Overview
Music is an art and universal language that is present in all societies in terms of personal expression and different culture and experience. Nowadays, music and musical instruments are used to improve health as well as music therapy.
Musical instrument care and maintenance helps to stay in good terms in longer condition as well as maintain quality of their musical output. It is a well known fact that proper care and maintenance of musical instruments help in improving playing skill.
Musical instruments are the main component of a musician either you have just started the journey or have years of experience. Proper maintenance of musical instruments is important if you want to avoid unnecessary expenses in maintenance and extend the life of your musical instrument.
Types of Musical Instrument
In order to maintain and care for musical instruments, we need to know about the type of musical instrument. There are mainly five types of musical instruments.
- Percussion instruments
- Woodwind instruments
- String instruments
- Keyboard & Electronic instruments
- Brass Instruments
How To Care for Musical Instruments?
Depending upon types of musical instruments, maintenance and care for musical instruments are different from one another.
Percussion Instruments
Percussion instruments played by hand or with a mallet, includes drum, cymbals, tabla, xylophones, etc. Instrument care and maintenance help to encourage playing regularly.
- Tune regularly to keep them in optimal playing condition.
- Avoid using abrasive materials that can scratch the surface.
- Always clean with soft clean cotton cloth after every use.
WoodWind Instruments
In woodwind instruments it includes flute, saxophone, clarinet, etc,. produced sound as the player blows into the mouthpiece. Instrument care and maintenance help to be used in the long term.
- Keep cleaning the instrument after each use. For woodwind instruments like clarinets and saxophones, gently disassemble and use soft cloth or dry swab to dry the instrument. For flutes, use a cleaning rod and cloth to wipe out moisture.
- Always clean the mouthpiece to prevent bacteria buildup.
- Always store in a sturdy case to protect against dents and dust after every use.
String Instruments
String instruments include guitar, violin, cello, etc,.used string to produce music. Instrument care and maintenance help to protect it from damage.
- After playing instruments, use dry clean cotton cloth to remove dirt, oil and sweat.
- As not to reduce string tension, replace strings gradually, not replace all strings at once.
- For violin, cello keeps the bow hair clean by wiping it with a cloth after each use. Rehair the bow when necessary, typically every 1-2 years.
Keyboard and Electronic Instruments
In keyboard and electronic instruments playing with keys such as piano, synthesiser, electronic keyboard, etc,. Keyboard and electronic instrument care and maintenance help to tune properly.
- Ensure to protect the keys by covering them whenever the instrument is not in use.
- Use a clean, slightly damp soft cloth to clean the keys. Using harsh chemicals or abrasive materials damages the keys.
- Pianos need to be tuned regularly, usually every 6-12 months, depending on how often you play and the climate conditions.
Brass Instruments
Brass instruments are musical instruments like tuba, trumpet, etc., that produce sound by vibrating air in a tube. They are named for the brass metal they are made from. To clean and store brass instruments help to keep them playing in top notch performance.
- Always store in hard sturdy, padded cases.
- Always clean after every use by disassembling it. Dry them because moisture can rust them.
- Clean your mouthpiece with a mouthpiece brush and a little gentle liquid soap at least once a week.
- Special care should be taken to grease all the valves with a special instrument grease before reassembling the parts.
- Always wash your hands before playing.
Daily Maintenance Tips for Musical Instruments
Daily care routines for beginner and professional musicians help motivate them to play regularly.
- Always clean the instrument after every use with soft cotton cloth or dry swap to remove dust, oil and sweat.
- Always store instruments at a safe place when not in use.
- Avoid leaving the instrument in a hot or humid environment.
- Always ensure play and handling properly.
- Always respect your instruments.
Long Term Maintenance Tips for Musical Instruments
Instrument care and maintenance for long term help to stay in good condition.
- If the instrument needs repair, take your instrument to a trained instrument repair technician. Never attempt repair at home.
- Always read the user guide along with the instrument if you use it for the first time.
- Control humidity in the winter or in dry climates to avoid cracking the wood of the instrument.
- Always use the right product for cleaning purposes.
- Always inspect instruments professionally and periodically to catch potential issues early.
- Consider insuring your instrument against theft or damages.
- Use high-quality travel cases if you travel often.
- Replace your strings gradually.
Best Ways to Store Musical Instruments
Best way to store musical instruments is also part of care and maintenance of musical instruments. Storing the musical instrument also protects the instrument from being damaged. Many of the musical instruments are stored in a climate-controlled environment. Just as every instrument sounds different, the storage ways of these instruments are also different.
- Some of the string instruments like guitar, violin, etc are either stored in proper sturdy cases or in the stand or kept hanging in the walls.
- For storing brass musical instruments, disassemble them, remove the mouthpiece and let them clean and dry before storing to help prevent rust.
- Some big sized instruments like piano, are stored in a climate-controlled environment and cover them with specially designed piano cover or soft, breathable fabric that won’t capture moisture.
- While storing electrical musical instruments like keyboard, electronic drum, etc please make sure first that to plug power supply, to avoid possible electrical damage.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
While doing proper care and maintenance of musical instruments, here are some common mistakes to avoid to save a lot of time, effort, and money.
- One of the common mistakes is neglecting the cleaning of instruments after use. Always make sure to clean the instrument after every use by using clean soft cotton cloth.
- Storing in the wrong environment like direct sunlight, extreme temperature and humidity. If we store the musical instruments in the wrong environment, it causes the instrument to crack, damage. This makes our maintenance cost high. To avoid this mistake, always make sure to keep in a climate-controlled environment.
- Play with dirty hands especially brass and string instruments. Always make sure to clean your hand before playing instruments to avoid damage and sound quality.
- Avoid using high quality hard cases for storing expensive musical instruments like cello, guitar, trumpet, etc. This can damage our instrument and increase our maintenance cost. So, always store in a safe place and while travelling make sure to use high quality hard cases.
- Using harsh chemicals and rough cloth for cleaning. This makes our musical instruments worn out, scratched and damaged. So always check what types of products are useful for cleaning products.
- Pay little attention to maintenance of musical instruments. Some musical instruments, especially wind and brass instruments need periodic professional maintenance.
- Not replacing the break or damaging part of musical instruments. This affects both sound and longevity of musical instruments as well as repair cost. So, always change or replace them gradually.
- While adjusting the tuner, strings are over-tightening or over-stretching. This led to the breakage and damage of musical instruments. So, always be careful not to over-tightened them.
Conclusion
Musical instrument care and maintenance is an integral part of every musician for preserving their quality, sound, and longevity. Musical instrument cleaning and upkeep help to protect instruments from possible damage and have low maintenance cost.
By playing musical instruments both musician and listener feel cultural experiences, fun as well as relaxing.
By taking these maintenance and care for musical instrument tips, musicians can focus on their craft and know their instrument will be ready to produce top notch rich melodies.