TakeLessons Explores Cold-Weather Instrument Care for Musicians

Online, December 6, 2011 (Newswire.com) - With the holiday season well underway, many music stars - from the Killers to Glee to Michael Buble - are getting into the spirit by releasing holiday albums for your listening pleasure. But when the weather outside is this frightful, it's essential for musicians to take special care of their instruments.

TakeLessons (http://takelessons.com), the nation's fastest growing music lessons provider, took the opportunity to share a few tips for winter instrument care on their blog.

The following is an excerpt from the blog post:

"For flutes:
You are one of the lucky ones! The cold does not affect the flute as much as it does many other instruments. Your most important job is to blow warm air into your instrument to warm it up before you play, mostly to help intonation. Also, make sure to clean out your instrument when you finish playing. If moisture remains inside your instrument, it could freeze and create frost on your pads and keys, which will cause pads to stick and could cause permanent (and expensive!) damage to pads, springs, and screws.

For clarinets:
In very cold weather, corks can freeze and it will be very difficult to put your clarinet together. Never force your clarinet together, as the corks will tear and then your instrument will not be playable. Use cork grease and then put your instrument together. Also, be sure to clean out your instrument when you're done. Similar to the flute, if moisture remains inside your instrument, it could freeze and create frost on your pads and keys, and could cause permanent damage. If your clarinet is wooden, you must warm it up to about body temperature before you blow warm air into it. The wood can crack, and this cannot be repaired. Repairmen like to "joke" that once wooden clarinets, oboe, or piccolos crack, they essentially become firewood."

By sharing the news with blog readers, TakeLessons hopes to continue engaging current students and help with any musical goals they may have. Readers are invited to share their thoughts by commenting on the TakeLessons blog, where readers can also learn the everyday benefits of listening to music, and comments are also welcomed on Facebook (http://facebook.com/takelessons).