A message from beyond the grave...

[Terry McGee]

[ I think I just blow into the things! I'll try to be more observant in future!

I'm sure I would if I could play flute to any standard above absolutely rudimentary! But when you're new to something, you do notice the different demands it makes.

Haha, good on you!

Just thinking on your observation that tonguing seemed to liberate more moisture. Seems logical, as you are adding another source of moisture to what's already in your breath.

And the brasswind player takes it a step further by continually going "pwerp" into the mouthpiece. And needs to remember to pull the mouthpiece off and clean it after every gig or be faced with a stuck mouthpiece. No shellac or bore oil involved there.

[jefff]

I remember playing trumpet as a kid in school, our tuning slides would get stuck often so we’d have one person take the trumpet and another person would hold the side using a towel for a strong hand hold and the two of us would pull in opposite directions and each go flying backwards when the slide came loose. Lots of instruments were dented this way but it worked!

I’ve been using trumpet tuning slide grease on my flute’s tuning slide but now I’m wondering if that might be bad luck…

[Terry McGee]

I reckon it would be just the thing, jefff. Nobody (I know) makes flute tuning slide grease, because modern flutes are stored in the case with the head off. So grease on the end of the bare tuning slide would attract all kinds of fluff and dirt, and spoil the case lining too. So that kind of forces the player to give it a wipe before putting it into the case. Whereas we normally leave our heads and barrels together, so we can forget to clean and lube them until they start to go sticky. And if we don't clean them then, they naturally proceed from sticky to stuck.

I just put a smear of cork grease on mine, and haven't come unstuck so far. (Uhhh, groan, pun alert....) But I imagine the brasswind slide grease would be more appropriately formulated. I have some here somewhere, but never remember to use it!

Oh, and there is a modern version of the towel:



Don't think it will work on flutes though! And these scary-looking tools:

[Steve Bliven]

Aren't those used for flute circumcision? Sort of a Celtic bris?

Best wishes.

Steve