Wind Instrument Players Research Articles

A History of the United States Coast Guard SPAR Band

American women formed bands during the latter half of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. These bands followed a parallel development to men's, with members forming town, family, immigrant, industry, school, swing, military, and professional touring bands. women's bands provided music for a variety of community events, such as national holidays, suffrage campaigns, political campaigns, and veterans' activities, by performing in bandwagons, street parades, or in the town bandstand. (1) Women's participation continued to evolve during World War II as enlisted members of America's all-female military branches formed women's military bands. This article illuminates the responsibilities of one such ensemble, the thirty-five-member United States Coast Guard SPAR Band. As European countries engaged in World War II, the neutral American government slowly began to prepare to become involved in the conflict. question of when this involvement would begin was resolved after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, killing thousands of American men and destroying much of the Pacific fleet. This unexpected act catapulted America into declaring war on Japan and its allies the following day. Several months later, the government realized that more manpower was needed to win a war being waged on two fronts in the Pacific and the Atlantic. It was decided that women should be used in the civilian and military workforce to Free a Man to Fight. Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War, called upon the women of America to join the labor force as part of a military strategy: The War Department must fully utilize, immediately and effectively, the largest and potentially the finest single source of labor available today--the vast reserve of woman power. (2) This call to duty provided the first opportunity for women to assist in the war effort, and ultimately they were credited with helping to win the war. Millions of American women gladly stepped forward to serve their country and some used their musical talents to serve the nation in women's military bands or civilian swing bands. By two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, while America was heavily engaged in war, women across the country had filled factory positions for men who had left to serve in the military. This work earned the women the nickname Rosie the Riveter. Thousands of additional women were serving in separate women's units in branches of the military--the Army's WAC (Women's Army Corps), the Navy's WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), the Coast Guard SPARs (from the Coast Guard's Latin motto Semper Paratus and its translation, Always Ready), and the Marine Corps Women's Reserve (MCWR). WAC had the largest enlistment, with 140,000 women in their ranks. Only one other service branch, the WAVES, also had a six-figure membership. Coast Guard was the smallest unit, having enlisted only 11,000 women during the war. (3) Hartmann reported that 370,000 women served in six different military organizations--the aforementioned plus the Army and the Navy Nurse Corps and the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). (4) While women in the military was not a new concept in the United States, as women had served as nurses during the First World War, the creation of military bands of enlisted women was something quite different. This article illuminates the contributions of the thirty-five-member women's Coast Guard SPAR Band and the effect it had on participants by providing them a rare opportunity to perform professionally, an experience that many still believe was the most important of their lives. Although a number of women's bands had formed in the United States during the Progressive Era (1890-1920) in much the same way men's bands had, it was difficult for some members of society to accept the idea that women would choose to play wind instruments. It certainly would not have been an acceptable choice for upper-class women. …

Laryngoceles - presentations and management

Laryngoceles usually present as cervical masses with or without hoarseness of voice. They are mostly unilateral and may be symptomatic or asymptomatic. They are classified as internal, external or combined. They have been described to be an occupational hazard among wind instrument players or glass blowers. They also occur in association with neoplasms of the larynx. Here we report five patients with laryngoceles of whom two had bilateral laryngoceles, which are very rare. One patient had associated laryngeal malignancy for which total laryngectomy was performed. Two cases underwent excision via cervical approach. The rest were managed conservatively. Symptomatic cases have to be managed surgically while asymptomatic ones may be managed conservatively.

Risk of sleep apnea in orchestra members

Background Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common condition with substantial health consequences. A recent randomized trial found that playing the didgeridoo improved both subjective and objective sleep measures. We undertook a cross-sectional survey of professional orchestra players to test the hypothesis that playing a wind instrument would be associated with a lower risk of OSA. Methods An anonymous internet-based survey of professional orchestra members assessed risk of sleep apnea using the Berlin questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test the association between playing a wind instrument and having a high risk score on the Berlin questionnaire, both unadjusted and adjusted for age, body mass index, and gender. Results A total of 1,111 orchestra members responded, including 369 (33%) wind instrument players. Wind players were more often male and had a higher body mass index than non-wind players. Of all musicians, 348 (31%) had a high risk of sleep apnea. Wind players were more likely than non-wind players to be at high risk in unadjusted analysis (Odds ratio = 1.47, 95% CI 1.13, 1.91), though this association was not significant in adjusted analysis (Odds ratio = 1.12 (0.82, 1.54)). Conclusion Playing a wind instrument was not associated with a lower risk of OSA.

