Health and Beauty Tips for Your Brass: Keep It Shiny!
Did you know that the health and beauty of your brass instruments require extra special attention? It’s true-their wellbeing and happiness depend upon it. While we’re not talking about putting your tuba on a weight-loss program or taking your trumpet to the spa for a makeover, you do need to treat your brass instruments with care or they’ll refuse to come out and play. So, grab that brass and get ready for a workout-it’s time to clean!
When was the last time you saw a dirty French Horn in the orchestra? Probably never, right? That’s because professional musicians know how to take daily, monthly, and yearly care of their instruments. Now’s your chance to do the same! Starting with daily care,
...of gravity in its mechanism. Additionally, its sprawling structure allows for a fuller sound to resonate through the bridge, giving an impressive tonal distinction between grands and most upright models. Uprights on the other hand strive to be tight and ...
Note: Because brass instruments vary, be sure to learn the specific cleaning methods for your particular instrument. For example, rotor instruments like the French horns, rotor tubas, and rotor trombones should always be cleaned by an experienced repairperson.
Once a week, lubricate the valves on your brass instrument. Simply unscrew the valve cap and draw out the valve half way. Using the appropriate lubricant, apply a drop of valve oil to the widest part of the valve. Then, press the valve back to its original position. The valves on most brass instruments have a “guide” that helps you to line up the valve. Most often, you’ll hear a *click* when
...the left octave with your left hand at the same time.The rest of Mary Had A Little Lamb with bass notes included looks like this:2/5 2 2 3/1 5 53/1 2 1 2 3/1 3 33 2/5 2 3 2 ...
If you play a brass instrument, you know what happens after a good session of blowing. You know, “moisture” can build up inside of your instrument. If it’s not removed, this moisture can do a real number on the health of your instrument. To be sure you’ve removed all moisture from your instrument after you’re done playing, you’ll want do a final blow with the water keys opened. This should help to keep the insides of your instruments happy and dry.
No Fingerprints Please
To keep your brass shining, be sure to wipe down the outside of the instrument after each use. This will help remove oils and perspiration left by your hands.
To spare your brass from
...a lot more money by dragging students along for years as they read notes and play other peoples music.If you want something a little less daunting start by learning chords. It's simple, fast, and a very focused way to learn ...
Once A Month It’s Thorough Internal Cleaning Time
To do this, you’ll need to take your brass apart completely. You’ll also need some supplies, including cleaning brushes, liquid soap, slide grease (if your instrument has slides), and valve oil. If you’re not comfortable with any of these steps, take your instrument to a
...first. Only then move on to Barre chords and other more complex chords. First things first! 7. Expand with 7th chords. As a next step you can easily expand on your basic chord knowledge by adding 7th and minor 7th ...
Head to your bathroom or kitchen sink and get ready to get dirty!
- Remove all slides, valves and valve bottom caps and place them, except for the valves, in warm, soapy water. Soak the parts in the water for 10 minutes
- As your parts are soaking, run warm water over your valves and use the valve brush to brush out all openings. Give your valves a good shake to remove excess water and let dry
- Depending on your type of instrument, you’ll want to brush all its tubes and compartments as well as the valve casings
- Rinse the entire instrument with warm water and be sure to wipe off any excess moisture Piano Lesson: How To Improvise The Classical Piano Waywith a soft cloth. Before moving on to the next step, you’ll want to make sure your instrument is completely dry
...and try to modify them and improvise over them.4. Try to create classical melodies at the piano without stopping. In order to learn to improvise classical music you have to practice just that - To improvise classical piano music.The most ... - If your instrument has slides, apply a little slide grease to each and put back together reassemble
- Replace the valves and apply a drop of oil on each to lubricate. Most valves are numbered, so be sure to put yours back in the correct location
Voila! You’re done. You can now go slide that trombone or toot that trumpet to your heart’s content. Because you treated your brass with cleanly attention, it’ll serve up beautiful music for years to come! Play that horn, Daddy-O!
Jon Butt is the publisher of Musical Instruments Guide , a free resource dedicated to all things musical.
...the V of the V of the new key would be Fm7, we have C as a common note. So we hold the C in the C chord, and move the rest of the C chord to Fm7, then Bb7, ...