Airflow and Air Velocity Measurements While Playing Wind Instruments, with Respect to Risk Assessment of a SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Due to airborne transmission of the coronavirus, the question arose as to how high the risk of spreading infectious particles can be while playing a wind instrument. To examine this question and to help clarify the possible risk, we analyzed 14 wind instruments, first qualitatively by making airflows visible while playing, and second quantitatively by measuring air velocity at three distances (1, 1.5, 2 m) in the direction of the instruments’ bells. Measurements took place with wind instrumentalists of the Bamberg Symphony in their concert hall. Our findings highlight that while playing, no airflows escaping from any of the wind instruments—from the bell with brass instruments or from the mouthpiece, keyholes or bell with woodwinds—were measurable beyond a distance of 1.5 m, regardless of volume, pitch or what was played. With that, air velocity while playing corresponded to the usual value of 1 m/s in hall-like rooms. For air-jet woodwinds, alto flute and piccolo, significant air movements were seen close to the mouthpiece, which escaped directly into the room.

Airflow and air velocity measurements while playing wind instruments, with respect to risk assessment of a SARS-CoV-2 infection

Due to airborne transmission of infection with the coronavirus, the question arose as to how high the risk of spreading infectious particles can be while playing a wind instrument.To contribute to this question and to help clarify the possible risks, we analyzed 14 wind instruments, first qualitative by making airflows visible while playing and second quantitative by measuring air velocities at three distances (1m, 1.5m and 2m) in direction of the instrument’s bell.Measurements took place with wind instrumentalists of the Bamberg Symphony in their concert hall.Our findings highlight that while playing all wind instruments no airflow escaping from the instruments – from the bell with brass instruments, from the mouthpiece, keyholes and bell with woodwinds – was measured beyond a distance of 1.5m from the instruments’ bell, regardless of volume, pitch or what was played. With that, air velocity while playing corresponded to the usual value of hall-like rooms, of 0.1 m/s. For air-jet woodwinds, alto flute and piccolo, significant air movements were seen close to their mouthpieces, which escaped directly into the room without passing through the instrument and therefore generating directed air movements.

London, Spitalfields Summer Festival: Nicola LeFanu's A Phoenix for Carla

Nicola LeFanu, prominent among Britain's woman composers, noted both for her strong lyrical style and her exploration of the use of microtonality, employed all these skills in abundance in the world première of her new piece A Phoenix for Carla at this year's Spitalfields Summer Festival. I was attracted to this work due to its being billed as portraying a theme connected with the London Riots of 2011, which lends itself to drama as well as an examination of underlying sociological factors. However, leaving aside these wider considerations, the piece was in fact a microcosm, devoted to a highly sensitive expression of empathy for the plight of flautist Carla Rees, whose Croydon Flat had been entirely destroyed by fire along with all her possessions in the August 2011 riots, it being in close proximity to the tragic burning down of the 144-year old House of Reeves furniture shop much displayed on our TV News channels at the time. Carla lost at least 10 flutes, including two Kingma Alto flutes specially made for her in the Netherlands on which she had based her international contemporary music career as leader of the digital acoustic Ensemble Rarescale, centred on bringing new music for Alto Flute to a wider audience. When interviewed in The Independent nearly a year later Carla commented on the aftermath: ‘I have good days and bad days, keeping going is the main thing. I'm really trying to focus on the positive but there's a deep sense of hurt in the middle of me which doesn't go away. An experience like this is like a reset button on your entire life’.