Parotid Pneumocele in Down's Syndrome

Pneumoparotiditis is related to the cause of an infrequent increase in the size of the parotid gland due to the entrance of air through the Stenon duct following an increase in the pressure in the oral cavity. It is observed in musicians who play wind instruments, glass blowers, patients undergoing diagnostic or therapeutic techniques, in adolescents that provoke it intentionally, and in mentally handicapped people as found in the clinical case reported here. The symptoms are usually non-specific and the diagnosis is confirmed with an axial tomography. The interest in this clinical case lies in the peculiar form of presentation and its diagnostic confirmation through the use of CT imaging.

Pneumologische Aspekte des Musizierens auf einem Blasinstrument - physiologische, pathophysiologische und therapeutische Gesichtspunkte

Wind instrument performance is a notable feature in pneumology under aspects of ventilatory physiology and respiratory diseases. It requires an adequate ventilatory function combined with precise control of air flow and the ability to generate sufficient mouth pressures. Depending on the type of wind instrument, the required rates of airway pressure and air flow differ significantly. The cause of respiratory disease in wind instrument players may be related to these increased airway pressures in terms of a barotrauma. Wind instrumentalists may suffer from hemoptysis, laryngoceles, velopharyngeal insufficiency and pneumoparotitis due to their musical performance. Even the development of lung cancer has been assumed to be related to wind instrument playing. Controversy exists about implicating wind instrument use as the cause of pulmonary emphysema or in changes of pulmonary function, which is, however, unlikely under physiological aspects. Furthermore, professional wind instrumentalists may be impaired in their work by the side effects of anti-obstructive medication and respiratory infection. On the other hand, the potential therapeutic effects of wind instrument performance have to be considered. For asthmatic teenagers a significant improvement of pulmonary function and of physical and emotional activities could be related to wind instrument playing. Last but not least, didgeridoo playing was shown to be a promising alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

Hand and Upper Extremity Problems in Wind Instrument Players in Military Bands

This study examined the medical problems, especially of the hand and upper extremity, observed in wind instrument players from the military bands of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The bands included 235 wind instrument players (184 men, 51 women), whose ages ranged from 18 to 57 yrs (average, 35 yrs). The length of their careers ranged from 6 to 41 yrs (average, 21 yrs). Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to the subjects for the health check. Results: From 235 wind instrument players, 71 (30% of the total players, 27% of the male players, and 41% of the female players) had hand and upper extremity problems. No relationship between the problem and the age or length of career was observed. The most common complaints were pain (49%), stiffness (19%), and numbness (7%). The upper extremities accounted for 52% of the affected sites and included the shoulder (6%), elbow (11%), forearm (4%), wrist (31%) and digit (47%). Musicians who played the flute, oboe, or clarinet were most commonly affected. The right thumb pain of clarinet and oboe players and right wrist pain of French horn players were characteristic symptoms of these instruments. Conclusion: Physicians, musicians, and administrators should be conscious of the potential for musicians to develop a wide array of physical problems directly related to the repeated use of their musical instruments.

Reduced Pulmonary Function in Wind Instrument Players

Wind instrument playing requires a strenuous respiratory activity. Previous studies investigating effect of wind instrument playing on pulmonary function are equivocal. In the present study, 34 male, non-smoker wind players in a military band were compared with 44 healthy non-smoker males by pulmonary function testing. All spirometric values including forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow rate, forced expiratory flow in 25, 50, 75% of FVC, and during the middle half of the FVC were found significantly diminished in wind players. The class of wind instrument, brass or wood, showed no significant differences. FVC was significantly and negatively correlated with duration of practice. It was concluded that pulmonary function in wind players might be diminished probably due to development of asthma or constant barotrauma during their playing. This fact should be considered in clinical evaluation of wind instrument players.

Glottic configuration in wind instrument players

SummaryIntroductionKnowledge of occupational voice disorders has gained increased importance as more individuals rely on their voices for their work. Wind instrument players are a specific group of individuals that present intensive use of the vocal tract associated with blowing their instrument. Interestingly, only a small number of reports focus on the laryngeal function of such professionals.AimThe current study evaluated the laryngeal and vocal tract movement of wind instrument players.Materials and MethodsTen adult wind instrument players were studied with flexible videolaryngoscopy while playing their instrument, in order to observe the movements of the glottis, the vocal tract and the base of the tongue.ResultsIn all the participants it was observed that musical tones were played with adducted vocal folds and that the greater the technical difficulty reported by the player, the more it was associated with increased lateral tension in the larynx, as well as constriction in the vocal tract.ConclusionsThe larynx controls the airflow that will reach the mouthpiece of the instrument, directly interfering in blowing. Therefore, wind instrument players should also be considered professional voice users.

