Thoughtful Thursday: Singing? We Will See...

I started delving into the emerging research about singing yesterday. I'm trying to figure out how all of the tests that are going on right now will be affecting my various jobs in the near and far future. There is some evidence that singing is a super-spreading activity, but the results are not yet large enough to know for sure. I am watching this topic pretty carefully as I am still singing with my clients, but I want to make sure that I'm not encouraging folks to engage in a potentially dangerous activity through music therapy treatment.

The thing is that singing is part of what I do on a daily basis and it is something I love to my very core. It is part of what I do, so what happens if I'm not allowed to do this activity with other people until we get a vaccine?

In therapy, I have plenty of other things to do that do not include singing, but one of my other jobs is church music director - all singing, all the time. My choir loft is not big enough to allow for social distancing. I don't want to be the only voice singing all the time because I love singing as a group, but I guess I will do the solo gig, if I have to.

There is so much to think about and to consider when it comes to droplets, aerosols, and other types of transmission techniques and singing and playing wind instruments...and this is before the ethical considerations start to come into play.

At this point, I am still singing to my clients. I am masked as are all staff. They are not unless they want to be (and most do not want to be). Some group members sing along, but our system is currently COVID-free, so I am not worried about clients spreading that particular germ. I am a bit concerned about other familiar childhood bacteria and viruses, but that is an ENTIRELY different topic for another day! I am petrified by the thought of myself being an asymptomatic carrier and then bringing the virus into the facility and spreading it to EVERYONE because I am singing.

As a result, I am taking my temperature daily. I am monitoring my breathing (currently in the throes of asthma due to my allergies - had to stay home for two days until my doctor could send information to the medical director at the facility to indicate that this is just how I am) and watching for all sorts of symptoms in myself and my interns. I am limiting my own singing at the moment - just sitting and listening to others sing during sessions - to decrease the possibility of my germs being bad and keeping less droplets out of the air for others to breathe. Let me tell you, I am having such difficulty sitting quietly, but (and let me put on my smug "I'm so good" attitude here) I'm doing it for the benefit of the others around me.

There you go. (I feel so smug and guilty about feeling smug...egad!)