[jbtsax]

Finally someone has done a study on the health effects of playing the saxophone! See this link: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/319/7225/1612
This graph says it all. Stop playing sax now before it is too late.

 

[Jonathan C.]

I'll take my chances.

 

[kavala]

According to that chart there are zero sax players surviving beyond
69yrs.

Can't be right :? :? :?

 

[Agent27]

According to that chart there are zero sax players surviving beyond
69yrs.

Can't be right :? :? :?

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

 

[DukeCity]

And they're assuming that most saxophone players employ circular breathing:

It is widely accepted that poor breathing technique on any wind instrument breaks up the shape and flow of a solo. To overcome this problem, woodwind instrument players---especially saxophonists---often use circular breathing techniques (fig 1) to produce seamless air streams, inhaling through the nose while simultaneously inflating the cheeks and neck with air. This is a demanding and possibly dangerous exercise.

And this:

The observed association between woodwind players, especially saxophonists, and mortality has a plausible biological explanation. Raised pressure in the neck region can increase mortality either by reducing blood supply to the brain (cerebrovascular ischaemia) or venous stasis (thromboembolism). This theory is strengthened by the observation of a dose-response effect whereby the saxophonists and other woodwind instrument players, with maximum and intermediate likelihood of circular breathing respectively, are correspondingly ranked in the levels of mortality.

Yeah, right.

 

[Master.America]

No sax player lives beyond 69 years? Maybe it applies to jazz saxophonists. Marcel Mule (1901-2001) seemed to fair alright.

So... more circular breathing means earlier death? Kenny G must be just about done for!

 

[kavala]

No sax player lives beyond 69 years? Maybe it applies to jazz saxophonists. !

Benny Carter
Phil Woods
Sonny Rollins

Maybe it's more to do with life style than circular breathing.

 

[saxjd]

Not a serious study. Don't get worked up.

 

[hakukani]

This study was done as a joke several years ago. It keeps popping up its weary head every few months, like the Nigerian spam...

 

[Reedsplinter]

This study was done as a joke several years ago. It keeps popping up its weary head every few months, like the Nigerian spam...

Nigerian spam is tasty. But very unhealthy! Sax players must not eat it.

 

[bjornblomberg]

The article is really cool, but scientifically not very solid. There is something called "confounding" in statistics, and in this case the explanation probably lies in drug and alcohol abuse, which probably accounts for a lot of the excess mortality, but which they did not include in their logistic regression model. Anyway, the way they write, I think they are aware of the limitations...

 

[Dr_sax]

Health promotion campaigns encouraging saxophonists to play more than one instrument or to declare themselves as leaders of their bands should have a significant impact on their mortality.

Hey, I have 4 different sax sizes and 16 different flutes does this count.

 

[Ferret]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

This study proves Boots wasn't real, and by consequence all those failed attempts to play Yakity Sax never really happened.

 

[Billt4mn]

I'm not worried. Note the full title of the study:

"Unsafe sax: cohort study of the impact of too much sax on the mortality of famous jazz musicians"

I don't have the dedication/obsession to ever get good enough to be famous and no real jazz musician would ever let me call myself one.

 

[jbtsax]

A careful reading of the article will reveal what we all must do to live longer:

"This study has important public health implications for jazz saxophonists as it identifies important modifiable behavioural factors.
Health promotion campaigns encouraging saxophonists to play more than one instrument or to declare themselves as leaders of their bands should have a significant impact on their mortality."

John

 

[Al Stevens]

Figures lie; liars figure.

40% of traffic fatalities involve alcohol usage.

Ergo:

60% of traffic fatalities are caused by sober people!

Do the math; have a drink. Play some sax.

 

[Finnerski]

Yes there have been lots of young sax players pass away early. I don't think it was due to the fact they were sax players, I think it had to do more with their lifestyle.

 

[Al Stevens]

I don't see a lot of difference between the lifestyles of sax players and those of players of other instruments. Maybe there are just more sax players to count when we add up the fatalities.

 

[Joe Jazz]

Calm down everyone, it was a misprint! It was supposed to be "sex players". It was an HIV/AIDS study........

 

[Reedsplinter]

I don't see a lot of difference between the lifestyles of sax players and those of players of other instruments. Maybe there are just more sax players to count when we add up the fatalities.

Things could be worse. I believe French horn players have very short life spans; the backpressure blows out their cerebral arteries.

And dentists have the highest suicide rate of any professional group.

This study doesn't say anything about rates of insanity among sax players. If postal workers go postal, do sax players go saxual? That doesn't sound so bad.