Wind playing and contagious diseases

ByBret Pimentel

I’m not a (medical) doctor or disease expert of any kind, but I’ve been thinking a bit about the instruments I play and the risks of catching or spreading disease. (At the time of this writing, Covid-19 is foremost in many people’s minds.) I’m presenting a few thoughts here in hopes that people with real expertise will be able to address them in an authoritative way, and I’ll update this post as appropriate with links to additional information if/when it becomes available. Update: I have created a separate page with links to research/resources.

As a player of reed instruments, I am of course concerned about reeds and mouthpieces (and related items like mouthpiece caps and reed cases, tools, and workspaces), and would like to implement some more structured, methodical ways of keeping them clean.

But the thing that worries me more is what is in the air when I am playing wind instruments, or near people who are. Some research/modeling (the accuracy/relevance of which I am unqualified to judge) seems to suggest that “aerosol particles” from a cough can travel far and remain in the air for a long time:

I can only speculate on how this relates to playing wind instruments, but it does leave me feeling uneasy. Some concerns that spring to mind:

  • If I am teaching lessons, even in my relatively spacious university studio, are my students and I both filling the air with potentially infectious particles, by blowing large amounts of well-supported air over sustained periods of time?
  • What surfaces in my studio are receiving these particles, and how long can germs survive there? Should I be altering my routine of teaching lessons all morning, then eating lunch at my desk? Do I need a routine for cleaning music stands, metronomes, and other items that are in the line of “fire?” Should I be concerned about what is settling on the bassoon reeds drying on pegs in a corner of the office?
  • When I or my students perform (especially in ensembles), how close are we to other people? I’ve certainly played orchestral gigs where there’s hardly enough elbow room to swab out a clarinet. What is being put into the air or onto surfaces when the entire wind section starts to play?

Contagious diseases certainly aren’t new, and I think some basic courtesies and hygiene will continue to be adequate to keep ordinary disease risks in check. But at the time of this writing we find ourselves in an age when we are more attuned to physical (“social”) distancing, handwashing, and mask-wearing, and when we receive somber daily tallies of those affected by a public health crisis we don’t yet fully understand.

Let’s all be listening to experts and thinking about how we can continue to share music with our students, teachers, collaborators, and audiences, safely and in good health. Stay well.

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  • Responding to free or low-paying gigs

    ByBret Pimentel

    Here are some sample scripts for phone calls or emails about “gigs” that pay nothing, or not enough. (Some inspiration came from Jessica Hische’s online tool for responding to graphic design inquiries.)

    A friend wants you to provide music for a wedding, party, etc.

    Sounds like a fun event! Thanks for thinking of me. There are a couple of ways we can handle this:

    I can treat you like a regular client, with a real but affordable budget. Usually I charge [$XXX] so I can afford the time and expense of putting together a really great [party band/wind quintet/jazz quartet/etc.]. I charge extra for special song requests so I can work out [sheet music/rehearsal time/etc.]. Let me know and I’ll fill you in on the usual details about how and when to make payment. Since you’re [my bestie/my brother-in-law/etc.] you’ll get my top-of-the-line professional treatment plus [some extra love/a 10% discount].

    Or, if it works better for you, I could just pick out one song I think you will really like, and it will just be me with my [flute/saxophone/etc.]. I can play it to help make a moment that is extra special, and then I can hang out with you and the gang for the rest of the night. You can just [feed me dinner/give me some free tax advice/call it a wedding gift] and we’ll consider it even.

    A non-profit or other good cause wants you to donate musical services for a fundraising event:

    Thanks for reaching out. I really respect your cause and what you are trying to accomplish.

    Since I do this for a living, I’m sure you understand I have to be careful about giving away my time for free. Do you have a budget for the event that is paying for the [food/waitstaff/venue rental/prizes]? If so, maybe we can come up with an affordable option, like [a duo with me and this great cellist I know]. As a policy I really can’t give away my time when other professionals are being compensated. If everyone involved is 100% donating their services, then I can play for free occasionally for the causes that are most important to me personally, [and I would be happy to help for an hour/but I’ve really already done all the charity work that I can afford lately].

    A business or person wants to hire you and can seemingly afford to do so, but has underestimated the cost of your services:

    I appreciate the offer and would be interested in figuring out a way that we can make this happen. At this point it sounds like you are working with more of a [DJ/somebody’s-iPhone-plus-a-Bluetooth-speaker] budget, and if so then I might be able to recommend somebody.

    But if I’m understanding you right, you’re looking for that really classy, upscale touch that live music provides. To give you that kind of service, I have to charge [$XXX] to hire the best people for the band, taking into account it will be an hour’s drive for everybody, plus there’s the time to set up and tear down all our gear. Don’t get me started on the gear—it cost as much as my car! I’m sure you get where I’m coming from.

    Listen, I provide the very best for my clients, like I know you do for yours. My band just played for [the mayor’s/your competitor’s/etc.] holiday party—they like us so much they have us back every year. What do you say to giving us a try?

