How to Maintain and Care for Your Flute: Tips from a San Diego Flute Teacher
Flute care and flute maintenance are the most skipped-over, yet some of the most important aspects of flute playing. Frankly, flutes are expensive, they have tiny moving parts, and they can corrode or get damaged easily, therefore they require tweaking and general care. It’s super important that you take good care of your flute so that it lasts you a long time and gets you where you want to be!
Hey there! My name is Cassie, aka the Tattooed Flute Teacher. I am a San Diego flute teacher that has been playing flute for more than 20 years, teaching hundreds of students just like you to love their flutes, care for their flutes, and hit their goals as musicians. Whether you want to audition for a college music program, play in a band, or play flute to improve your mental health, I’m here to help you do that and with my background in music, mindfulness, and education, I’m confident that I can help anyone find their way as a musician. I teach both online flute lessons AND San Diego flute lessons.
But, before we can get to all of that, it’s important to know why flute maintenance is so crucial. You see, those tiny little springs corrode over time - and with corrosion, we get stickiness. Keys slowly move from their starting position and make it so you have to press harder to get notes to speak. Pads get dirty and tear. So on and so forth. When these things happen, it makes it harder to play! So, by maintaining your flute, it can be as easy to play as possible, giving you the best chance at hitting those goals!
Why Proper Flute Maintenance is Important
Regular maintenance ensures that your flute will last as long as it possibly can. Let’s face it, flutes are not cheap. Buying a new instrument is not an easy decision, especially when it’s a necessity. Maintaining your flute, meaning cleaning it regularly, taking the best care of it, and sending it in for adjustments and cleaning yearly can help your flute stay around for a long time to come.
Caring for your flute also improves your overall sound and performance, ensuring that you’re not being “held back” by your instrument. It’s so important to not have to “death grip” your flute in order to get notes to speak and regular maintenance can help with that.
Neglecting your flute maintenance can lead to leaky pads, ripped pads, corroded rods, sticky keys, and more. It can lead to poor tone, poor intonation, and poor finger technique.
Daily Flute Care Routine
This San Diego flute teacher has some thoughts about daily flute care, as this is the first line of defense against problems arising with your flute.
Wipe your flute out (Headjoint and body) daily with a flute flag or swab. Make sure it’s dried out completely before putting your flute away.
Put your flute away when you aren’t using it, especially if you live in an area of high humidity or high salt (i.e. near the beach - looking at you, fellow San Diegans).
Wipe the outside of your flute down with a microfiber cleaning cloth. Don’t use a silver polishing cloth.
Place your flute on a good flute stand when you take breaks during practice. Don’t set it on your music stand or in your chair. A good, solid flute stand will help make sure your flute stays safe. Find a solid flute stand here.
Use cigarette paper to clean sticky pads. Place the paper between your key and the tone hole and press down several times. This should remove any debris.
Never, ever submerge any part of your flute in water.
Weekly and Monthly Flute Maintenance
Weekly flute maintenance is a little looser - really, you just want to give your flute a good once over to make sure everything is in good working order. Monthly flute care is the same way, but having a solid flute maintenance schedule can be helpful in making sure your flute is in great shape throughout the year.
Give your flute a good once-over weekly, checking for loose screws and springs, but be careful of adjusting things. If you notice anything that’s off, it may be time to take it in to a tech.
Clean your rise (i.e. the piece that connects the lip plate to the body of your Headjoint) with a little bit of ammonia-free glass cleaner on a q-tip. Be sure to wipe it again with water before you decide to play it (obviously glass cleaner isn’t something we want to ingest.
You can use a very gentle silver polish to clean the body and Headjoint of your flute periodically, but avoid the pads. You don’t ever want to get silver polish on a pad.
Professional Flute Servicing
Regular professional service is key to maintaining your flute in good working order and ensuring that your flute will last for years to come. Having a professional flute technician give your flute COA (clean, oil, adjust) once every year or so can help keep your playing moving forward AND can help prevent further issues down the line.
If you aren’t sure where to get service, ask your teachers! They likely have contacts or someone that they typically defer to for service. Some flutes, such as Muramatsu and flutes with Straubinger pads, require a technician that’s certified to work on those instruments, so pay close attention to what your instrument requires and whether or not the technician needs special training to work on it. It’s also worth checking online, but read reviews thoroughly before taking your flute in. Remember, this a good technician can keep issues from arising, where as a bad technician can cause issues down the line. Find someone you trust.
The first sign that it’s time for service is usually your low register. Once your low register starts to weaken and it takes more and more effort to get those notes to squeak out, it’s probably time to take it in. Obviously, if your flute is dropped, take it in immediately to check things out and make sure everything is okay, but really if you have any situations where you feel like you’re having to grip or fight with your flute, it’s probably time for an adjustment and a good cleaning by a professional.
Storing Your Flute
Protecting your flute is the number 1 priority. Again, flutes are expensive and you don’t want to have to replace yours because it was damaged during storage or transit, so here are a few things to keep in mind:
When your flute is not in use, store it securely in its case.
Make sure that your case is right-side up so pressure isn’t on the keys when not in use.
If your flute doesn’t come with a hardshell, good quality case, invest in one. This can help protect your flute from humidity, extreme temperature swings, and jostling around in transit.
Store your flute with a silver tarnish strip inside the case and replace it roughly every 6 months to keep your flute from tarnishing.
You can prevent dust and debris from getting into your flute mechanism by making sure it’s cleaned and properly stored when not in use. If you can avoid keeping it out on the stand for long periods of time, do so.
Additional Tips from a San Diego Flute Teacher
Remember, fellow San Diegans, if you live near the coast, your flute may need service more often, as humidity and corrosion happens in these types of climates. You should plan to have your flute serviced at least every 12 months, but maybe more often if you’re a heavy player. As a San Diego flute teacher and performer, I typically budget and plan to have my flute our for service every 9-12 months.
As a teacher, 90% of the time that I see students struggling to make progress, it’s because their flute needs maintenance. Before you decide you need a new flute altogether (unless it’s truly time for an upgrade), consider getting it cleaned and adjusted to see if things get better.
If you find your flute getting tarnished quicker than others, make sure you give the exterior a good wipe down with a microfiber cloth after every practice or performance, but please don’t use a silver polishing cloth. Silver polishing cloths tend to be too harsh and can dull the appearance of your flute and even remove some of the silver plating over time.
Make sure you give yourself ample time at the end of your practice session in order to clean and store your flute properly before going about your day. That said, if you’re struggling with the balance of practicing your flute vs. keeping it clean, seek advice during your lessons. Your teacher may have a few personalized tips and tricks for you.
Conclusion
To recap, the importance of proper flute care and maintenance can’t be overstated. In order to play well and have your flute last a long time, you should plan a daily, weekly, and yearly cleaning and maintenance routine.
If you are looking for more personalized advice, book a lesson with me here to talk about your routine, your playing, and how you can optimize your flute through cleaning and maintenance.
What questions do you still have about flute maintenance and care? Comment below!
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