Here are the pros and cons of leaving your flute out of its case vs putting it away in its case!

Should you leave your flute out of its case, or not?

Julie, leaving your flute out of its case doesn't affect the sound of your flute - however if you'd like to improve your tone, register for the free mini course here

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Leaving flute on flute stand

Welcome to flute Q and A Number 33. This question comes from Julie and she says, Hi, Jane. I've started leaving my flute on its stand rather than putting it away in its case each time I play. Is this a really bad idea? It means that I play much more often, which is great, but is it bad for my flute?

Flute stayed at home more in recent years

Now I picked this question, Julie, because my flute is in exactly the same situation as yours. Because of COVID in the last couple of years, I have been working at home a lot more and not going into schools to teach. And as a result, my flute went quite black.

Flute tarnished

Look at the head joint, it's like almost black. And can you see here on the mouthpiece - sorry the lip plate, I dunno why I called it the mouthpiece. I've been hanging out with woodwind players. You can see here that it's quite dark and it's shiny where my lip  goes. And then it's black around the edges.

Flute service to remove tarnish

Now to answer your question, Julie, it doesn't affect your flute. My flute’s due for a service. And when I take this to the service guy who is amazing, he will clean up all of that tarnish and it will just come off. So it's not something that I can do by myself, but I get a professional to do it.

Play flute a lot more when left out

Doesn't affect your flute but it does mean that I play a lot more often. So I actually agree with you, Julie. I think it's a good idea to leave your flute out because you just play a lot more often. It's easy to pick up much more enticing to play. So go for it.

Anti-tarnish strip for flute

When you put your, oh, this is something Julie that you probably would like to know, when you put your flute in its case, just make sure that you have, in your case, it's called a silver protector strip or an anti tanish strip.

 So when you have your flute in your case, it's actually protected from tarnish by this strip here. And you can get it from jewelers. If anyone wants to get it, you can go online and look for an anti strip or just go into a jewelry shop and they should be able to sell you one.

Improve flute tone

It means that your flute is protected from tarnish while it's in the flute case, but not while it's out. As you know. Now that answered your question hopefully. If anyone would like to improve their tone on the flute and get it from fluffy, so instead of this and have it more like this. 

Free flute mini course

Learn the very basics of improving your embouchure, not the basics, the fundamentals of improving your embouchure, which gives you a much clearer tone, especially when you practice this for a few days in a row, for a few weeks in a row. And then eventually a few months in a row, I'll teach you exactly what you need to know in this free minicourse www.flute.school/free. Jump over there, register, and I'll see you in the free minicourse. If you'd like to instantly improve your tone, see you later.