    Musical skill is a real and valuable thing—don’t be afraid to ask for what you’re worth!

  • Clarifying woodwind doubling goals

    ByBret Pimentel

    A couple of months ago, I wrote this as part of a sort of tongue-in-cheek FAQ:

    Q. Should I be a woodwind doubler?
    A. In most cases, no. If you already feel driven to do it, and have the time and resources to devote to it, then maybe.

    I got a comment on this by “C Lee”:

    I’m a teen who started playing pits last year on flute and piccolo a year ago. Since then, I’ve fallen in love with pit, have played in four more musicals and am actively seeking out other gigs to gain experience. In addition, I’ve also taken up the saxophone and have plans to learn as many woodwinds as I can if not all of them. Do you think I should be a woodwind doubler?

    It would be irresponsible to make a recommendation based on so little information, and of course it’s ultimately a very personal choice. I’ve previously suggested some questions worth asking oneself before pursuing woodwind doubling, so I won’t rehash those here.

    But I think it’s also worth considering exactly what you mean by being a “woodwind doubler:”

    • Playing as many instruments as possible?
    • Playing a select group of instruments?
    • Playing multiple instruments as a hobby or part-time semi-pro gig?
    • Studying multiple instruments at a university/conservatory level?
    • Playing professionally or semi-professionally as a specialist on one instrument, but adding doubles to increase employability?
    • Competing for the highest-profile doubling gigs in a major market like New York City or Los Angeles?
    • Performing recital repertoire, orchestral music, and/or chamber music on multiple instruments?
    • Using multiple instruments in the creation of a unique personal repertoire (jazz, avant-garde, electronic, etc.)?

    Your individual goals might include several of these, or others I haven’t listed. And your goals might be a little fuzzy or might change, which is okay. But just “woodwind doubler” isn’t a very clear path. Having some sense of direction might help you make decisions about education and training, investment in instruments, location, practice strategies, and more.

  • Health, wellness, and woodwind doubling

    ByBret Pimentel

    I got an email from a college student taking an Occupational Health and Wellness course. He asked me some questions about health and wellness issues in woodwind doubling, and I tried to answer the best I could.

    How do you prepare for the many instrument switches in a musical which require changes of embouchure and hand position/key action adjustments? How do you deal with the physical demands of switches between many instruments?

    The best preparation is to develop good, relaxed technique on each instrument independently. I try to practice each instrument carefully and produce the best possible sound on each one.

    If I have the luxury of reviewing the part ahead of time, I will often practice the “choreography” for quick instrument switches, and make plenty of pencil marks so that I know ahead of time what switches are coming up. I try to keep a consistent layout of my instrument stands for each show, so that I get used to where each instrument is.

    As I am making each switch (even very quick ones) I will try to take a moment to totally relax my facial muscles, hands, etc., and, maybe most importantly, flip a mental switch to oboe mode or clarinet mode or whatever.

    Good reliable stands and neckstraps are vital.

    Would you say that having to adjust to the action and key pressure of multiple instruments makes you more susceptible to hand/forearm injury than a musician who plays a single instrument?

    I’m not an expert, but I would think that playing a single instrument is more dangerous in terms of repetitive motion injuries, etc. If I spend five hours a day practicing (I wish!) then I think I’m better off with more varied physical activities.

    Photo, MissTessmacher
    Photo, MissTessmacher

    Does playing any one instrument create body tension that affects another instrument? (ex. flute might create shoulder tension which affects playing the sax) Read More “Health, wellness, and woodwind doubling”

  • Listing your woodwind doubles

    ByBret Pimentel

    Here is a question I’ve gotten a few times recently: if you’re a woodwind doubler, and need to list your instruments, in what order do you list them? Here are some options:

    • Use a common “score” order, like: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone. To musically-literate folks this may be the closest thing to a sort of neutral listing, giving no special preference or ranking to the instruments. (But it can of course be misinterpreted.)
    • Use a ranking, such as by which instruments you play best or prefer. If, like me, your ambition is to play your doubles equally well, and to be a hire-able professional on them all, then listing them this way may weaken that impression.
    • Do a hybrid of ranking and score order, such as listing a strongest/primary instrument first, and the rest in score order. That’s my preferred approach for general cases like on my website or business cards. For me, it’s: saxophone, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon. That highlights my strongest instrument (for now, at least), and also puts it out front for jazz, rock, and blues gigs, which make up a substantial part of my freelance career.
    • Tailor the list to the situation. If I’m submitting a brief biography for an appearance at, say, a clarinet conference, I’ll put the clarinet first. That hopefully helps people see me as a member of the group, rather than a visitor.
    • Randomize. For something like a website, it’s relatively simple with a little coding knowledge to use a different order every time, and help prevent yourself from being pigeonholed. You could also randomize photos of yourself holding or playing various instruments, or video or audio recordings. Here’s a simple example.

    To sum up, you’ll have to consider your skills and goals as a doubler, what kind of work you do or want to do, and to whom you’re presenting yourself.

