 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Betty
Date: 2004-05-14 15:46
Ok. Nothing is more amazing to me than the players that stand around smoking cigarettes, (pipes or cigars) just before a concert or parade. Its beyond my comprehension how they ever get their 'wind' to play...so I guess I want to know if anyone here smokes?? (*I do NOT, HAVE not, and never WILL)
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-05-14 17:31
Good for you, Betty. Wise choice.
I do not now smoke and have not for perhaps twenty years. However, I once did and played without any noticeable ill effects. But how would I have known? The amount of wind I had was what it was, and there was nothibng else for comparison. Surely it didn't help.
I suspect smoking -- except in terminal conditions -- generally does not severely decrease lung volume, but lung efficiency is likely reduced (due to clogging of alveoli by smoke solids) so that more frequent breathing is needed.
Regards,
John
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Author: joevacc
Date: 2004-05-14 19:21
The man who I took lessons from a few years ago, has smoked a very long time. He could blow your doors down if he wanted to! Great player. When I put a page of bolero music in front of him once, he blew that page down seemingly not taking any breath at all! Smoking isn't for everybody ;~)
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-05-14 19:34
I smoked for a while and didn't notice any decrease in my playing during that time (actually, it was about the time I became a serious player and by playing got better during that time). I guess that you could say that without smoking I would have improved that much more, but it didn't seem to hold me back.
NOT THAT I PROMOTE SMOKING IN ANYWAY OR WANT TO DENY ITS NEGATIVE EFFECTS, but I think that many militant anti-smokers over-estimate the harm it does. I've known many excellent clarinetists who smoke. Of course, if they're still smoking 20 years from now, I'm sure the effects will be much more acute... = )
DH
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Author: Avie
Date: 2004-05-14 20:23
It probably wouldnt do the reeds, pads and clarinet any good either! There is no way to prove how much worse a smoker would play but they probably wont play as long! Pun intended.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-05-14 20:29
Your clarinet will love your consideration, Betty. I assume by now anyone with any sense realizes that smoking is not good for your health. It really grunges up your horn too.
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Author: hans
Date: 2004-05-14 20:42
While I don't want to offend smokers, I can't agree with DH's comment - that "many militant anti-smokers over-estimate the harm it does".
IMO it is not possible to over estimate the harm caused by smoking; it is no less than suicide on the instalment plan and to say otherwise is denial of reality.
I saw my uncle lose his larynx to cancer after 30 years of smoking. He could only speak by swallowing air, pinching the hole in his throat shut, and burping the air out as he formed words. Amazingly, he continued to smoke through the gauze covering the hole (to keep the flies out), which always had a disgusting yellow tar stain on it. If that isn't enough, pictures of smokers' lungs which have become black and lost their elasticity are readily available.
The smokers who lived long and suffered no ill effects are the exceptions and it is likely that these remarkable people would have lived even longer and/or been able to play even longer without stopping to breathe had they not smoked.
Hans
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-05-14 22:02
Didn't repairers used to blow cigarette smoke down instruments to check everything was sealing? So I don't see how it could actually damage the instrument.
However, DON'T SMOKE!
As an aside, I had an argument with a flute player recently about swimming...he says that you shouldn't do it as a method of increasing lung capacity, as combining swimming with playing (like flying and SCUBA diving...) can cause some kind of blood clot...anyone else heard of this???
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2004-05-14 22:40
I'm not proud of it, but I am one of the dinosaurs that has, thus far, been unsuccessful in my many attempts to stop smoking. I have been smoking for fifty years. It definitely does grunge up reeds, pads, bores, etc. but they can be cleaned. I'm sure it doesn't help playing in any way, and I personally wish I had never heard of cigarettes, but thus far I haven't noticed playing problems due to smoking.
I have large lungs, so maybe I'm an exception. Spirometry tests are based on expelling a large volume of air very rapidly, while playing a wind instrument is releasing the air in a contolled manner over longer periods, so I'm not sure that the two are related, until of course the the person can no longer breathe efficiently enough to maintain sufficent oxygen levels.
The health effects, and costs are the main reasons not to smoke. Could buy a new clarinet each year with the money I spend on "smokes".
I do think some people are a tad bit over reactive when it comes to other people smoking. It's amazing that anyone lived past 30 when wood and coal were the main fuels used for heating and transportation.
Not stupid, just addicted. Definitely going to die of something someday.
