Texas School Music Project
Trumpets should be cleaned at least a few times a year. A cleaning kit at most music stores is about $7-$9, and includes a snake, a polishing cloth, a mouthpiece brush, a valve brush, slide grease and sometimes valve oil. When you're sure that your instrument is dry, put a little Vaseline onto the exposed slide metal that is on your trumpet.
Getting everything together beforehand saves time, because you won't find yourself having to interrupt the cleaning process to search for an item. 8. Now, take the slides and bottom valve caps out of the tub one at a time to clean them out. Just use a clean dry cloth to keep the outside of the instrument clean.
Finally, remove the first, second, third and tuning slides and place them in order to the side of the valves. The slides on your instrument should move easily. Gently dry your trumpet and set it on the towel with your slides. The choice is yours what you want to do. Sometimes its just easier to grease every slide the same way.
Apply petroleum jelly to all exterior sliding surfaces, both on the horn and on the slides (Petroleum jelly is an ideal lubricant for slides because it doesn't leave residue, protects metal, and has a consistency that doesn't allow slides to slip, however if you desire minimal friction on trigger slides, use valve oil instead.). Replace the slides in the horn and wipe away any excess lubricant.
Put the slides (not valves) in the water along with the trumpet. Gently press the valves up and down once they are reinserted to make sure they are properly oiled. Keep any part you are not cleaning on the towel at all times. Put them next to your valves in one corner of the towel.
Never use polish for a brass or silver trumpet on one with a lacquer finish as the polish may remove the finish. Apply several drops of oil to the base of each valve, and place the valves back inside their proper casings on the body of the trumpet. Blow out any water hanging up in the tubing, and lay the instrument out to dry overnight.
We'll discuss the details of how to clean your horn and specifically how to clean a trumpet mouthpiece and valves below. My trumpet drying off on an old towel. Run the mouthpiece cleaning brush through a couple of times. Place the horn and all the parts in the hot soapy water.
I also run a snake (long rope type thing with a brush at the end) through everything (slides, valves, etc) to get all the dirt and gunk out. Your slides will look brand new with enough elbow grease and Brasso. If you have trouble with your valves and slides its not due to a lack of cleaning or even the lack of lubrication.
Greasing the slides: Lubricate the main tuning slide with slide grease. Oil valves as per instructions, grease the slides (which are only used for tuning, so if your 7 year old is just blasting a few notes, they shouldn't be using them too much). The water key or "spit valve" as its more commenly known is used to empty out condensation from your breath that builds up over time in your trumpet.
It will contain slide grease to lube up all the tube bits you remove, and a "snake-brush" which is basically like a bit of pipe-cleaner on the end of a long vinyl-covered cable. Remove and rinse with cold water. The bottom parts may be cleaned with warm water and a bit of dish soap, but make sure that you get rid of the excess soap when you're done and also oil them.
