With this hot summer weather we are having it’s been according to records the driest summer on record! It was Shakespeare who wrote “If music be the food of love, play on” (from act one, scene one from the “Twelfth Night). Some of us will be finding playing on our instruments hard work if your instrument has been affected by the heat this summer.
I have written before about keeping your instrument safe, guitars, ukulele’s, mandolins all wood instruments which includes Clarinet’s, wooden flutes plus with padded instruments like Saxophones, flutes and clarinets, the pads will dry out. So don’t leave it in
the car (cars in this heat are ovens on wheels!!) Don’t store them in lofts, basements, sheds or the garage, they need to be stored somewhere dry at a constant as possible temperature. If stored in doors, choose a cool room away from constant sunlight; or in winter, nowhere near heaters or radiators.
There are lots of care products on the market to help keep your instrument playable also some good repairers to sort out any problems. Enjoy your music, enjoy what summer we have left, remember if you’re hot, feeling the heat (even if you do enjoy the heat) your instrument will not!