The Pathogenesis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

In 1826, Laennec said of emphysema that “it consists simply in the dilatation of the air cells” (1). Osler’s 1892 Textbook of Medicine stated that hypertrophic emphysema, also known as substantive or idiopathic emphysema, “is a well marked clinical affection, characterized by enlargement of the lungs due to distention of the air cells and atrophy of their walls, and clinically by imperfect aeration of the blood and more or less marked dyspnea” (2). The pathologic description of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in this text was beautiful: “Grossly, the lungs are large, they have lost their elasticity, and to touch they have a peculiar downy, feathery feel, and pit readily against pressure.... In the larger tubes (bronchi) the mucous membrane may be rough and thickened from chronic bronchitis. Microscopically, there is seen atrophy of the alveolar walls, by which is produced the coalescence of neighboring air-cells.” Insights regarding etiology and pathogenesis were not as prescient. The prevailing hypothesis regarding pathogenesis was that air cells received heightened pressure during forced expiratory efforts. Support for this theory came from the contention that there was a high frequency of the condition in “players of wind instruments, in glass blowers, and in occupations necessitating heavy lifting or straining.” While our current understanding of COPD pathogenesis has progressed, this idea is not as dated as it seems. A recent accurate computer model of emphysema was generated by combining initial proteolytic damage of extracellular matrix in a centriacinar heterogeneous manner with subsequent respiratory forces that propagate this injury (Figure 1) (3).

Measurement of effects on tone with lip-protecting music splints for wind instrument players

To protect against lip trauma from wind instruments, music splints that cover the sharp edges of incisor teeth are often manufactured by dentists. Wind instrument players who have installed these custom-made music splints often express not only their lip comfort but also changes in their tone quality. In this study, we investigated the effect of the splints to the tone quality. We recorded three types of trumpet sounds such as long tones, arpeggios with perfect fifth, and tonguing tones with and without using a splint, respectively, by a professional trumpet player in an anechoic room. After fast Fourier transform, the higher harmonics was observed more in the splint group than in the nonsplint group, with sharp peaks from 5000 to 8000 Hz. We also examined the differences of these sound groups with recognition tests by two groups of listeners such as professional musicians and nonprofessional persons. Though sound-pressure levels of higher harmonics in two sound groups were lower than those at 400 to 2000 Hz, the musically trained persons recognized the difference perfectly. These results suggest the target of measurement to evaluate the effect of music splints.

Sounds of the "Third Way": Identity and the African Renaissance in Contemporary South African Popular Traditional Music

