 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2017-08-25 22:29
There's a furor in the world of mixed martial arts over one of the champions testing positive for steroid use. A posted online comment from a power lifter who acknowledged that he himself uses performance enhancing drugs contained the following assertion:
"(. . .) there is not one top athlete in the world that is clean. Everybody is looking for an edge. Artists take drugs for inspiration. Orchestra musicians beta blockers. Archers, swimmers, table tennis..."
http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/reasons-why-jon-popped-from-a-ped-user.3603815/
Currently, how prevalent is beta blocker use in the musical world among either orchestral musicians, soloists, and other genres? I've been under the impression that only a minority use them, but I can't even remember what data that's based on.
I think citing beta blocker use by musicians as comparable to PED use by athletes is unsound. Other opinions?
Post Edited (2017-08-25 22:30)
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Author: brycon
Date: 2017-08-25 22:52
I think we've had this discussion before, no?
Short answers:
I've taken beta blockers--advanced in auditions with them and advanced in auditions without them. (They aren't at all similar to PEDs insofar as they don't enhance your performance abilities--e.g. they don't allow you to play faster, higher, etc.)
I've studied with many of the current orchestral people in NYC--nearly all of them used beta blockers for their auditions. I've also attended a prestigious NYC music school--some teachers would give out beta blockers to students with auditions. On the audition circuit, they're ubiquitous.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-08-25 23:10
No matter what anyone *thinks*they know, I doubt if you'd be able to get even close to an accurate assessment of this. For one thing, beta blockers aren't banned by the AFM or the League of American Orchestras, and there's no other organization that would be able to keep track among non-union non-orchestral players. There's no reason why anyone would report his or her use to anyone or that anyone would report on anyone else's use. So there would be no source on which to base this kind of claim.
There is a huge difference in the ways beta blockers and anabolic steroids help performance. One simply reduces anxiety - it doesn't build anything or make a player more physically powerful or cognitively hypersensitive in any way. The other actually increases the body's ability to build muscle, strength and endurance.
I don't personally know anyone who I *know* uses beta blockers for performance nerves. Maybe some do. Maybe (IMO, probably) not. It isn't something that anyone even within the music profession, much less a "body builder" trying to defend PED use, would know on a scale wide enough to make a general statement.
Karl
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2017-08-25 23:16
Hmmm--- about a month ago my new primary care doc gave me Inderal (beta blocker) to try to reduce my migraines. I had never taken it. Within a week I had severe joint pain in both thumbs and somewhat less in other fingers, wrists, and knees. As though I had suddenly developed severe arthritis. Not impossible at age 64 but awfully coincidental. Turns out that is on the list of possible side effects. My doc was not convinced but said stop it. Took another week for it to wear off, back to my normal self, boy was I glad.
Rare side effect? maybe. Or perhaps it goes unnoticed by folks who might already have some joint pain and just chalk it up to age or whatever. Or perhaps not as severe a reaction as I had, but still there. Not a good thing for playing clarinet. Justsayin'
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
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Author: ClarinettyBetty
Date: 2017-08-26 00:55
Like another poster said, beta-blockers will not "enhance" your performance. It is basically a medicine that lowers blood pressure/heart rate. So when you go into a stressful situation like a recital/audition, you play closer to what you do in your living room. One can still be nervous as all get-out, mentally, but the physical symptoms will be lessened.
If there were a medication that made one play faster scales, have cleaner articulation, and better tone, I'm pretty sure it'd be classified as a PED and a great many people would be against it (rightly so!).
I've seen students going from shaking, crying wrecks to calm, coherent musicians in the span of time it takes for the beta-blocker to work. I really can't fault anyone for using it if it makes them feel better about performing.
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Eb: 1972 Buffet BC20
Bb: Selmer Paris Presence
A: Selmer Paris Presence
Bass: 1977 LeBlanc
https://gentrywoodwinds.com
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2017-08-26 02:56
GBK - thanks for the link. I should have searched. It offers that one in four symphony musicians used beta blockers at the time (2006) - the link to the source for that stat is apparently lapsed. Much good information in the thread, including comparisons / contrasts with PEDs. I may offer some of the perspective gained in a comment on the mma site.
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