How to clear and care for a clarinet?

The espbillion: cleaning after every practice

The espbilion is a long cloth, with a suede, silk or microfiber with a strap and a small weight at the end. It removes the moisture of the breath, and if it remains inside it damages the slippers and, in the wood, favours the cracks.

1. Take his nozzle with his cane and his clamp before passing his socket.
2. Unclear the clarinet: upper body, lower body and bell. Some have been put through with the armed bodies but parts are safer while you learn.
3. Drop the weight at one end of the piece and pull out the cloth gently till it goes out at the other. Repeat two or three times.
4. Stretch the socket well before every passing: if you come in with a knot or bend, it's jammed.
5. It secates with a cloth the ears and their receivers.

In many clarinet, the tipple of the registration key (the one with the left thumb) stands out a little to the inside of the upper body, and that's where the shackle gets attached. If you get jammed, don't pull more strongly: get him out with patience as far as you have entered. If you don't get out, get his clarinet to his tech and force him can clear that tube.

Nipple and clamp

• After playing, pass a small tipstick for nozzle or a cloth from the inside, entering at the far end and without tipting at the end or board (the flat part where the cane supports).
• Once a week, wash it alone with no clamp with warm water and some soft soap. rinse and let dry.
• Never use hot water: the ebonite, material with many nozzles, depurates and can be deformed and the board ceases to be flat.
• Do not scrape them inside or wear hard brushes: a rayon at the end or table changes the response of the whole clarinet.
• Put his protective cover on as long as you're not playing.
• Do not tighten the clamp screws more effectively: the cane needs to vibrate and the clamp gets worse.

If there are already white deposits or cafes inside the nozzle, ask your tech for advice and do not remove them with metal objects.

Rods: rotation, saving and when to change them

The cane is a very thin sheet of natural cane. It gets wet and dry and deforms every time you play, so your life depends on how you treat it.

1. Fold it before you touch, at your mouth or in a clear water bin, for a minute or less.
2. At the end, remove it from the nozzle and scrape it with a soft seal, from the base to the end.
3. Keep it in a carrier that keeps it on a flat surface and with some ventilation. It's never been released into the case or his pocket.
4. He's broken up three or four rods, using a different one every day. Thus none of them are run out and you always have a spare if one gets broken up.
5. With a new cane, play it a few minutes earlier: it sits better and lasts longer.

Do not share or bite them while you think: teeth damage the tip. Hardness (2, 2 ½, 3...) depends on your level and your nozzle. Teacher will tell you how to get up. We explain it at how to choose your first clarinet.

Rod grease and how to arm without bending keys

The fat of corks

The clarinet's ears have a cork and the cork needs some fat to get them into without forcing them. Apply them as they have to put together, and do not normally have to put them together: a small amount on the cork, spread with his finger and an excess with a cloth, because it attracts some dirt. A new clarinet will require them more often at first. Do not use aselin or cooking oils, and put them into metal parts.

Armed step by step

1. Unite the bell with the lower body with a smooth turn and without tighting the keys.
2. He takes his upper body by pressing his rings with his fingers: so his lever up from his bridge, the key that connects his two bodies.
3. Unite the bodies with care and align both parts of the bridge. If you unites without lifting the lever, it bends: it's one of the most common damage to student clarinet.
4. Put the back and then the nozzle so that the table will be aligned with the thumb hole, from the back.
5. Put the cane and clamp at the end.

The risk of cracks

The cracks usually appear by a thermal shock: a cold clarinet gets hot air from his breath, the inside expands faster than the outside and the wood opens. In Bogotá, a clarinet that spent the night in a car or cold room is at risk if you play it strong as soon as you get it out.

• Warm up his upper and upper body and his hands or his arm before his touch.
• It starts soft with long notes for a few minutes.
• If the wood clarinet's new, play it a little while a day the first few weeks and get up.
• Seal him always inside, with no exception.
• The oil for the inside of the tube isn't common for use: use only if your technical recommends and as you have been told.
• On hot ground, the problem is excessive moisture: swollen shoes and mold in the case. It drinks well and ventilates.

If you see a crack, stop playing that piece and get it to the technician: many are well repaired if they are served in time, but if you continue to play advance to the holes. That's why, in high school gangs or outdoors, many teachers prefer resin claratorias and we count you more at [wind bands in Colombia]](/blog/bandas-de-viento-en-colombia-como-empezar).

Roof shoes, keys and technical review

• If a slippers stick or click, put a slippers cleaner paper between them and the hole, gently close, open and remove the paper with an open key.
• Clean the prints of the keys with a dry cloth. No metal polish: they get into the mechanism.
• Don't light the key axes: that's what the technician does.
• Take the clarinet to review once a year, or earlier if serious notes don't come out, shines for no reason or some key doesn't come back to place.

At times a student believes that his sharp record "doesn't come out" as there's actually a leaking in a slipper. clarinet and if you play saxophone as well, their care looks alike but have their own details: look at them at how to clear a saxophone.

Frequently asked questions