It is in the production of audiences that the political and social reality of art can be found. --John Fiske (1989) Many of you will have already remarked on the word in the title of this article and perhaps prepared yourself for yet more ink spilled in the quest to define this rare, possibly mythical, concept of musical style. But it is my purpose here to develop rather than to authenticate the notion of tradition, and I shall not be concerned (regrettably) with the sounds of southern Africa that evoke most ineffably its cultural geography: the demonstrably indigenous, audibly other-than-Western music of imagined communities of custom that ethnomusicologists might deem truly Yes, players of acoustic percussion, string, and wind instruments made of materials animal and vegetable can still be found if one has the endurance and four-wheel-drive vehicle required to seek them out. People who sing in the old prehymnodic way, with scales unadjusted to Western harmonic intervals, are still yet more common in South Africa's rural areas. I propose rather to give up the ghost of alien organicological and tonal categories and simply use to mean what black African people in South Africa, and more specifically, Zulu people in Johannesburg and Durban, mean by it. Their conception, a la Chris Waterman's Yoruba slogan, Our is a very modern tradition (Waterman 1982), is that musical is quite adequately maintained and signified through continuities of genre, verbal idioms of experience, and polyvocalities of tone, tune, and texture, of hue and cry. Where is used to signify correspondences between aesthetic structures and an idealized social order, such correspondences are created through the specifically musical qualities of style, timbre, texture, and rhythmical flow (Erlmann 1966, 237). Electric guitars, basses, and keyboards; pentatonic and hexatonic scales and staggered linear melodic polyphonies; shiny drum kits thumping out rhythms of centuries-old stamping dances; faux leopard tails, antelope skin, or string skirts with sneakers and spandex underwear; miraculously balanced beaded headdresses and Kangol caps worn backwards; rhythmically bouncing, nude (insouciant rather than provocative) breasts; antiphonal lead vocalists and a chorus of back-up singers; synchronized hip swinging and stealthy Afro-Christian step-dancing--all are part of Zulu popular music. Indeed, Joseph Nhlapo (2000, 29-30) has convincingly argued in a recent thesis that maskanda guitar need not be termed neo-traditional as I had done (Coplan 1985, 268) but simply traditional. Ezodumo (It Shall Sound), the state broadcaster's (SABC) single live-performance music television offering explicitly devoted to traditional music, features bands of rural-born labor migrants whose only (amplified, of course) acoustic instruments are the guitar, the German button concertina, and piano accordion. The gourd or mouth-resonated monochords, hand-beaten wooden drums, and reed and animal horn aerophones of preindustrial Africa are almost never heard on the broadcast media, although they are still played in rural communities. Significantly for the present discussion, when such instruments do appear on an urban stage, it is as syncretic elements in the eclectic ensemble music of serious African jazz composer/performers. These include Johannesburg's Sipho Mabuse, who employs a lesiba (mouth-resonated quill-reed monochord) player from Lesotho, and Cape Town's Pops Mohammad, who plays Khoi stringed instruments in an explicit attempt to musically reconstitute his self-avowed Khoi aboriginal origins. (1) No musical ethnonationalist, Mohammad also performs his own original improvisations on the twenty-one-stringed Malinke kora. In brief, for black South Africans means the Afro-industrial popular music of African urban labor migrants and dispossessed peasants. …

Increased intraocular pressure and visual field defects in high resistance wind instrument players

ObjectiveIn this twofold study, part 1 aimed to determine whether the playing of high resistance wind instruments elevates intraocular pressure (IOP) and if so, to investigate the mechanism of IOP elevation and whether its magnitude differs while playing high resistance versus low resistance instruments. The purpose of part 2 was to evaluate whether high resistance players have a greater incidence of glaucomatous changes than other musicians. DesignThree case reports and a cross-sectional study. ParticipantsTwo players of high resistance instruments and one player of high and low resistance wind instruments participated in part 1 of the study. Nine high resistance wind players, 12 low resistance wind players, and 24 nonwind players were recruited among professional musicians in the Boston area to participate in part 2. InterventionIn part 1, IOP and uveal thickness changes were measured by pneumatonometry and ultrasound biomicroscopy in two participants playing their high resistance wind instruments (trumpet and oboe) and in a third participant playing both high (trumpet) and low (clarinet and saxaphone) resistance instruments. Each musician in part 2 underwent medical and musical history, measurement of IOP, Humphrey visual field testing, slit-lamp examination, gonioscopy, and dilated examination. Main outcome measuresIntraocular pressure and uveal thickness changes, and visual field loss and optic nerve head appearance were the main parameters measured in part 1 and part 2, respectively. ResultsIn part 1, pneumatonometry showed IOP elevation dependent on the force of blowing, and ultrasound biomicroscopy revealed uveal thickening associated with IOP elevation. The magnitude of IOP elevation was dependent on the amount of expiratory resistance provided by the particular instrument. Part 2 showed that life hours of high resistance wind instrument playing had a significant relationship to abnormal visual field (P = 0.03) and corrected pattern standard deviation (CPSD) scores (P = 0.007) in univariate logistic regression and univariate linear regression, respectively. A 0.011-unit increase in CPSD for each 1000 life hours of high resistance wind playing was found. ConclusionsHigh and low resistance wind musicians experience a transient rise in their IOP while playing their instruments as a result least in part of uveal engorgement. The magnitude of IOP increase is greater in high resistance wind players versus low resistance wind players. High resistance wind musicians had a small but significantly greater incidence of visual field loss (abnormal fields and increased CPSD scores) than other musicians, which was related to life hours of playing. The cumulative effects of long-term intermittent IOP elevation during high resistance wind instrument playing may result in glaucomatous damage, which could be misdiagnosed as normal-tension glaucoma.

