COVID safety for BABAM musicians

To maximize safety during the COVID-19 pandemic we’re making the following requests of BABAM Members:

All BABAM Members:

  • If you don’t feel well, or have a fever or cough, or if you have a household member who recently tested positive for COVID or otherwise have been recently exposed, stay home!
  • Don’t sing or chant or shout without a mask
  • Do your best to keep 10 feet away from other musicians anytime masks are off
  • Politely request that others give our members the space we need.
  • Prevent others from walking through the group of musicians

BABAM Members who play horns/wind instruments:

  • Optionally, wear a sign that indicates that you’re not wearing a mask, and to please stay clear (like this one, feel free to print it)
  • Wear a mask at all times when you’re not blowing into an instrument.
  • Take measures to limit aerosol spread, including but not limited to:
    • If you have a spit valve, empty it into a rag or close to the ground instead of spraying out
    • Don’t share instruments or mouthpieces
    • If the wind all comes out of a bell on your instrument, consider covering it with cloth. (We’re not sure that this actually helps but it probably does, and certainly looks safer in our mask-wearing-as-caring era.)

BABAM Members who don’t play horns/wind instruments:

  • Wear a mask at all times. 
  • If possible, help form a barrier between horn/wind players and others, and help maintain the 10’ zone for horn/wind players
  • Prevent others from walking through the group of musicians

BABAM Gig Coordinators / Dispatchers (in advance of the gig)

  • Speak with Action Organizers to find out if horn/wind players will have sufficient space to play in a socially-distant manner. Make sure the Action Organizer is aware that there is probably some contagion risk through using wind instruments.
  • Discuss specific locations (i.e. plaza, etc.) with the Action Organizer, and if there’s a way to prevent people from walking through the band in its spaced-out formation
  • Only post gigs in outdoor locations
  • Only post gigs where we expect other participants/attendees to be wearing masks

BABAM Gig Leaders (day of the gig)

  • Before the event, discuss these COVID protocols with folks who have RSVP’ed. If possible, convene a meeting before the event begins and repeat these instructions.
  • If possible, designate one Gig Leader to help coordinate maintaining this level of space.
  • During the event, attempt to ensure that all horn/wind players have sufficient space to play, and arrange for non-horn players (i.e. percussionists) to help maintain space for them, possibly by forming a perimeter, etc.
  • Strive to keep the musicians physically distant from other people while playing, by at least 10 feet
  • Ask musicians, where possible, to take measures to limit aerosols, including:
    • Whenever not playing a wind instrument, put your mask back on
    • If you have a spit valve, empty it into a rag or close to the ground, instead of spraying out
    • Don’t share instruments or mouthpieces
    • If the wind all comes out of a bell on your instrument, consider covering it with cloth
    • Don’t sing or chant or shout without a mask