As a woodwind player, you might find that sometimes you blow down your instrument and it makes a bubbly sound when a certain key (or multiple keys) is pressed. This can be frustrating, especially when it happens without warning while you’re in the middle of playing. However, there are things you can do to help prevent this, and also things you can do to get rid of it once it’s happened.
The bubbling sound in a woodwind instrument is caused by excess moisture on the instrument’s pads. A quick fix is to find the offending pad and blow air through the hole. Cigarette paper on the pad can also be effective in drying it out. A longer term fix is to replace fishskin pads with cork pads.
When you blow down a woodwind instrument, moisture will collect inside it. This is unavoidable. When there is an excess of moisture, it can start to collect on the instrument’s pads and this manifests with a bubbling sound. It’s due to the pad having soaked up a lot of moisture so that the key is closer to the tone hole, and may come into contact with it on and off, causing the bubbling sound.
You’ll most likely find that the bubbling isn’t there when you first start playing. It’s likely to build up while you’re playing. It’s also likely to be worse in a cold environment, as there will be a bigger build up of condensation, due to the bigger change in temperature between the instrument and the air you’re blowing down it. Storing your instrument in a room temperature environment can help with this.
How can you stop your instrument making a bubbling noise?
Once your instrument starts bubbling, it’s unlikely to just stop on it’s own if you continue to play. However, there are a couple of things you can do to stop it. The first thing to do is to find the key(s) that is creating the bubbling sound. You can do this by playing different and seeing which ones cause the sound and which don’t. The bubbling happens when a key is open, so you’re looking for the last key you opened when the sound started.
An example of this would be if, say, you pressed all of the keys on your left hand and none of the keys on your right hand, had no bubbling sound, then took off your last finger on your left hand and the bubbling sound started. This tells you that the finger you just removed is the one that is pressing the key with the bubble under it. Now that you’ve identified this, you can start to fix the problem.
One quick way to get rid of the air bubble is to blow air into the key that has the bubble. You can just do this directly with your mouth. Try to make it a sharp burst of air, as the more pressure you can create, the more likely the bubble is to burst. You might have to do this a few times, depending on the amount of moisture.
Another option is to use cigarette paper. Once you have identified the problem key, you can put a piece of cigarette paper between the key and the tone hole. Hold the tone hole closed against the cigarette paper briefly, then release it. The cigarette paper should soak up some of the moisture from the pad. You might want to fold the cigarette paper a couple of times to make it thicker and leave it under the key for a while if there is a large amount of moisture and you have a bit of a break from playing.
One of these two ways will likely stop the air bubbles temporarily. However, it’s likely that you will have to do this quite regularly, as you aren’t solving the problem, you’re just learning how to deal with it. If you want to minimise the chances of this happening, you’ll need to think about making some changes.
How can I prevent bubbles building up in my instrument?
It’s unlikely that you will ever be able to completely prevent build up of bubbles in your instrument, but there are a few things you can do to minimise the chances:
- Don’t let your instrument get too cold
- Don’t play for long periods of time without a break
- If you play a reed instrument, use a softer reed
- Consider changing pads on problematic keys to cork pads
I mentioned above how your instrument getting cold can increase the chances of getting air bubbles. The air that you breath into your instrument will be warmer than the instrument itself, and the bigger the change in temperature between the air going in and the body of the instrument, the more condensation will form. Keeping your instrument at room temperature and not letting it get too cold is a good way of minimising the amount of bubbles that form.
Another thing that helps is to take regular breaks. If you keep blowing down your instrument, you’ll keep increasing the amount of moisture inside it. If you play for a while, stop and then restart after a short break, you’re already improving the situation. You should clean the instrument out with a cleaning cloth between sessions, to make sure you allow it to dry out as much as possible.
If you play a reed instrument, you might want to try switching to a softer reed. Hard reeds require more support, and if the reed is a bit too hard for you, you might find that you have to blow harder to compensate. Blowing harder will push more air into the instrument, which can increase the amount of moisture. Even if you think your reed is the right strength for you, give this a try, as it might turn out to give you some improvement.
If you’re really struggling with a particularly problematic key that persistently has air bubbles, it might be time to visit an instrument repairer. It’s possible that there is a problem with the pad and replacing it might help the situation. In some cases, you might even want to consider having a cork pad placed under a problematic key. This is unusual, but can sometimes be the best solution, if replacing the pad with a new fishskin pad isn’t effective.
Summary
To sum up this post, it’s pretty normal to get air bubbles in a woodwind instrument. They’re formed by excess moisture collecting under pads and effectively closing the keys prematurely. There are some quick fixes for this which can be used when it occurs unexpectedly, say in a performance, such a blowing the bubble out or soaking it up with cigarette paper.
There are also preventative steps that can be taken, such as monitoring the temperature of your instrument, regularly drying it with a cleaning cloth and changing your reed. A more drastic solution can involved changing the pad on the offending key. In general, though, this is a problem that affects all woodwind player and you can never assume it won’t happen, even if you’ve taken all of the precautions you can.