Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a flute. And if you look after a flute properly it will bring you many hours of enjoyment. There are, however, a few useful pieces of information that will benefit both you and your instrument. Ideally, your teacher will talk you through most of these but as many of you know, it can be so hard fitting everything into a 30-minute lesson and students can only retain so much at a time. Therefore this will just be a friendly refresher that will help you along your way.
It is essential to look after a flute with a yearly service. This is because a flute has moving parts and is regularly exposed to the moister in your breath it will require a service once a year. This will help it to maintain its functionality and value, plus there are few things more frustrating than a semi-functional instrument. You should think of your flute like a car, if you look after it you’ll prolong its life and have less expensive problems.
Where to Service Your Flute in Melbourne Australia
Every flute should come with its own cleaning rod (it looks like a giant sewing needle and is either plastic, wood or metal) and hopefully a cleaning cloth. Your teacher will show you how to do this but basically, you thread the corner of the cloth through the end of the cleaning rod and wrap the cloth around the rod so it covered. Next, you gently push the rod in and out of your flute starting with the foot-joint then the body then the headjoint, twisting it around as you go. You always start with the cleanest part first and because the foot-joint is furthest away from where your air column leaves your body that’s always the cleanest part.
The purpose of this activity is to remove as much moisture from the instrument as possible. Excess moister in the instrument will increase the amount of wear and tear incurred on the pads, potentially result in a more expensive service and the irritating problem of your keys making a stickie sound every time they’re pressed down.
Naturally, after you’ve cleaned your flute the cloth, depending on how long you played for, may be slightly damp. Because the purpose of cleaning your flute is to remove the moisture, storing your cleaning cloth inside your flute case, especially on top of the keys is not ideal. Many student flute cases have pockets on the outside and these are the perfect place for storing your cleaning cloth.
If your flutes case has no outside pockets for the cleaning cloth you might like to consider either buying or sewing a case for your case. This will give you somewhere to store your cleaning cloth and depending on the design it could also be a convenient place to keep a pencil, tuner and metronome. Some flutes, like the pearl flutes, come with a wooden flute case which is prone to dints and scratches and other flute cases like the Yamaha flutes don’t include carry handles. Both of these are excellent reasons to acquire a case for your case.
Please no, just no. Using cork grease on a flute will damage it in the long term and make the initial problem worse. Cork grease is intended for instruments like clarinet that actually have cork where the different parts of the instrument slide together, flute does not. If your instrument is too stiff to assemble you should try cleaning the parts that slide into each other (tenons) just with your cleaning cloth. Sometimes this doesn’t work. When this happens you could use an alcohol wipe but try not to do this too often. If the problem persists or is too extreme you will need to get your flute serviced by a reputable technician.
Where to service your flute on Melbourne Australia
Some flutes are more prone to tarnishing than others and the natural oils produced by some peoples’ skin can be tarnish inducing (it varies quite substantially from person to person). Tarnish will not affect the sound of your instrument. So, except for in extreme cases I would suggest leaving it alone. Your flute will come back nice and shiny when you get it serviced. If the tarnish is making your hands dirty when you play you can use a specially designed flute polishing cloth if you have a silver plated or silver flute. Just note that excessive polishing can actually remove the silver plating which is something you don’t want to do. Do not use any other polishing products on your instrument, they will do more harm than good.
If you are concerned about tarnish and you have a silver or silver-plated flute its perfectly alright to keep a tarnish strip inside the flute case. You will just need to replace it every six months in order for it to keep working.
Sticky keys can be temporarily fixed using tobacco paper. Please don’t use other types of paper as this will either exacerbate the problem or create new ones. Your teacher will show you the correct way to do this, just remember to be gentle so you don’t damage the pads of the keys.
Don’t leave valuables in cars and flutes are no exception. If you have to leave your flute in a car make sure it’s out of sight in the boot. However, if it’s the middle of summer and a stinking hot day don’t leave your flute in the car full stop as the excessive heat is bad for the instrument. Unfortunately, I’ve heard many stories of flutes and piccolos being stolen from cars.
The best and safest place to store your flute is in its case. If you have to leave it out your next best option is to leave it on a flute stand away from pets, children, food and excessive moisture. If you do need to leave your flute out and don’t have a stand, avoid leaving it on a bed or chair. I’ve seen far too many accidents that result in banana flutes. Also, make sure to leave the majority of the keys facing upwards.
If you need to share your flute with someone or play someone else’s flute, it’s not the end of the world because no part of the instrument actually goes in your mouth. However, if either of you is sick it’s a good idea to wipe the lip plate with an alcohol wipe. This will help prevent the other person from getting sick too.
If your teacher places a grey led mark or small sticker on your flute this will not damage the instrument provided it is only there temporarily (3 to 6 months). The grey led will naturally rub off and the sticker should wear off too. This, however, should only be done by a teacher, flutes should not be decorated with stickers.
This almost goes without saying however young flautists might need a reminder from time to time. Your flute is an instrument, not a toy.
The top end of a flute (on the headjoint) can be unscrewed. However, this is really not a good habit to get into. The part that unscrews helps to hold the cork that’s sealing the end of the headjoint in place and prevents it from getting knocked. If the cork is knocked the flute will no longer play in tune or worst-case scenario won’t produce a sound. I’ve also had children lose the part that screws in which then has to be replaced.
https://youtu.be/qnHy-NuuRxA
I hope you’ve found this helpful. I’d love to hear any questions or suggestions you might have in the comments below.
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