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COVID-19/Coronavirus Information and Support Thread (see OP for useful links)
- Thread starter baldgye
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Brett
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Especially concerning for someone who is attempting to make a living dependent on their lungs being able to supply air to an instrument.
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Obviously it depends on the extent of the damage, but I went 2-3 days with a severe and painful shortness of breath last year and I was pretty much totally incapacitated - simple stuff like talking or moving about left me unable to catch my breath, and then of course there's the accompanying panic attacks from thinking you're about to die, which were unpleasant to say the least. I'm pretty sure it would be bad news for people in many, many, jobs.
Seriously, breathing unaided without pain is something everybody should give thanks for everyday!
Brett
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Most professionals would not be able to perform at a professional level on another instrument, which is what @PeterJB set out to achieve. It takes years of practice to play at a professional level and it is not necessarily something that translates to another instrument.
It would also be devastating to play an instrument, amateurly or professionally, for years and have that torn away because of disease/virus complications.
EDIT: I completely forgot to mention the investment side of playing an instrument. Higher quality bassoons cost over five figures! I would imagine other instruments are similar.
As the father of a son with genetic lung issues and also plays bassoon, you can't get much more insensitive than a comment like that.
Incredibly insensitive!
I agree with that. It is especially concerning for someone who is attempting to make their living partially off how their lungs can perform.
- 9,262
- Corsham
- lipming
Some instruments are "interchangeable" so to speak. Tripling is a common career path where people learn flute, clarinet, and saxophone and play them in pit bands. The bassoon itself is not intelligible with any other instruments (other than its sole auxiliary, the contrabassoon). I used to play cello but had to give that up cause of injury, but for anyone else, playing say, a woodwind instrument professionally gives you no advantages when starting a string or brass instrument from scratch other than already being able to read music.
Case in point, here's me and my best friend swapping instruments for fun at college:
My bassoon cost £9,500. I ever decided to get a contrabassoon that would set me back £25,000. Ever wonder why there are so few bassoonists?
I haven't seen much discussions from other musicians online about the side effects of COVID-19, though I'm sure they share my concerns. Coughs and colds are giant nuisance already, especially for singers, and there's always fears of injuries to your hands or fingers. If the worst happens and I have to stop my backup is arranging and orchestration, which I've already got a bit of a reputation for, but I'd still rather play the music than write it.
At the moment most musicians are concerned about surviving this thing financially. Your average professional orchestra makes around £4 million in revenue per year which comes almost entirely from ticket sales, and once furlough ends funds will dry out quickly and they won't be able to pay their players. Most countries have had to stop doing live concerts, some have started up again recently, but due to social distancing rules they tend to be small-scale ensembles because trying to fit a 90-piece orchestra on stage while keeping all players two metres apart (three metres in the UK) is not feasible. The three-metre rule applies mostly to wind and brass players because the government is worried about the instruments acting as droplet projectiles, even though organologists have looked into this and concluded that instruments with narrows bores and bends in the tube like the bassoon or trumpet actually filter droplets out of the air channel. Unfortunately this doesn't work so well in straight-bored instruments like the flute, clarinet and oboe, though the latter two have their bells pointed at the ground and the flutes point at the flautist next to you so they can just pass it around themselves
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Off topic but the one we bought on ebay had the serial number indicating it was made in the early 20's and is in very good condition. We weren't going to pass it up for $1k.
Thing 2 was supposed to have a band concert that was going to be performed on the football field but that was cancelled.
Just put a mask on the end like a trumpet mute!
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Sounds like a good back up plan might be manufacturing bassoons!
- 9,262
- Corsham
- lipming
Off topic but the one we bought on ebay had the serial number indicating it was made in the early 20's and is in very good condition. We weren't going to pass it up for $1k.
Thing 2 was supposed to have a band concert that was going to be performed on the football field but that was cancelled.
That's most likely an Adler or a Mollenhauer, good instruments for beginners. Most professionals play on fairly new instruments, though pre-war Heckels are popular, but insanely expensive. My last gig was in February.
Just put a mask on the end like a trumpet mute!
Believe it or not this has become a thing:
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McLaren
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This is interesting, imo. Doesn't seem like they know how exactly the dog detects it, but that's super fascinating to me. Had no idea dogs can even identify cancer & diabetes.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ort-enlists-sniffer-dogs-to-test-for-covid-19
- 5,670
- Ulricehamn
I was looking for a gif of the dogs detecting the terminator.....
