If you’re a musician or have started playing a musical instrument, there’s one thing that you should always remember – cleaning and taking care of your musical instrument. Even though it is very important to maintain the sound health of your musical instrument, there are many individuals who do buy or take the instrument on rent, play it but do not make any effort in cleaning or taking care of that instrument. Regardless of who owns the musical instrument, if you do not take care of them, you might just lose out more than just money as an investment that was made. Respecting the instrument you play is as critical as learning to play it.
Here is why you should pay extra attention to the health of your instrument and should not shy away from taking the necessary steps when it comes to taking care of it.
Maintains the function
Whether you own a guitar, a drum set, or a piano – when you take care of it, you ensure that the musical instrument you love to play functions properly. Because when you take care of your instrument, you clean out your strings, wipe the dust off from your keys, ensure your drum set is covered when not in use, and also see to it that the bow is kept safe, you ensure that in the long run, your music instrument still functions properly, plays the same note and does not succumb to dust, rust or moisture. It is important to clean and take care of your instrument like you take care of yourself.
Increases durability
When you ensure that it functions properly for years to come, you automatically increase the durability of your music instrument. It is often observed that guitars tend to bend when kept in open for a long time, drums are needed to be tuned if left uncovered and even your violin gets affected badly if not cleaned at regular intervals. Taking care of your instrument religiously would increase its lifespan and you might not have to rush for maintenance or repairs every now and then.
Maintains the quality of sound
How pleasant is a decent sounding music instrument? On the other hand, an out of tune or rusty instrument might just sound like nails being scratched over a blackboard. To ensure that your music instrument produces the right sound and is not unpleasant at all, you need to make sure that you are cleaning, disturbing, tuning, being careful about placement and also, making self-repairs if necessary.
Less expenditure on maintenance and repair
If you are increasing the durability and ensuring that your music instrument lasts longer than usual, you will of course end up spending less money on the maintenance and the repairs. You might not have to rush for rod replacement on your guitar, adjustments for your drum set, repair of your violin, or trumpet. If you have been taking care of your instrument, you will end up saving thousands of rupees in a year, that would otherwise be spent only on repairs.
Inspiration
Last but not the least, it is important to know that taking care of your musical instruments is important not just because you invested in it and that it helps you express, also because it gives you inspiration and fires your passion even more. When you sit down to play it and hear that magnificent sound, you are more poised than ever to play and practice harder. A good instrument will always be your magnet and fire you up to put in more effort whereas coming back to a worn-out instrument, might just set your mood off and you would find just another excuse to walk away from practicing.
What else can you do?
Someone rightly said that for simple tasks, you don’t need a rule book – only need your common sense that separates the right from the wrong. Taking care of your music instruments shouldn’t be taught – you should know that your music instrument is a part of you – it is the best way you can express yourself and your feelings and hence, you need to maintain it to the best of your ability. Remember, you need to respect the instrument, the learning as well as the music itself first before you can finally become a good musician!