NBC Bay Area: In a strange marriage of arts and science, The San Francisco Opera costume department teamed up with doctors from UCSF to create a mask that will allow the company's singers to safely rehearse together -- while greatly diminishing the chances of spreading COVID-19.
9 comments:
I think that it is wonderful that this new mask creation allows opera singers (and honestly other singers) to be able to sing together. It's a wonderful collaboration between the arts and sciences. Musicians (especially singers and those who play brass or woodwind instruments)have lost so much time playing together in groups which is such an essential part of music in and of its self. I hope that this mask will enable more collaborative music experiences. However, while it is a wonderful useful invention, I just can't get over how silly it looks. It resembles if someone held a small paper bag up to their face. It's definitely something that people will probably look back on in fifty years and won't help but giggle. Hopefully, sometime in the near future, we won't need to have masks like this anymore, and masks in general as more and more people become vaccinated. In the meantime though, I am glad that singers will be able to utilize to gather and create music together more safely and comfortably.
I think that these masks will be of great use to all production companies that want to start preparing for the opening of venues. They hopefully will not just be for operas but also for concerts and musical rehearsals. This could help get the entertainment industry back on it’s feet and start creating content again. I am also surprised that they are able to sing full out with this mask on as it seems like it might feel uncomfortable to actually say anything in. I would have loved to see a video of how they put this mask on and take it off. It could be very lucrative to actually make these masks and sell them. If you could produce them at a small enough cost, you could try and sell them to high schools as well so they can feel comfortable putting on plays and having choir rehearsals, too.
I think this is great! Good for them and joy to the singers who will be able to collaborate again. The thing I want to talk about, though, is the idea of a strange marriage between art and science. I take issue with that because, really? I don't think the two were ever truly separate. It's one big spectrum, I think, and it's one of those STEM vs. STEAM arguments. People always say things like "It's an art, not a science," but theatre utilizes so much science in its execution even without the pandemic. Color theory is science, acoustics are science, the way light interacts with its environment is textbook science, machinery is so full of science. What the article really means is a strange marriage between arts and disease control/what we general consider to be in the branch of science that has to do with doctors and nurses. Art is a part of science and vice versa. Always has been.
Now that the vaccine is out and we are seeing (at least the tip of) the end of pandemic, I cannot help worrying and wondering about these kind of new inventions. Of course I admire their creativity and passion to enhance the safety during the rehearsals, but what are the all COVID-related (or almost reliant) businesses going to do once the pandemic goes away? Especially this mask that was introduced in the article seem to have very limited fields of usage, because even though they say it can be used not only in singing rehearsals but also in other places, I don’t think school or church will afford that much when they can just use the regular masks. Anyway, I hoped they explained more practical sides of these masks. For example, I wonder if the mask was permanent (if they could be used multiple times by washing or are they disposable). I hope they could find the way to continue using such masks even after the pandemic.
This is very interesting, and not at all surprising to read about right now. It’s been a year, at this point, since everything in the US started to shut down- especially all theaters and opera houses. I read the comments of other students on this article, and I would have to agree with some of what they said. I think it’s great to develop new ways for artists to continue their work safely, and I love the creativity to make something that suits the singer’s needs while keeping everyone safe. But, I also can’t help thinking about how useful the production of those masks will be– and how unlikely it seems that they would actually become widely used in places like school choirs. For professional opera houses with larger budgets? Yeah, definitely. For high schools? Not so much. I don’t see that as a likely priority on their agendas. But, I’m glad to see some great ideas to start bringing the arts back into some form of normalcy.
After just reading the title of this article I was very skeptical. I just truly could not understand how they could keep a mask safe while also allowing people to sing freely. I was pleasantly surprised by this article and the design of the mask. I think this is a great step in moving forward in the in person production realm. Anything that can move things towards people attending performances and being able to create their art is a great thing in my eyes. These masks are keeping people safe rather than just opening places willy nilly, frankly every performance now on should use these masks if they choose to have an audience. I think it would be super helpful for local theatre that cannot fully afford to do things online and bring in an audience. High schools and local theaters can bring more people in and provide for their community without having the risk of being sued or shut down for covid. I love seeing things move forward and this pandemic slowly coming to an end, it will be a while till we achieve normalcy but anything is better than nothing.
This is a really awesome story that may provide some help for a lot of different singing groups around the world. I have seen images of rehearsals and shows and such with singers having different types of masks on to provide the best result for singing. Regular masks significantly muffle some of the voices singing, which is why this new mask that they made is so necessary and is such a great idea. I think I have seen a couple of masks that stick out further away from the mouth so that singers have a little room between their mouths and the mask, but these do not seem like the perfect solution and definitely still muffle voices a little bit. Everyone has had to get extremely creative in this pandemic, and while it is really sad to have to see all of these things being designed for the purpose of keeping us safe, it does inspire me to see so many new and creative ideas being shared with each other, providing everyone with more safe and effective solutions to problems.
I think this mask is an excellent concept as the country begins the early stages of reopening its doors to the outside world. I myself have noticed the troubles of taking deep breaths and having room for full jaw articulation with a standard mask. I have tried singing a little bit, but I notice it most when biking back and forth from campus. When I have to take a deep breath, sometimes the fabric of the mask gets pulled up to my mouth and restricts airflow just enough to be annoying – I can imagine how this becomes a problem for opera singers, who much take very deep breaths, constantly, to put out series of notes as well as prolonged, held notes. When there is little time to take a breath, any hinderance to the breath can cause problems. In addition, a big part of proper opera technique is vowel and mouth shape, and if the mask hinders free movement of the jaw at all, this could affect the quality of the actors’ voices. I think what I appreciate most about this mask is that it was designed with input from all parties; the medical community, the costumes design community, and the actors themselves. This ensures that the mask will be functional but also keeps in mind the needs and wants of the actors and design team. Excellent concept overall.
When I first read the headline, I couldn’t help but think of all of the masks and contraptions that have been made for performers to do their art safely. Specifically, I thought of the kids at school practicing playing their instruments in personal green tents and one kid has to fit inside with his tuba. The mask/cover for wind instruments also crossed my mind. Honestly seeing this new mask and the tents, there’s no way of getting around how funny they look. Similarly to what Kaisa said, I can’t help but wonder what people will look back and think about this. I feel like I will find these images in a history textbook 50 years from now under a heading like “The Effect of Coronavirus on the Arts.” Anyways, this really is such a great invention that can really help us get closer to performing in person together. Opera must be so difficult to rehearse online, but it was also extremely risky to practice in the same room. The mask helps to solve that problem.
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