6 Basic Things About Instrument Care That You Need To Know ASAP
Instrument care is more than just putting the violin away in the case. It is about teaching your child respect for something valuable, something that they love, and something that you are giving them to support them. Teaching instrument care is a way to build a mutual respect and relationship for something that you are working on together. Practicing these small habits will bring you both closer to the instrument itself, which in turn makes for better practicing and love for the craft!
Clean your violin strings, and wipe down the space underneath the strings. Have a microfiber cloth, or a cut up cotton t-shirt square in your case, and wipe off your strings after every practice. If you don’t wipe down your strings, there can be a lot of rosin build up, which can lead to having to change the strings more often (more money for you…), your tone won’t sound as clear, and you could damage the violin varnish. Do not youtube “how to clean strings” or “how to clean violin”…there are some pretty sketchy things on the internet! All you need is a cut up old t-shirt and do this one simple task after you play. Plain and simple. When you really do need a good cleaning, you can take your violin to a professional Luthier (our favorite is Michael Becker Fine Violins), and have him work his magic.
Tighten and loosen your bow for every practice. Get in the habit, today! Take the bow out of the case, tighten it up to the appropriate amount—there should still be a curve in the stick, and the space between the stick and the horse hair right at the middle of the bow should be about the width of the tip of your pinky. When you are done playing, loosen your bow until you see your horse hairs relax and loosen, and then put the bow away to rest. This will help avoid warping the stick, but I have found that it also helps the children to check the tightness of their bow each time they play. If you do not check the tightness of the bow, it can change on its own according to the weather or the humidity, and you can end up playing with a bow that is way too tight and won’t be able to do what your teacher wants (or what you want!).
Take the sponge or shoulder rest off every time you put your violin away. It helps to make sure the bridge is not pushing into the top of the violin case. The bridge is extremely fragile, and with any extra pressure, it could break. Even if you have a small sponge, it makes a difference.
Never place the violin case face down. Again, keeping the violin, and specifically the bridge, safe. There is also a small stick inside the body of the violin called the sound post. If this gets knocked around, it can fall (it is not set by anything except for the pressure of the front and back of the violin…no glue, nothing!) and it will completely change the sound of the violin, and can sometimes be unplayable. If this ever happens, you must take it to a Luthier to fix. Also, make sure the violin is never upside down even while in the case.
Never leave your violin in the car. This is the biggest one for me! Please NEVER leave the violin in the car! The temperature changes as well as the extreme temperatures that we can experience in the winter or summer can be extremely damaging to the violin. There is glue holding the seams of your violin together, and when your violin goes through changes in temperature it can get whats called an “open seam”, which is where those seams open up and you need to get it re-glued (again, by a Luthier,—do not try this at home with Elmers glue). It doesn’t matter if you are running into the grocery store for 10 minutes, or you have to come right from work to the violin lesson, or if you didn’t want to bring it into the restaurant with you while eating out with your family. Besides damaging the instrument, would you want to risk your violin getting stolen? People know how much violins are, and if they see a violin in a car, they might break in and steal it. Its happened many times before, so don’t risk it!
Always wash your hands before touching your instrument! Hand sanitizer is terrible for your instrument—the alcohol from the solution can damage the strings and the varnish. Washing your hands is your best bet! Also, you can’t necessarily “wash” your violin…so always approaching the instrument with clean hands is helpful for keeping away germs, and keeping you healthy!
Take care of your violin as if it were a baby, or something extremely valuable and expensive. Violins are sensitive and fragile, but giving your child the opportunity to learn violin also includes teaching them how to care for nice things. It is important that we teach them responsibility when dealing with a piece of art, and how to treat instruments with respect. Your whole learning experience on the violin will be better because of it!