Klarinet Archive - Posting 000153.txt from 2000/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] My way or the highway! hehehe
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 05:59:08 -0500

At 01:03 AM 2/3/2000 -0800, Mike Moors wrote:
>The process I use for keeping mouthpieces clean is based on the following
>steps:
>
>1. Take your mouthpiece and rinse it off at the sink in warm water (not hot)
>2. Take some dish washing liquid and put it into the chamber of your
>mouthpiece.
>3. Using a nylon mouthpiece brush you can get rid of all the "gunk" that
>forms in your mouthpiece. You can use the same brush to clean the outside
>of the mouthpiece. You can also use a washcloth to clean calcium and other
>substance from the outside of the mouthpiece. I clean my mouthpiece about
>3 times a week. Is that a phobia???????
>
That's pretty much the process I use to clean someone else's mouthpiece
before I use it (except in the store, where Sanimist or Sterisol is all I
have available).

>If a student won't buy a brush you can use a Q-tip to clean the inside of
>the mouthpiece. On of the worst inventions for mouthpiece care was the
>mouthpiece mouse that is on the market. It's like a "pad saver" shove it
>(fuzzy) insert for the mouthpiece. The kind of cleaner that stays inside
>the body and keeps the instrument moist at all times. The plastic tips
>fall off the mouse and the exposed metal puts deep grooves in the
>mouthpiece. I've observed countless ruined mouthpieces that way. I won't
>let my students use them. I know this isn't a weighty topic but part of my
>job is to teach maintenance of the instrument. I do a better job then I
>used to after being grossed out by what I used to see.
>
The efficacy of "pad savers" can be debated, but since mouthpieces HAVE NO
PADS, there simply is no reason to have a mouthpiece mouse. They must be a
clever way the manufacturer figured out to get rid of short pieces left
over from the manufacturing process! Good luck teaching them maintenance.
They will thank you for it later!

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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