Clinical chemistry in the medical curriculum: from practical to research

The haemoglobin levels of a group of healthy students aged 18–30 years ( n = 216) were determined. These were matched with a test population of 34 wind instrument players. The average haemoglobin level of the wind players was significantly higher.

Effects of Playing a Musical Wind Instrument in Asthmatic Teenagers

This study examines whether teenage asthmatic wind instrumentalists exhibit fewer bronchoconstrictive symptoms, panic-fear responses, changes of mood, and fatigue symptoms than non-wind instrument players. Eight teenage asthmatic wind instrument players and 10 asthmatic non-wind instrument players kept a diary of asthma symptoms. Panic-fear responses and mood changes were significantly higher in the non-wind players. A general health profile suggested that the wind instrumentalists present a significantly better "asthma health" picture, perceiving themselves better able to cope with the disease. Playing a musical wind instrument has the potential of being a long-term therapeutic agent for asthmatics.

Maximum Respiratory Pressures in Trumpet Players

We studied whether experienced trumpet players can develop higher pressures with their inspiratory and expiratory muscles than untrained subjects. Twelve male trumpet players (mean age, 22.4 +/- 3.3 years) participated in the study. All of them had played the trumpet for at least 4 years and were nonsmokers. Twelve healthy male subjects (mean age, 23.3 +/- 3.1 years) participated as a control group. There were no differences in spirometric parameters between both groups. Maximum respiratory pressures were higher in the trumpet player group (trumpet players: Pmax 151.3 +/- 19.8 cm H2O; Pemax, 234.6 +/- 53.9 cm H2O; control group: Pemax, 106.7 +/- 10.4 cm H2O; Pemax, 189.6 +/- 14.6 cm H2O). We concluded that in young trumpet players, maximum respiratory pressures are higher than in young people who do not play wind instruments. This is most probably a consequence of respiratory muscle training with a wind instrument.

Sensation of inspired volumes and pressures in professional wind instrument players

Previous studies have failed to show consistent differences in pulmonary function between wind instrument musicians and normal controls. In this study, respiratory sensation was assessed in 13 professional wind instrument players and 13 age-matched controls. Psychophysical techniques were used to assess magnitude estimation and reproduction of lung volumes and inspiratory pressures. The exponent for volume magnitude estimation was not different in musicians and controls (1.17 +/- 0.11 vs. 1.16 +/- 0.11), but volume reproduction was more accurate in musicians. The mean exponent for pressure magnitude estimation was 1.34 +/- 0.14 and 1.06 +/- 0.09 (P = 0.057) in musicians and controls, respectively. There was no difference between groups for absolute or constant error for pressure reproduction. Professional wind instrument players appear to have some inherent or acquired differences in respiratory perception and ventilatory neuromuscular control compared with other normal subjects.

Voice Disorders Among Players of Wind Instruments?

Voice Disorders Among Players of Wind Instruments?

Peripheral nerve disorders in instrumentalists

I evaluated 226 instrumentalists for playing-related symptoms. There were 103 players (46%) of string instruments, 7 keyboard instrumentalists (32%), 44 players (19%) of wind instruments, and 6 percussionists (3%). The mean age was 32 years; 58% were women. Sixty-five patients (29%) had a peripheral nerve disorder; 27 had symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome; 12 had median neuropathies (carpal tunnel syndrome in 9); 9 had ulnar neuropathies; 6 had cervical radiculopathy; 5 had digital neuropathies; 3 had cranial neuropathies; and 3 had other peripheral nerve disorders. Treatment consisted of modification of playing schedules and technique, plus physical and occupational therapy in 51 and surgical procedures in 9 patients; 5 were not treated. Follow-up at 1 to 8 years showed 74% had a satisfactory result, 14% had slight or minimal improvement, and 12% had no improvement. At the time of writing, all but 4 patients remained in the music profession. It is concluded that playing-related symptoms among instrumentalists are frequently neurological in origin and that the large majority can be helped by conservative or, on occasion, surgical means.

Natural lip function in wind instrument players

Natural lip function in wind instrument players

Dental diagnosis and treatment for musicians.

SUMMARYOral health maintenance for the musical performer is an essential component of the training and experience. Normal tooth and dental arch development permit vocalists. and players of wind instruments and chin‐held wind instruments to achieve their optimum acoustic and esthetic musical performance. Dental disease or disorders that high‐quality performance years of vocalists and instrumentalists.