Caring for your Instrument
Caring for Your Instrument
In order to keep your instrument working well and to avoid any unnecessary repairs, it is very important that the correct care steps are followed for your child’s instrument.
Should you child’s hire instrument stop working correctly, please do not try to repair it yourself. Please contact our resources officer Emma Colston-Weeks 01534 832230 or [email protected]
It is important that woodwind instruments are cleaned every time they are put away with a pull-through cleaner. This will avoid any unnecessary repairs. You child’s teacher will show them how to do this correctly at their first lesson.
Brass instruments should be cleaned every 2-3 months using the following steps:
- Fill a bathtub or sink with lukewarm water and washing up liquid.
- Remove all the slides and valves from the instrument and place these, along with the instrument and mouthpiece, into the water.
- Using suitable instrument cleaning brushes, brush through the slides, mouthpiece and instrument to remove any dirt.
- Dry all the parts with a soft cloth and reapply slide grease and valve oil before reassembling the instrument.
Should your child’s mouthpiece become stuck in their instrument, please do not try to remove it yourself. Your child’s teacher will have a special tool to remove it.
Trumpet/Cornet/Tenor Horn/Baritone/Tuba Care Guide (pdf)
Oiling Valves and Greasing Slides (Trumpet/Cornet/Tenor Horn/Baritone/Tuba) (pdf)
Should you child’s hire instrument stop working correctly, please do not try to repair it yourself. Please contact our resources officer Natasha Ronayne 01534 832269 or [email protected]
String instruments are fragile and it is therefore important that they are handled with care and put away safely when they are not being played.
Don’t try to tune your instrument until you have been shown how by your teacher.
Clean any rosin from the body of your instrument with a soft duster before putting it away.
Strings may break from time to time. Replacements (matching your instrument’s size) can be purchased locally or from an reputable online retailer. Your child’s teacher will then be able to fit the new string at their lesson.