John
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2004-05-14 23:43
I don't smoke, but my high school band director did. Way back when I left one clarinet at school and just carried my mp back and forth I forgot my mp at home one day and had to use his for band rehearsal....That was the most DISGUSTING taste ever!
My mom smokes and I think that it's because of her smoking that I get asthma attacks around things I'm allergic to (pollen, etc.).
However, all of my anti-smoking stuff aside, I can see from the times I have inhaled just how addictive it can be for some people. I think I'm probably genetically prepared to be addicted to nicotine. For me though, it does cause asthmatic reactions which make it impossible for me to play...and clarinet is ultimately more important to me than cigarettes...
Katrina
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Author: thechosenone
Date: 2004-05-14 23:48
I saw two students at the Curtis Institute smoking. Is it bad? yes...
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Author: chuck
Date: 2004-05-15 00:36
I am in the minority and have nothing but respect and admiration for those who have been able to quit smoking. There is probably a connection between lung capacity and smoking, but I haven't seen it. I worked at the business for quite a few years, and still play regularly. My greatest grievance is found in embouchure strength, but I attribute that to the lack of regular practice. I can sustain a long tone today as well as I did 60 years ago when I first started playing professionally. That's also how long I have been addicted. Chuck
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-05-15 01:06
Obviously smoking isn't good for you... I think there is a stigma against smokers, however. There are plenty of things that are very bad for you, like eating the average american diet... I think heart disease is still the biggest killer in America... Eating one's self half to death (which has surpassed baseball as America's favorite pasttime) is just as much a choice as smoking is (and could actually be considered more of one if you take chemical addiction into account).
Obviously, you shouldn't do either... but it always amuses me to see a person expressing their utter disgust with smokers while downing a triple cheeseburger and chasing it with a milkshake, or walking into a tanning salon, or driving without their seatbelt... We all do things that are bad for us, with full knowledge of the potential consequences.
I don't currently smoke, so this isn't some defense mechanism to make myself feel less guilty (i'm not that much of a cliche)... I just think that people who claim they can't comprehend how anyone could consciously harm their body with cigarettes need to take a long hard look at everything they do as well.
DH
this isn't an accusatory post. No one needs to get offended... just trying to keep perspective = )
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Author: mw
Date: 2004-05-15 01:26
I am not offended - but your argument is terribly weak. You don't fight a killer habit by pointing to the (many) other ills of the world.
50% of smokers today will have their lives curtailed in some way - disease, shorter life span, etc. - go to the CDC website - it says it all.
I am a former smoker & rue that fact every day. 10+ years have passed & I still wonder what effect I had on those around me.
Without question. it's always easier to rationalize the things that WE do wrong in life.
I worry about young people - who so often feel they are invincible.
Good luck to all who have quit or want to (as it happens from time-to-time).
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-05-15 01:48
If you'll notice, I made it very clear that other bad habits DO NOT negate one's responsibility for smoking. I simply meant the righteous indignation that many anti-smoking people have about smokers' "ruining their health" is usually at least somewhat hypocritical.
As I said, this does not mean that smoking is okay or good for you, it simply means that we all engage in harmful activities, yet smokers are the only one's that people feel a compulsive need to wag their fingers at.
DH
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Author: mw
Date: 2004-05-15 13:25
DH said:
"... this does not mean that smoking is okay or good for you."
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C'mon say it ... "Smoking is BAD for you."
DH also said:
"it simply means that we all engage in harmful activities, yet smokers are the only one's that people feel a compulsive need to wag their fingers at.
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AND, that's what I said won't work. I've read all your statements & I didn't miss what you said.
"... many militant anti-smokers over-estimate the harm it does."
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FWIW, I'm not militant. If anyone wants to smoke it's a free world. BUT, let's make it clear that there is NO OVER-ESTIMATION of the harmful effects of smoking. 50% of smokers WILL DIE from the effects of having smoked. How can a 50% factor ever be viewed as over-estimating harm from use?
Donald, how can you compare OTHER health problems (like the Triple Cheeseburger eater) such as overeating or diet (high cholestrol levels) when these behaviors do not affect other people. SMOKING DOES. We know that 2nd hand smoke is not good for anyone, too.
I can understand being told that smoking is bad for you & resenting that, but at the same time we ahve to know that smoking is not good for us. I don't have a problem with your resentment - that's human nature. BUT, it doesn't change the message that was sent to you/us.
Nothing can be done to ameliorate the harmful effects of smoking. Facts are facts --- SMOKING KILLS
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2004-05-15 13:53
See what I mean?
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