If your mouthpiece is stuck, never ever attempt to remove it yourself. Pliers, vices doors and saws are a big no no, and always end in tears! If your mouthpiece does get stuck, bring it into the Music Place and we will be more than happy to remove for you.- Smiles all round!

 

If you own a silver instrument, use a silver polishing cloth sparingly. These cloths strip a layer of silver from your instrument each time you use them, and will eventually take the finish back to the brass underneath, and generally look pretty daggy.

 

If you are a compulsive polisher, Jupiter silkweave micro cloths are an excellent alternative and are non-abrasive.

 

The misconception of brass instruments being tough and durable is far and wide. Brass is actually a very soft metal and the slightest knock will in fact leave a nice dent on your instrument. Please keep your instruments away from younger brothers and sisters, pets and sometimes even parents! Take care of your horn, especially with valves and trombone slides.
To maintain a free blowing hygienic brass instrument, one must clean it at least once a month. Here are few tips on cleaning and maintenance you may find useful:

 

Do not eat before you play. If you have to, rinse your mouth out. If food particles are blown through your instrument, they generally stay there and decay. Not only does it stink, it causes what we call “red rot” where the brass rots from the inside out.Are you experiencing alot more back pressure than you should be while playing your horn? Perhaps not as much air is going through the horn as it should and the tone quality is suffering.

 

Cleaning your instrument, whether it be a trumpet, bone, tuba, eupho or french horn is the most important thing you could do to prolong the life of your horn and have a better playing experience at a gig.

 

Here are some simple tips for cleaning your horn monthly.

 

Sounds silly? But you might find last nights (or last year) dinner come out!

 

1. Fill the bath with luke warm water, not too hot, as it could damage the laquer of your horn.
2. Mix a little bit of soap or dishwashing liquid in the water.
3. Take your instrument apart. (All tuning slides, valve slides, valves and anything else detachable)
4. Place all of these pieces in the bath or trough making sure that the water is covering every piece.
5. Let the instrument soak for a least one hour, longer if possible.
6. Take each piece out of the water and run a brissled cleaning snake through everything including the lead pipe (the pipe you put your mouthpiece into), slides, valves and even the mouthpiece and watch all the gunk fall out.
7. Rinse the pieces thoroughly and put the instrument back together.
8. Oil all the slides, valves and anything else that needs to move.
9. Test play the horn and see the difference!

Note: If after you’ve cleaned your valved instrument and you can’t get any sound out of it, check that your valves are in the right way and that the numbers correspond on the valves with the ones stamped on the outside of the valve casings.