Cleaning Your Instrument

 You should wash your instrument about once a month!

You should try and wash your mouthpiece after every time you play!

You will need:

                        · Valve Oil

                        · Vaseline or tuning slide grease

                        · Fairy Liquid or other washing-up liquid

                        · Instrument brush (you can do it without this)

1. Run warm soapy water through the whole instrument.

2. Push the brush through the instrument as far as it will go but do not force it so it gets stuck.

3. Do the same with the mouthpiece.

4. Once you think that all the dirt has come out, dry the outside with a soft cloth. If you have an instrument brush with only one brush head then put a piece of cloth through the metal loop in the other end and gently dry the inside of the instrument. If not, just let it dry naturally. You may need to turn the instrument around in circles to get all of the water out.

5. Use 3 or 4 drops of valve oil when putting them back in. Make sure you know which one goes in which hole!

6. To grease the slides use Vaseline/grease and wipe off any excess grease after moving the slides in and out a few times. [NOT trombone!].

If you have any problems then please phone one of us and do not use it as an excuse not to practise!

Getting rid of excess water!
When we play condensation builds up inside the instrument from the warm air that we’re blowing in to the cold metal. This is why we get a ‘gurgling’ sound sometimes. To get rid of the water blow through the instrument without buzzing whilst pressing the ‘spit valve’ open (ask your teacher if you don’t know where that is). It should not make a sound when you do this! Sometimes water collects in the valve slides and you may need to take these out and empty them (this is usually mostly on a tenor horn). When you do this press the corresponding valve down at the same time to balance the pressure and avoid to a big ‘pop’ sound.