When I had my beginner Armstrong flute as a kid, I left it on my 'peg' in my room in between practices. While I was at school, dad came into my room and was practicing his golf swing in the mirror (mine was the longest mirror in the house). He got the idea to "swing" my flute for reference. He swung it three times and on the third swing, it came apart and the head joint flew through my closet door and made a hole in the door, the body was on the bed and the foot joint was on the ground! Not a great idea to keep your flute in one piece on a music stand/peg after you're finished for the day!
Question: I heard that the flute does not like "cold weather". I love playing outside facing a beautiful landscape surrounded by my sheep audience. What kind of damages do cold or hot temperatures do to our instrument? how many degrees can it stand?
Cold weather affects intonation and the tone of the instrument might go a little shrill. You'd have to blow warm air softly into the instrument often to keep the metal warm.
Generally you don't have to. An annual cleaning by a tech will kill any bacteria in the flute. You can use it on the lip plate though. Just wipe it off thoroughly before playing, because it tastes pretty fucking terrible. Believe me. XD
My cheap £100 flute never once had problems with sticky pads. I bought the Pearl 505 (£600) sticky pads constantly. The only thing that works are the powdered papers from Yamaha or using talc! Cigarette papers, pad cleaning cloths don't do a thing.
So the only two reasons to store the flute away are (1) it might get damaged outside the case and (2) the air outside might cause tarnishing, right? The quality of the sound the flute produces is not affected by being left on its stand? (Because so far I've only played recorders which are made of wood and need different care, that's why I ask.)
great video Tatiana and very helpful! but there's something I didn't understand.. do I need to take my flute to be serviced annually? I didn't know that's even a thing.. Will something bad happen if don't take it to a tech on a yearly basis, or at all? BTW I came up with the neat idea of cleaning the pads with a baking paper (cut a small square out of it. just 1 paper may last you a few years lol), for us non-smokers there's no need to buy something that's already in the house..
I don't know how the baking paper is in your part of the world, but my baking paper doesn't absorb moisture much, in contrary to cigarette paper. So for me using baking paper wouldn't make sense, since its main purpose is to dry the pads, isn't it?
@@mquietsch6736 I don't know how its called in English, it's a white parchment paper which is actually made of the same exact materials and width as a cigarette paper. When I told my idea to other people who play flute they were like "oh wow 200 IQ" so if it works for me and for others, no reason why it shouldn't work for u.
also the main purpose is to remove dirt and grime from under the keys that gets there if u play after u eat and don't brush your teeth and wait in fact I never play after not having brushing my teeth + 10 minute wait. Because the sugar etc. from your mouth after food is a main cause for sticky keys it gets under there and sticks them.
Interesting! I should see if I can find some backing paper that works. A lot of our paper has a type of wax on it but I think if you can find with out it could work. Will try 😄👌
@@YotamPiano Width the same as cigarette paper? Then it can't be the baking paper I'm thinking of. I mean, ours comes on rolls in widths of about 30 cms and it's used to prevent the dough from sticking to the baking sheet. This must be a completely different product...
@@TheFlutePractice mmmm silverrr , the video showed some things I didn't quite know but the moisture definitely my main focus on removal, flute players seem to have nice big lips without botox
Thank you so much! I'm still relatively new to the flute and this was very helpful
So glad to hear it!
When I had my beginner Armstrong flute as a kid, I left it on my 'peg' in my room in between practices. While I was at school, dad came into my room and was practicing his golf swing in the mirror (mine was the longest mirror in the house). He got the idea to "swing" my flute for reference. He swung it three times and on the third swing, it came apart and the head joint flew through my closet door and made a hole in the door, the body was on the bed and the foot joint was on the ground! Not a great idea to keep your flute in one piece on a music stand/peg after you're finished for the day!
That sucks! When I got my first flute too my dad started wiping it with Clorox
I have a flute and sometimes i notice that after i play it i just let it sit there and i don’t even clean it😭
Of course, cleaning is the last thing I do before I pack it in its case and am done for the day.
Question: I heard that the flute does not like "cold weather". I love playing outside facing a beautiful landscape surrounded by my sheep audience. What kind of damages do cold or hot temperatures do to our instrument? how many degrees can it stand?
Cold weather affects intonation and the tone of the instrument might go a little shrill. You'd have to blow warm air softly into the instrument often to keep the metal warm.
@@xxthe_rainxx7445 Thank you very much!
There are resin flutes made for playing outside
Love this! Do you ever clean your flute with denatured alcohol?
This is my question too!
Generally you don't have to. An annual cleaning by a tech will kill any bacteria in the flute. You can use it on the lip plate though. Just wipe it off thoroughly before playing, because it tastes pretty fucking terrible. Believe me. XD
My cheap £100 flute never once had problems with sticky pads. I bought the Pearl 505 (£600) sticky pads constantly. The only thing that works are the powdered papers from Yamaha or using talc! Cigarette papers, pad cleaning cloths don't do a thing.
I bought the yamaha flute and just kept it in the case and its turned out to be black color I don't know what to do
So the only two reasons to store the flute away are (1) it might get damaged outside the case and (2) the air outside might cause tarnishing, right? The quality of the sound the flute produces is not affected by being left on its stand? (Because so far I've only played recorders which are made of wood and need different care, that's why I ask.)
great video Tatiana and very helpful! but there's something I didn't understand.. do I need to take my flute to be serviced annually? I didn't know that's even a thing.. Will something bad happen if don't take it to a tech on a yearly basis, or at all? BTW I came up with the neat idea of cleaning the pads with a baking paper (cut a small square out of it. just 1 paper may last you a few years lol), for us non-smokers there's no need to buy something that's already in the house..
I don't know how the baking paper is in your part of the world, but my baking paper doesn't absorb moisture much, in contrary to cigarette paper. So for me using baking paper wouldn't make sense, since its main purpose is to dry the pads, isn't it?
@@mquietsch6736 I don't know how its called in English, it's a white parchment paper which is actually made of the same exact materials and width as a cigarette paper. When I told my idea to other people who play flute they were like "oh wow 200 IQ" so if it works for me and for others, no reason why it shouldn't work for u.
also the main purpose is to remove dirt and grime from under the keys that gets there if u play after u eat and don't brush your teeth and wait in fact I never play after not having brushing my teeth + 10 minute wait. Because the sugar etc. from your mouth after food is a main cause for sticky keys it gets under there and sticks them.
Interesting! I should see if I can find some backing paper that works. A lot of our paper has a type of wax on it but I think if you can find with out it could work. Will try 😄👌
@@YotamPiano Width the same as cigarette paper? Then it can't be the baking paper I'm thinking of. I mean, ours comes on rolls in widths of about 30 cms and it's used to prevent the dough from sticking to the baking sheet. This must be a completely different product...
Do you use the cigarette paper on all your keys after playing each time or do you just use it occasionally on a specific problematic key?
Only when needed
There are moldy spots growing on my flute after not using it for a while. Does anyone know if it’s possible to remove these?
I would advise, take it in for a good service!
can i lick my flute clean after I use
its a copper alto
I usually do for my lip plate and then wipe it down! It does work the best 🙈
@@TheFlutePractice mmmm silverrr , the video showed some things I didn't quite know but the moisture definitely my main focus on removal, flute players seem to have nice big lips without botox
@@TheFlutePractice i tried licking the silver plate it is less tarnished now, so much for silver polisihing cloths
I have my cat lick my flute clean for me, you just have to use tuna oil occasionally on it. // joking