  • “How I Became a Broadway Musician” at MusicianWages.com

    ByBret Pimentel

    Pianist David Hahn at MusicianWages.com recently posted a 5-part series on his path to becoming a musician on Broadway. Check it out!

  • Thoughts on musicians’ websites

    ByBret Pimentel

    I first set up a personal website in about 2000 or 2001. There wasn’t much reason for me to do so—I was a college undergraduate, with virtually no worthwhile content to share. But it was a start, and fifteen or sixteen years later I have a few hundred blog posts and some other resources, plus a few college degrees and a university teaching position to perhaps bolster my reputation, and I enjoy a modest flow of web traffic. For what it’s worth, here are a few thoughts on websites for individual working (or aspiring) musicians, particularly those in non-“pop” genres and whose reputations exist primarily regionally or within specialized circles (such as academia).

    photo, Markus Tacker
    photo, Markus Tacker

    “Home” page: Put some content here. Why have a “landing” page that is nothing but a menu/obstacle to the meat of your site? Put your professional biography here, or maybe a recent blog post (the actual text, I mean, not just links to blog posts).

    Biography: Ask yourself, are your site visitors really interested in your life story? (“Bret Pimentel started playing the saxophone at the tender age of ten…”) Keep it simple, professional, and brief. Let people know what you do.

    For “who I have played with” lists, I suggest keeping it to 10 or 12 entries, tops. When you play with someone famous/interesting enough to add to your list, drop someone else.

    Résumé/vita: Potential employers (for gigs, teaching positions, etc.) aren’t harvesting résumés from websites. Your short bio is probably enough. If you insist on posting your résumé or curriculum vita, strongly consider posting it as a web page, not as a PDF or word processing document. (As a general rule, use a word processing document—preferably an “open” format—if people will want to download and edit it, a PDF if they will want to save or print it without editing, and a web page if they will just want to read it online.) And I suggest removing your address and phone number for safety and privacy.

    Blog entries: Not everybody needs or wants a blog, and that’s okay. But if you are hoping to use your website to build an online audience, it helps to have an avenue for publishing new stuff. (Nobody is coming back to read and re-read your bio.) I strongly suggest real blog software (such as WordPress, or a link to a WordPress.com or Blogger.com hosted blog), rather than just typing new entries into a plain web page. That way you can benefit from built-in syndication feeds and other technologies that make it easy for people to find and follow your content in their favorite apps, leave comments, etc.

    It’s okay to post only occasionally. Many, many of the musicians’ blogs I follow consist of annual apologies for not posting lately and promises of great stuff coming soon, and nothing more. Just post if you have something to post.

    Even if you are planning mostly to use social media sites to connect professionally, bear in mind that those can come and go quickly, and it’s nice to have a home base for your content where it will remain under your control. By all means, post your new web content to the social networks you use yourself, as those connections are the ones most likely to reshare and amplify your content.

    Articles/resources: For content that you intend to update or improve over time, it probably makes sense to publish it as a “static” page rather than a blog post. If you are old enough to remember these things, you might consider a blog post to be like a newspaper article, which you probably read once and then look for fresh content the next day, while “resources” are more like phone books, which you refer to on an ongoing basis and which get replaced by newer editions.

    Audio/video: I think it makes sense to host these elsewhere (YouTube, SoundCloud, etc.) and link or embed them on your site, since putting them in places where people are already looking for music and video gets them to a larger audience and boosts their search engine juice. They should never play automatically—only when your site visitor intentionally starts them.

    Photos: I used to have a photo gallery on my site, but I have removed it. Ask yourself: are you famous or interesting enough (yet) that people are going to have an interest in seeing your career’s visual history? Are you hoping they will be impressed by something related to your physical appearance? Consider using one or two photos on your bio page, and put the rest on Facebook for your friends and relatives to enjoy.

    Equipment: I am on record as believing that listing what brands and models you play is useless at best.

    (Also, if you have endorsement deals you want to brag about, remember that the correct wording is that you endorse the brand, not that the brand endorses you.)

    Contact info: Contact forms are kind of a pain. I suggest providing a real email address so that people can communicate with you using the software or webmail of their choice. Worried about spam? Use a free webmail account with powerful spam filtering.

    Social links: You don’t have to link to all the social media sites, just the ones you use and see as good places to connect with internet strangers.

    Instructions on how to use a website: If your website includes instructions on how to use your website, either your website is poorly designed or you are talking down to your visitors.

    In general, look at each page of your website and ask, is this here because it is potentially of use or interest to my site visitors, or is it only interesting to me? Would I read this content on someone else’s site?

2 Comments

  2. Thank you for this discussion and the links. I’ve been wondering about this topic for a while, and you are the first source of real information (to the extent that any real information is known) that I’ve seen. Those of us who play in small or large ensembles would love to go back to rehearsals, but I’m not seeing that as being safe any time soon. Please keep the news coming!

    Reply

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