A friend and former student of mine has revealed a troubling
habit. No, not drugs or Internet porn (at least not that he tells me…) but a
habit equally as potentially destructive:
Cleaning his trombone the wrong way! Oh, no!! Really????
Poor guy.
Cleaning a trombone is not complicated, when following some
simple guidelines regarding respect for the softness of the metal, which is
easily dented and/or scratched; respect for the small screws, which are easily
lost and/or the heads twisted off and respect for the valve structure, workings
and tolerance.
This may seem trivial but there is one aspect to cleaning
the instrument that while seemingly benign, can damage a very delicate part and
greatly impact how it plays. When cleaning the mouthpipe side of the inner
slide, NEVER use a cleaning rod to pull a cloth back toward the mouthpipe.
Doing so can damage the end of the leadpipe (especially older, more fragile
ones) by having the cloth catch on the super-thin end of the pipe. The leadpipe
is most commonly made of brass, which is a very soft alloy to begin with. The
end of the leadpipe is necessarily very thin to make a smooth transition from
the mouthpiece to the nickel inner tube. It is very easily damaged. A snake
with a swatch of cloth over the end, run through in the direction of the air
and pulled out the other end is the safest way to clean this tube. This can be
done on each of the inner tubes. When using the cleaning rod on the outer slide,
make sure you use a cloth so that the rod does not come in contact with the
brass. The cleaning rod must be used with respect because its compositional
material is likely harder than that of the leadipie and outer slides and can
mar the delicate brass, if not used carefully.
If you have a removable leadpipe, take it out and then go
ahead and use the cleaning rod to clean the inner slide tibes. Clean the
leadpipe gently, being careful to not damage the thin end. I’m not kidding,
once it is damaged, it is ruined. Respect.
This discussion then lead to another, about the different
types of leadpipes and how they attach to the handslide.
There are a few different ways leadpipes can be attached to
the trombone:
Hands down, for me, I prefer a soldered leadpipe. Being
soldered, it is more a part of the instrument and I also cannot mess around
with other pipes in hopes of finding something “better.”
Get rid of the variables. Get to the practice room.