Joey D
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How can they be sure it's not a false positive (or negative)?
Typically with these kinds of things, the dogs undergo some pretty intensive training and have to pass a pretty lengthy test designed to throw them off so they're probably fairly accurate if they're being used. But I'd imagine if the dog picks someone out, then they are required to be tested before leaving the airport. There are rapid tests now, so it could be just a 15-minute test instead of making the person camp out at the airport for days.
As for false positives or negatives, the dogs are probably more accurate than the tests. Currently, COVID tests are only about as accurate as influenza tests, which range from 80-98% accurate depending on a whole host of variables with those in the 80-95% range typically being administered at city-wide drive through testing sides and those above 95% typically being used on inpatients. I will say the last time I looked at the testing accuracy though was in early August, so they might be onto the next generation of tests now that are most accurate. But you'll never get 100% accuracy with any of these tests.
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- GTP_Mars
Since the beginning of Fresher's Week last Monday, there has been more confirmed coronavirus cases in Glasgow University's halls of residences than in the whole of China over the same time period....
I wonder what, if anything, universities across the country are doing to monitor private halls of residence, and what they can do to enforce quarantine rules in what are not legally anything to do with them. For the record, most newly built apartment blocks in my area over the last decade are private student accommodation... there's at least eight separate complexes in my area alone, housing thousands of students that are not operated or controlled by the uni... at then there's privately rented accommodation on top of that.
Meanwhile, yesterday, in a masterpiece of comic timing, some scientific advisers have suggested that student accommodation should only be operating at 1/3rd capacity... 10 days after the first day of the new academic year (last Monday)...
I wonder what, if anything, universities across the country are doing to monitor private halls of residence, and what they can do to enforce quarantine rules in what are not legally anything to do with them. For the record, most newly built apartment blocks in my area over the last decade are private student accommodation... there's at least eight separate complexes in my area alone, housing thousands of students that are not operated or controlled by the uni... at then there's privately rented accommodation on top of that.
Meanwhile, yesterday, in a masterpiece of comic timing, some scientific advisers have suggested that student accommodation should only be operating at 1/3rd capacity... 10 days after the first day of the new academic year (last Monday)...
Barra333
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- barra333
My local version of comic timing (small sample size) is that after two weeks of school (excluding university) in my city, there has been 1 COVID case in the in-person student population and 2 amongst those who opted for full remote learning.
Joey D
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Here in Utah, we're monitoring sewage to see what the potential outbreak at campuses could be. I don't envy the grad student that presumably has to go down into the sewers and scoop up the poop, then presumably carry that poop of their peers to a lab and run tests on it. Talk about a 🤬 way to earn your doctorate.
As for what universities are actually doing? Apparently not much. At Brigham Young (Mormon U) there's a massive outbreak and contributing significantly to our overall caseload. Where I work, we've just gone ahead and move all classes to virtual learning for two weeks while they disinfect campus. I'm not sure what that's going to do since people are partying hard since they don't have to get up and go to class. Football is also starting back up soon and the U's tailgates are insane, so I suspect there will be a huge influx in cases after that.
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New York Times had an interesting piece about the PCR tests
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html
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Barra333
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- barra333
While some people may be more or less infective than others, not all routes of transmission are equal and it also assumes that everyone sheds the virus at the same rate. For a person to pass the virus to another by leaving some of it on a hard surface they will need to be carrying a higher load than they would to pass it on by kissing or sharing a drink bottle.
Then we have the question of where do you draw the line on who has to isolate? There are also various factors that need to be accounted for in the PCR process. Some of them don't matter much in terms of a Yes/No result but make a huge difference in a quantitative result.
Then we have the question of where do you draw the line on who has to isolate? There are also various factors that need to be accounted for in the PCR process. Some of them don't matter much in terms of a Yes/No result but make a huge difference in a quantitative result.
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Scotland expecting a second wave ?
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=SEP395267
Probably not.
Though they could be getting their appointment in early for when they do decommission.
I've posted this because governments, and people for that matter, should not be judged by their words, but by their deeds.
NEWSFLASH - Huffington Post must be following this thread . https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...irus_uk_5f686da4c5b6de79b677e909?guccounter=1
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=SEP395267
Probably not.
Though they could be getting their appointment in early for when they do decommission.
I've posted this because governments, and people for that matter, should not be judged by their words, but by their deeds.
NEWSFLASH - Huffington Post must be following this thread . https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...irus_uk_5f686da4c5b6de79b677e909?guccounter=1
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