Dear Brothers & Sisters,
We recently received a communication from Kevin Case, General Counsel for the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) surrounding an unscientific study on COVID-19 and wind playing. In addition to Mr. Case’s statement, we are also including a statement from musician and Otolaryngologist Dr. Adam Schwalje regarding the same video. This video has been posted on YouTube and can be viewed here. Please read the statements below.
“There is a video making the rounds that purports to definitively conclude that there is no risk of infection or transmission of the COVID-19 virus when playing wind and brass instruments. This is dangerous and I must speak out.
I represent musicians. As an attorney, I have an ethical obligation to zealously represent the interests of my clients, and I strive every day to fulfill that calling. For that reason, I have been urging musicians to take great care when determining return-to-work conditions. As I have written elsewhere, there is still so much we don’t know about this virus and how it is transmitted, especially with respect to the unique characteristics of musician workplaces.
The video portrays a group of brass players in a Nashville recording studio with tissue paper in front of their instruments. Because the video does not show movement of the tissue paper when the bell of a brass instrument is placed near it, the narrator declares that “playing a brass or woodwind instrument creates no greater risk to a musical environment than an audience member, a conductor, or an audio engineer.”
As the statement below from Dr. Schwalje [SEE BELOW] explains, experiments of this type are wholly inadequate to answer the question of the extent of risk of viral transmission from winds and brass instruments. Measuring airflow is NOT the same as measuring aerosol production — a major vector of virus transmission that scientists are still learning about. Until we see actual scientific, peer-reviewed studies measuring aerosol production from wind and brass instruments, it would be foolish to rely on videos like this to make decisions regarding the health and safety of musicians.
The kicker: the studio in the video, Nashville Music Scoring, is notorious for soliciting and contracting musicians for non-union TV, film, and video game music. Accordingly, this particular employer has a compelling economic interest in bringing musicians back into his studio, health consequences be damned.
Perhaps there will ultimately be scientific consensus on this issue. Perhaps the conclusion will be the same as in this video. But until then, I will not gamble my clients’ lives based on nothing more than a junk-science experiment, carried out by a notorious anti-union employer with his own agenda.”
–– Kevin Case, Case Arts Law LLC
“I would advise anyone who happens to view the youtube video now renamed “brass and woodwind air projection” and put up by “Nashville Music Scoring,” with comments disabled, to not take it as a statement of fact. I asked for the video to be removed from YouTube as it is misleading and potentially dangerous for people who take it at face value as stated in the video (though the title and description have been changed)- it presents as a scientific study giving occupational health advice. The video states “any risk of infection or transmission of the virus [during wind playing] is essentially gone as long as proper social distancing and other precautions are being observed,” which is false. The risks are unknown, but they are assuredly not zero. There is an oft-referenced study out of Vienna which looked at airflow and wind instrument playing, but not aerosol production. The method depicted in this video of putting a piece of paper in front of an instrumentalist is not valid for a serious study. Aerosols are the issue as they can hang in the air for extended periods of time and can be infectious. There are several studies in the US now looking at aerosol production from wind instrumentalists. A scientific study would cite sources, would have been peer reviewed, would have had the advice of a physician or infectious disease specialist, and would have been clear about who was producing the study and any conflicts of interest. Anybody who relies on this video may be putting themselves at risk or may underestimate their risk.”
–– Adam Schwalje MD, DMA
We will continue to keep you updated as more information becomes available regarding a safe return to the workplace.
In Solidarity,
The Local 77 Executive Board
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