Why British cellists may no longer fly to New York

For more than 30 years, Ralph Kirshbaum bought two airline tickets for his trips. The world-renowned American musician, who lives in England, bought one seat for himself, and the other for his strong, silent companion - a priceless 250-year-old Montagnana cello.

But British authorities say Mr. Kirshbaum must now sit alone. Since police broke up an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic flights last month, restrictions have been placed on travelers: Nothing larger than a laptop bag can be carried into airplane cabins. But cellists, violinists, and French horn players are loath to consign their instruments, often antiquities worth millions of dollars, to cavalier baggage handlers and the rough-and-tumble conditions of the aircraft hold.

As a result, hundreds of musicians in Britain are complaining that the measures designed to thwart terrorists are in fact punishing virtuosos with nothing more malicious in mind than a Saint-Saëns solo.

The performers, who shuttle around the world to concerts, rehearsals, and festivals with ancient instruments in tow, are warning that their performances - and even livelihoods - are in jeopardy because the new rules make international travel almost impossible.

"The kind of international movement that musicians have come to rely upon and audiences have come to expect will be altered dramatically," says Kirshbaum. "If these policies are kept in place for any significant length of time, artists will rethink how frequently, if at all, they are going to make trips to Britain. There is enough stress and pressure in preparing properly for concerts to then have to add hours of needless travel on top."

Checking their instruments, often priceless, into the cargo hold isn't an option for most top musicians.

"Something like one in eight instruments gets damaged - no matter how much they assure [that the instruments will] be taken care of, they are very likely to get smashed," says British cellist Steven Isserlis, who travels with a 276-year-old Stradivarius instrument. "It's irreplaceable," he adds. "It's my responsibility to pass it on to the next generation."

The rules have resulted in some distinctly odd itineraries, as musicians resort to road and rail to get from A to B. Mr. Isserlis, for example, has already endured a 10-hour journey by train to Germany for a rehearsal instead of a simple one-hour flight. Kirshbaum says a quick hop to a festival in Italy this week turned into a 24-hour ordeal on Europe's rail network.

Many are finding that the only way to travel with their instruments is to take the three-hour Eurostar train to Paris and fly on from there. "A lot of British musicians work abroad," says Keith Ames of Britain's Musicians Union, which has been arguing over the restrictions with transport officials and intends to lobby Parliament about them. "If they can't take an instrument with them, how are they supposed to play? You can't ask them to borrow: That's like saying to Tiger Woods, 'Can you just borrow a set of clubs when you get there?' "

Mr. Ames says that the situation has become so bad that some appearances abroad are already in jeopardy, threatening cancellations, lawsuits, and insurance rows.

Already, the New York-based Orchestra of St Luke's has cancelled a tour of Britain. And the issue burst into the open on Saturday night when the conductor Mark Elder used the high-profile Last Night of the Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall to plead for an end to the "unfair" restrictions. "Otherwise," he added "it seems to me that next year we should all look forward to Concerto for Laptop and Orchestra."

British officials say there is little they can do for musicians given the tight restrictions in place. One government official noted that musicians are not the only professionals affected: photographers, camera crews, and even lab technicians are finding it hard to live with the new rules. The government says it is consulting with airlines and airports to see if the restrictions can be modified or relaxed in the near future.

Musicians are not arguing that art should take precedence over security. But they are insisting on a special dispensation for those traveling with instruments that they argue are scannable and contain no internal working parts. Laptops, by contrast, would be more easily adapted to a terrorist's needs, argues Ames. "The idea that some bloke with a cello is a terrorist is laughable. Any terrorist would be more subtle than that," he says.

Kirshbaum says that the restrictions are not so much about enhanced security as about ensuring that staff are not overwhelmed by passengers with awkward baggage. "I was told it was not specifically a security issue; it was an issue of the volume of work that was put on the people manning the machines in the central search area. They were trying to minimize that."

But the outcome, he says, has been an enormous imposition on "the largest body of cultural ambassadors representing Britain." "We are flying the flag for Britain and they are putting shackles on us."

He says it is unthinkable to expect top musicians to travel without their instruments and beg or borrow replacements at their destination. "Our instrument is our voice," he says. "We spend hours every day living with, relating to, getting to know our instrument so that when we go on stage we are in the best possible position to give the best possible performance."

Isserlis, who has planned trips to New York and Japan in the fall, says it is audiences and culture in general that will suffer. "[Instruments are] much less dangerous than laptops and duty-free bottles of highly flammable liquids [such as liquor and perfume], but because they [airport authorities] make money out of that they'll never crack down on it," he says. "It's a threat to our livelihood and a threat to culture."

