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A new study suggests that if the wind tools were covered with tissue, they could produce less debris than the new coronavirus could bring.
Science’s COVID-19 reports are supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.
As U.S. schools and schools debate how to reopen amid the new coronavirus pandemic, organization leaders and musicians wonder when, or if, music can be played safely. A new sample shows that even if musical tools generate debris in the air that can bring the SARS-CoV-2, the dangers to artists and the public can be manageable.
There are almost no studies on whether musical tools produce suspended debris, or aerosols, that can transmit the new coronavirus. Therefore, it is highly unlikely to know if it is enough to stand at 2 meters to remain from a trumpet at full speed.
Without data, schools were already interrupting the orchestra’s rehearsals “out of fear,” said Mark Spede, president of the National Association of Directors of University Bands. Given the potential risk to music education and livelihoods of musicians around the world, Spede’s organization and the National Federation of State High School Associations raised approximately $275,000 out of more than a hundred arts teams to examine screen protection during the pandemic.
Researchers from the University of Colorado (CU) in Boulder asked five music students (a soprano and clarinet, flute, trumpet and trumpeter) to enter a blank room one at a time. The room was used for indoor air pollutant research, and was supplied with airtight seals, and several high-efficiency particle filters (HEPA) removed almost all debris from the air.
Participants made a short solo piece with a wide variety of high and low notes and other play styles, adding a smooth coral and a choppy mid palate. Players have directed the openings of their tools into a series of tubes that force a trio of particle monitors to stumble upon aerosols of other sizes. An image formula also captured the airflow around the musicians to visualize where the debris was moving.
The first effects, which were released online this week in peer review, showed for the first time that the tools can produce aerosols in the diversity of sizes that the COVID-19 virus can bring. These sprays can also remain suspended in the air for long periods of time and other tools produce other amounts. For example, the trumpet and clarinet, which are straighter from the nozzle to the instrument opening, had higher concentrations of aerosols.
For the spread of aerosols, the researchers tested tool covers, such as a handkerchief covering the opening or a bag covering an entire clarinet; well sprays, in some cases in half, without dampening their sound.
Another team at the University of Maryland, College Park, used computer models to read about whether an inflamed musician can simply spread the virus under other conditions. Modeling showed the importance of distance to swollen feathers. He also warned that traditional ventilation systems, where the air source and air evacuation are on the roof, are less effective than those where the evacuation is on the ground.
The effects add to recent paints on the tool’s airflow. A study in May showed wind and string musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic after breathing a mist illuminated by the headlights as they expired. Another study, conducted this spring in Germany, tracked the airflow of wind tools. Both found that the tools produced less airflow than making a song (although the flutes produce more than other wind tools).
Bernhard Richter, an otolaryngology specialist and co-director of the Institute of Musicians’ Medicine in Freiburg, who led the German study, said his team’s initial findings may indicate protection recommendations. And he says the new spray paints will offer even more complicated data. “We don’t know enough about aerosols … and the critical issue of its spread.”
Researchers examining the spray will now gather knowledge of other instruments, singers, dancers and actors. These can provide a more complete picture of potential functionality hazards and improve computer modeling of distance power and air circulation, says Shelly Miller, an engineering professor at UC who helped take the exam.
Based on initial results, the organizations that funded the study claimed that indoor practice sessions and functional rooms use HEPA filters and increase traffic flow, and that musicians use tool coverings. They also proposed that the performers be oriented in the same direction, which may limit the duration of the band or orchestra.
Miller hoped that new knowledge recommendations would allow the organization to continue playing. “It’s heartbreaking to prevent these activities because we don’t know if they’re harmful or not.”
Jason Plautz is a reporter in Denver.
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