Making Music with a Metal Allergy

When you have a severe metal allergy, playing certain instruments presents an itchy challenge. While I crave making music, it simply wasn't worth the fluid filled blisters and swelling around my face.

So what's a musician to do? Not play metal instruments? NEVER! 

There are solutions - maybe not conventional looking solutions, but solutions nonetheless. 

Here are the budget friendly solutions I have found when gold and silver didn't make the hypoallergenic list - and they work!

For the brass family, there are these wonderful beauties - Kelly mouthpieces. Fully plastic and fully hypoallergenic.

Stainless Steel mouthpieces are available, but less than budget friendly.

Flutes are more complicated than the brass family - and no, plastic lip plates are not a thing. But Blue Painter's tape is!

By creasing a piece of wide tape around the edges of the lip plate, you can cut a close fitting cover...         

 Depending on how severe the allergy is, more of the head joint can be covered with tape, as well as other points of contact with the hands.

Blue painters tape doesn't leave a residue, and the beautiful part is - the effect on sound is minimal.

I have found that I am more sensitive to different alloys - I don't need to cover this much of the head joint when using solid silver, but nickle causes a reaction with mere proximity... no contact required!

Nuvo and Allora plastic instruments are new options for the metallic challenged musicians. Stainless steel is a highly hypoallergenic alloy, but unfortunately, at a high cost when it comes to instruments.

But the good news is... there are options! A metal allergy need not determine what methods of music making are open to you!

If you have found other solutions, I would love to hear about them! Leave a comment with your blue (or any other color) solutions.