Ah, mouthpieces are indeed extremely personal and the subject of fanaticism - don't know much about horn mouthpieces, though. As a tuba player, I'm partial to Schilke for my upright and a Conn when I have to play sousaphone, my daughter the trumpet player won't play anything but a Stork Vachianno.

You're right that brass instruments tend to deteriorate (red rot comes to mind), but really well cared for instruments can last almost indefinitely with some work (such as replating valves). Particularly good individual exemplars though, instruments with high individual and fine sounds, grow in value. Flutes are the most obvious examples. There are people who can do amazing things with a 19th century Louis Lot flute, and some old Haynes and most old Powells are worth far more than new ones. (This is less true as the orchestra tuning inches up past A=442 and the oldest flutes were tuned to A=435 (international pitch) and then A=440 until the past 10-15 years - the newest flutes are pitched A=442 -- but there are a number of top players who prefer older instruments, especially Powells (like my daughter's) that Verne himself made in whole or part.)

Re: as I understand it, horn mouthpieces at the professional level seem to be custom made in two parts to match the specifications of the player's embrouchre and desired tone. They are in two parts (maybe tuba ones are as well) with a rim that screws onto the cup.

Rims are interchangeable and are easily lost (or stolen). My son recently mailed a rim out to be duplicated and the envelope was slit open in transit and the rim stolen. Guess the robber thought it was a wedding ring. Anyhow, that resulted in lots of hand wringing and consternation, to say the least. He then had to mail his spare which he was scared to death to do, this time in a bubble envelope and insured. Fortunately, this time all worked out.

Sounds like they're Doug Elliot fans - he's the best known maker of two part mouthpieces, although you can get them from most anyone. The idea, at least for tuba and trumpet players, is to always use the same rim shape, but to vary the underpart depending on the instrument one is playing (as you know, tuba players often play several horns of differing size and key, and classical orchestral trumpet players usually have C, Bb, Eb, D, and Bb/A piccolo trumpets (and sometimes G and E trumpets as well), for each of which they will prefer a different cup depth, cup shape, backbore and drill - although some people use more or less the same mouthpiece for most things - my daughter uses only 2, a 'basic' mouthpiece with a medium deep cup for everything but piccolo trumpet, and another with a shallow cup and backbore designed for piccolo trumpet.

Many of the very top trumpet players do not use interchangeable kits, but some do. Likewise with tuba players.

Glad to hear things worked out for your son, I know I was nervous while I had may main 'piece out for replating a few years ago.

Sounds like they're Doug Elliot fans - he's the best known maker of two part mouthpieces, although you can get them from most anyone.

That sounds right. All I remember is that my son borrowed a kit consisting of various types of rims and cups and he and his teacher at the time tried different combinations until they came up with what they thought worked best.

I'm always amazed when I go to an orchestra concert and see the array of different trumpets (and mutes) lined up in front of the trumpet section. Takes a lot of versatility.

I'm always amazed when I go to an orchestra concert and see the array of different trumpets (and mutes) lined up in front of the trumpet section. Takes a lot of versatility.

Apparently, the different trumpts are more about ease of doing things than possibility - almost everything can be played on your basic Bb trumpet, even the range now played on piccolo trumpet was originally played on valveless clarino trumpets that were actually longer (and hence had an open bugle harmonic series that began much lower) than a modern valved Bb trumpet. In order to play a full chromatic scale, these instruments were played in an extreme high register where the harmonic series made it possible in different keys with different crooks. I have a friend who specializes in playing clarino, but few modern players master it. At any rate, your range on a Bb is pretty much your range - the issue is the ease and security with which they can be played, and how the fingering patterns 'lay' for a particular piece that determines which trumpet to select. Each key trumpet has a different 'cash register' (the register where most common playing is easily accomplished). Orchestral trumpet parts are traditionally not written in concert pitch, but in the key of the part so it looks like "C" and trumpet players learn to transpose by sight (as do horn players and almost no one else). Because the Bb trumpt is pitched in Bb, it's typically easier to play in flat keys on a Bb - and most band music is written primarily in flat keys because most of the band instruments are pitched in Bb or Eb (flute, oboe, basson, and horn and sometimes tubas being the exceptions). Orchestral music is often written in sharp keys (D is the easiest laying key for the violins), and so orchestral trumpet players 'basic' instrument is pitched in C (concert pitch) because the fingering patterns in the sharp keys lay easier. When a trumpet part is mostly pretty high for a C trumpet, players will often select an Eb or D trumpet so that the range of the music will be within the most comfortable range of the instrument. The timbre of the instrument also is a factor in selection - a higher-pitched trumpet will be 'brighter' all other things being equal.

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