship:

    And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. (2nd Samuel 6:5, KJV)

    Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16, KJV)

    Books of scripture unique to the LDS canon also promote music in worship. The Book of Mormon describes gatherings of the faithful in the ancient Americas:

    And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done. (Moroni 6:9, emphasis added)

    The Doctrine and Covenants, a collection of revelations from the 19th and 20th centuries, includes divine sanction for music in worship:

    And it shall be given thee, also, to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church.

    For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads. (Doctrine and Covenants 25:12)

    If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. (Doctrine and Covenants 136:28)

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  • Sparking creative inspiration

    ByBret Pimentel

    It’s tempting sometimes to see my students as either left-brained or right-brained players—either the precise, technically-oriented type or the creative, intuitive type. The reality, of course, is that they are all some of each, but may have greater strengths in one area or the other. And good musicians need both.

    Trying to get the more technically-inclined to play with imagination and spontaneity can be frustrating for student and teacher alike. And the more intuitive types sometimes need a little organization to make sure their creativity is focused into a cohesive musical statement. Here is a very simple technique that I use with “both” kinds of students to encourage creative exploration without wandering too far afield.

    photo, Bernat Casero
    photo, Bernat Casero

    First I select a brief passage and ask the student to imagine that it is part of the soundtrack to a movie, and start feeding them genres to try out: Can you play it like it’s part of a swashbuckling action-adventure movie? a slapstick comedy? a steamy love story? a tense courtroom drama? For the student who is tentative about playing imaginatively, this is a fairly simple, non-threatening way to experiment with some intuitive musical decisions. For a student whose flights of fancy need a little direction, this technique provides just enough discipline without suppressing creativity.

    The next step is to ask the student to pick a few favorite genres on their own, or even specific movies, and let them explore the passage within those frameworks. Some students, the more technically-inclined in particular, seem a little embarrassed about sharing even that much of their creative process aloud, so I don’t push them to do so as long as they can use it to create a few interpretations that are convincingly distinct. The important thing is that they are discovering the ability to generate ideas and apply them to the music.

    An additional step is to move beyond movie genres to something a little more esoteric. I have had success with having students play different colors (purple? yellow? black? fuchsia?), different moods or emotions (love? hate? joy? paranoia?), or different “instruments” (can you sound like a trumpet? a cello? an operatic soprano? a snare drum?). Sometimes I use this approach myself to tackle particularly tricky interpretive questions, like how to handle repeated sections that I want to sound just different enough on the second time through: maybe the first time royal blue, and the second time more of a navy blue.

    Advanced musical interpretation can be much richer and more complex, but starting out with this technique seems to help many of my students get started, by opening up an intuitive path for some students and providing some useful creative boundaries for others.

9 Comments

  1. Pingback: The Bassic Sax Blog » Blog Archive » Saxophones At The Airport

  3. I am going to Ohio with my alto sax And TSA says on there website that you are allowed to bring your instrument alongside one carryon and a personal item. But on allegiant airlines website which I am flying on it says you are only allowed one carryon bag and one personal item but an instrument counts as your carryon. I need my carryon for clothing. Any advice?

    Reply

    1. I definitely suggest putting your clothes in a checked bag, and carrying the saxophone on with you. Keeping your instrument safe is worth the checked baggage fee. Have a safe trip!

      Reply

  4. As a bari player, carrying the horn on board is something I haven’t even tried. I’ve had good luck so far with the SKB Bari case. It protects the horn adequately, doesn’t weigh a ton, has wheels, and has TSA locks. These can be opened by security personnel even if you’re not there. That’s a good thing, as it means they don’t have to break the lock to get your case open.

    Reply
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  6. Pingback: Travel and Transport | Acoustic Musical Instruments & Humidity   

    1. Not that I can see. The “new” rule seems to codify what was already standard practice: you are allowed to carry an instrument onto the plane as long as it meets the airline’s carry-on requirements. The new rule doesn’t seem to offer any provision that will increase the number of instruments that get approved as carry-ons. (It does require airlines to let you buy a seat for an instrument within a certain size range, which I’m not sure was previously the case. It also “encourages” airlines to make some additional allowances where possible for oversized carry-ons, but doesn’t require it.)

      Reply

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