Clean your horn!
Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 9:31 am
But how did the trombone get the germs unless the trombone player had them already?
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Clean your horn!
Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 9:55 am
Clean your horn!
Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 10:56 am
Quote from: robcat2075 on May 10, 2017, 09:55AMBut how did the trombone get the germs unless the trombone player had them already?They might have just drifted in and found the environment pleasant - particularly the mold.
Clean your horn!
Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 11:21 am
I use the cleaning rod on the inside of the outer slide every week, and give the horn a bath (10 minutes soaking on Dawn and brushed out) once a month. Is that enough? Too much?
Clean your horn!
Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 12:01 pm
Something happened to me recently that shows just how much suction we apply to the instrument when inhaling near the mouthpiece. I had removed my horn from its case, inserted the mouthpiece and taken a really deep breath when it felt like I'd swallowed a cockle burr ! I coughed uncontrollably for at least five minutes, drinking water in between fits of coughing. I later put 2 and 2 together and realized that the receiver part of my slide section rests in the bottom part of the slot in the case. Over time, the velour nap of the case lining had accumulated in that slot and a sizable ball of lint found its way into the leadpipe. I didn't notice it until I ingested the thing on my first breath ! It took over 50 years before it happened to me the first time, and it'll be the last. I totally agree with regular scrubbing of the inside of any brass instrument and will add the caveat that we should vacuum out our cases at the same time --- sort of like changing the batteries in your smoke alarm at the same time you re-set your clock for daylight savings time ! Please learn from my carelessness ----- .
I spent several years of study with Karl Rucht, who was the principal trumpeter of The Berlin Philharmonic shortly after WWII. He once related to me that it was customary in Germany at the time, when a new instrument was acquired, to pour a quart [liter?] of whole milk down the bell and slosh it around to coat the interior of the horn. The theory was that the fat in the milk would smooth out imperfections at the points where tubing met tubing under ferrules and produce a more even blowing horn. He said that it worked very well, but that you couldn't get near the horn for several weeks because of the nauseating stench of the rotten milk ! In any case, it would boggle the imagination as to what cultures could grow in THAT environment !
I spent several years of study with Karl Rucht, who was the principal trumpeter of The Berlin Philharmonic shortly after WWII. He once related to me that it was customary in Germany at the time, when a new instrument was acquired, to pour a quart [liter?] of whole milk down the bell and slosh it around to coat the interior of the horn. The theory was that the fat in the milk would smooth out imperfections at the points where tubing met tubing under ferrules and produce a more even blowing horn. He said that it worked very well, but that you couldn't get near the horn for several weeks because of the nauseating stench of the rotten milk ! In any case, it would boggle the imagination as to what cultures could grow in THAT environment !
Clean your horn!
Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 12:01 pm
Something happened to me recently that shows just how much suction we apply to the instrument when inhaling near the mouthpiece. I had removed my horn from its case, inserted the mouthpiece and taken a really deep breath when it felt like I'd swallowed a cockle burr ! I coughed uncontrollably for at least five minutes, drinking water in between fits of coughing. I later put 2 and 2 together and realized that the receiver part of my slide section rests in the bottom part of the slot in the case. Over time, the velour nap of the case lining had accumulated in that slot and a sizable ball of lint found its way into the leadpipe. I didn't notice it until I ingested the thing on my first breath ! It took over 50 years before it happened to me the first time, and it'll be the last. I totally agree with regular scrubbing of the inside of any brass instrument and will add the caveat that we should vacuum out our cases at the same time --- sort of like changing the batteries in your smoke alarm at the same time you re-set your clock for daylight savings time ! Please learn from my carelessness ----- .
I spent several years of study with Karl Rucht, who was the principal trumpeter of The Berlin Philharmonic shortly after WWII. He once related to me that it was customary in Germany at the time, when a new instrument was acquired, to pour a quart [liter?] of whole milk down the bell and slosh it around to coat the interior of the horn. The theory was that the fat in the milk would smooth out imperfections at the points where tubing met tubing under ferrules and produce a more even blowing horn. He said that it worked very well, but that you couldn't get near the horn for several weeks because of the nauseating stench of the rotten milk ! In any case, it would boggle the imagination as to what cultures could grow in THAT environment !
I spent several years of study with Karl Rucht, who was the principal trumpeter of The Berlin Philharmonic shortly after WWII. He once related to me that it was customary in Germany at the time, when a new instrument was acquired, to pour a quart [liter?] of whole milk down the bell and slosh it around to coat the interior of the horn. The theory was that the fat in the milk would smooth out imperfections at the points where tubing met tubing under ferrules and produce a more even blowing horn. He said that it worked very well, but that you couldn't get near the horn for several weeks because of the nauseating stench of the rotten milk ! In any case, it would boggle the imagination as to what cultures could grow in THAT environment !