Music in a time of Covid

MUSICIANS are not strangers to PPE: many orchestral players wear hearing protection during rehearsals—and at post-concert after-parties (useful when avoiding drunken fans). However, few instrumentalists and singers, even those involved in hospital concerts and music therapy, are used to wearing masks. When members of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra donned black facewear for a recent broadcast from Prague’s Rudolfinum, the effect was striking.

It was also, unintentionally, rather comical. Having a gaping hole to gain access to the mouth —as woodwind and brass players