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Thread: Droplets from playing a wind instrument?

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    West Palm Beach, FL
    Posts
    3,853
    I knew that not much air comes out of the bell when we play but didn't know you could block the air with a diaphragm added to the mpc like Richard Smith demonstrated. Interesting!
    Many years ago while I was warming up a colleague placed a blown-up balloon atop my bell. It didn't move a bit, just sounded like a lousy muted sound.
    Last edited by RickF; 07-13-2020 at 04:38 PM.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  2. There is no significant airflow out of the bell end of brass instruments while they are being played. I don't think brass instruments, or even wind instruments in general, are a significant source of Covid spread. As it happens, the best instrumentalist at the church where I am the Organist/Music Director plays Horn, so do I. We duet unaccompanied many Sunday's, or else I accompany her. That will have to end for the foreseeable future because I would be totally unable to prove to anyone that it is safe to be around someone playing a Horn or any other kind of wind instrument. The question is moot at this point. United Methodist Churches in the Pacific Northwest are still closed by order of the Bishop. Indefinitely. The best guess as to a re-opening is sometime next year.

    In a Concert Band situation the problem would be that spread could still be possible between the musicians even when they are not actually playing. This is true of string ensembles or any other kind of musical aggregation. Pretty depressing. But as far as Brass Instruments ... I had heard that during the time before commercially manufactured masks were widely available, people were making their own out of women's pantyhose. Or maybe fabric shops have lycra material by the yard. In any case I could imagine some kind of cover for the bell end of most Brass Instruments that would not affect tuning or other important characteristics of performance but would visually project the appearance of protection from any 'droplets' generated by the player.

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