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Hi Tubenet, I was wondering if I get some insight on how acceptable piercings and tattoos are in the realm of classical music. I know auditions are blind but is it at all frowned upon to have body modifications like piercings and tattoos. I can assume there would be no issues with ear piercings but I'm not so sure about specifically nose piercings and in general other piercings. For tattoos, I would expect anything not visible to be ok but I am just curious. Thanks.

A large percentage of people have tattoos these days, but most are fairly discreet when wearing concert dress.

But consider this: the lack of tattoos will absolutely have no effect on getting a classical gig, so a prominent tattoo can only have a negative effect if it has any effect at all.

Same with piercings.

Also, imagine yourself old and no longer optimally shaped with the piercings or tats you are considering. Even the best tats look best on someone who also looks great without them.

Rick “unimprovable by decoration” Denney

I had a college student back in NY that had a nose ring. It vibrated when he played 3rd line D. I told him he should remove it, but he didn’t want to. It was part of him. As time passed, the nose ring was the least of his problems.

This is the CEO of Sono Luminus Records, a wonderful producer of classical recordings:


Having tattoos on your face and neck will impede a job search in any field. Given the broad popularity and cultural acceptance of tattoos currently, though, I can't imagine that having them anywhere else on your body would get in your way. I don't see an issue with an ear piercing, either, though plugs could throw some folks off of their interest in your talent.

A lot of ensembles, from community band to top-tier orchestras, have appearance codes. I am calling them appearance codes because they go beyond "dress" codes. These days the appearance codes often do cover things like tattoos, piercings, jewelry, hair color, hair length, sometimes facial hair and even makeup are covered in addition to what the concert attire is.

circusboy wrote:This is the CEO of Sono Luminus Records, a wonderful producer of classical recordings:

Rick Denney wrote:
Also, imagine yourself old and no longer optimally shaped with the piercings or tats you are considering. Even the best tats look best on someone who also looks great without them.

Rick “unimprovable by decoration” Denney

I’m giving this round to Rick!!

I would get 5 “tear” tattoos under one eye. If anyone at an audition asks about them, just say that you’ve taken a total of 5 auditions so far in your career. You didn’t win any of them but you “haven’t forgotten” any of them either ... “if you know what I mean”. Then just give the committee “the look”. It just might work. I have a word tattooed on the palm of my left hand. Whenever a conductor gives me “the hand”, I hold my left hand up and the conductor sees the word NO, in really large, black letters. Before I got that tattoo I would just wave back.

By virtue of asking this question in a public forum, I think OP has some idea of the best choice to make here.

You need knuckle tattoos to spell words with your hands: T-U-B-A on the right hand, E-U-P-H on the left hand.

I have an arrow tattooed on my forehead pointing to the bass trombone.
Most times it seemed to work.

bort wrote:You need knuckle tattoos to spell words with your hands: T-U-B-A on the right hand, E-U-P-H on the left hand.

And then Whataburger under that.