LFP 067 | How to Save Your Silver Flute

Welcome to the Learn Flute Podcast, I’m Rebecca Fuller- your host and expert of all things related to learning how to play the flute. This is episode number sixty seven. Let’s get started!

Hi again, it’s that time where you and I meet here on this audio episode that is designed with you, the flute student, in mind. Now, it doesn’t matter what age you are and at what stage of the game you may be in. Everyone likes to learn a little more about their favorite hobby, and today- it’s all about learning how to play the flute even better than you did yesterday.

And today, we’re going to be discussing something that will save the pretty color of your flute. Remember when it was brand new? Well, even if you don’t go back that far, today I’m going to tell you how to save your silver flute.

In the Learn Flute Online dot com programs I take you through so many ins and outs on all sorts of subjects, and I feel like I’ve actually begun to scratch the surface of what there is to really learn. In the Gold Level lesson series there are about four hundred different videos all set in sequential order which then launch you into the Intermediate and Advanced levels which take you up over a thousand videos. This doesn’t even include the audios, pdf sheet music, mp3 accompaniments, and the articles I have available for you.

I also do an in-studio Member’s Only training, it’s like a master class, each month that is just full of juicy tid-bits that can really help with motivation and mindset so you can take it up even another notch as a self-learner.

There are mini-courses that i launch at different times of the year that are fun and subject specific – for example I have a Hymns course where I teach all of the styles and techniques that are needed to play in a smooth Hymn style appropriate for any Christian worship service around the globe. I have a super fun Irish Flute and Whistle course as well as a super Beginning Jazz course. There’s even more!

I could go on and on with all of the benefits you awesome students receive by being a member here at Learn Flute Online, you have access to join all of these different programs. And I hope you are ready for even more great knowledge because I have even more coming at you.

Recently I was doing a live video training on Facebook where there were about thirty five students on watching. I opened the video by showing them that it was time to change my silver saver paper in my flute case. And I asked them if they had recently changed their silver saver paper as well…. And I got…. Crickets.

No one even commented.

I waited a few seconds (it was dead silent), and then asked about it again.  Finally, one brave student posted in the comment box something like, “excuse me, but what is a silver saver paper?”  And I though,… oh whoa. I apparently have assumed that you all have been able to participate and see every single piece of content I have out there.. And I guess I assumed you had remembered it all. Haha- well, my bad! Let’s review some important details- like how to keep your flute shiny and new looking as long as possible!

Now, I’m not sure if you received your flute as a brand new specimen, because it’s totally possible that you have a borrowed or used flute, and that’s okay- but I want you to imagine if possible what the shiniest, smoothest silver flute looks like. And if you can’t, I’ll help you today. They’re about the prettiest thing ever. I mean, they just gleam and sparkle. Not a single finger print or scratch on them. There’s nothing quite like it.

Well, what happens over time is that the oils in our fingers combine with the silver and it slowly starts to dull. Also, air- oxygen does a number on the quality the silver plating on the instrument also. Especially, if you have a little habit of leaving your flute ‘out’ for longer periods of time than you are actually playing it for. Also if you don’t clean your flute well, and wipe it all off before putting it away.

I know some flute players just like to look at their flutes, and feel that by leaving them out, they’ll get practiced more often. Well… there’s a big, huge problem with this- and that’s that silver tarnishes. And it tarnishes waaaay faster than we expect it to.

Tarnish is kind of a peachy brown color and usually starts inside and under the mechanism on a flute.

In fact, you should look at your flute right now. Take a very close view of the silver underneath all of those rods and springs at the backs of the keys. Is it shiny and new looking under there? Or, is it kinda turning brownish?

That’s tarnish. And, it spreads. I call it tarnish-creep because it seems to grow once it is started… it just creeps all over the instrument. And, it’s very hard to get rid of. Think of it as a fungus.

Perhaps some of you scientists can explain it better, but I know that once it’s there- it is hard to control. Kind of like a plant I have here called creeping jenny or like a buttercup. It just goes all over the place and no matter how much I cut and pull it out of my flower garden, it just comes back.

Well, I think you get the picture that tarnish is a very undesired thing to have growing on your flute. Well, no worries because, tada I have a fix for you!

I have talked about this before, but as I said earlier in this audio, it’s impossible for everyone to have kept up with every single detail and tutorial I have given here online- and if you have, then congratulations and consider this a good review.

It’s time to either add or change your silver saver paper in your flute case. Do you already have one? It’s a usually dark grey paper. I’ve also seen white, silky shiny plasticky ones. It just depends if it came from a manufacturer when you purchased your flute, or if it’s something you purchased after. The dark grey ones say something like ‘silver saver’ or 3M on it. It’s made of something fancy. From what I gather, it’s a chemically treated paper that absorbs hydrogen sulfide and other gases before they can react with the metal of your flute and cause the  tarnish.

And, they wear out. We have to rotate them. Every few months we need to throw away the old one and get a brand new one in there. Just lay it on top of your flute and close the case. It’ll help so much to keep your instrument shiny and new!

If you haven’t tried it already, you should. Try it now!

Interesting subject, eh? I should mention that I’ll put a link on the Learn Flute Online web page. That would be forward slash zero six seven for this episode. And you can get to the link to get to the amazon store so you can get yourself a little packet of these inexpensive papers for your flute. Your flute will thank you!

And, I thank you for being here today. It’s always a great day at Learn Flute Online. I’m so proud of you and wish you the best of luck this week!

This is episode number sixty seven, and I hope I’ll be seeing you in a lesson very very soon!

This is Rebecca Fuller over and out!