How many of us have had band class right after lunch? Or between music classes, needed to get a snack? Or played at a gig where there was some food or drink involved during breaks or between tunes? All of these things happen regularly, and I can attest to how hard it is to find time to eat between groups. I've been at many gigs where I was given hot dogs and beer in between charts, and had to wolf them down because I was playing again in just a few minutes. I will not say that you shouldn't eat, but there are things about eating that you need to keep in mind.
First, you need to understand something about your saliva. Being mildly acidic, the saliva starts the chemical digestion process for your stomach, while aiding the mechanical process when you chew by lubricating the system. This means that your saliva is saturated with whatever
you ate. Solid or liquid, it's all over your mouth, on every surface inside your mouth. Especially since your mouth will increase the amount of saliva when eating. When you start to play, some of that is going to go into your instrument.
Carbs break down into simple sugars, which means your putting sugar deposits on your instrument. Proteins take much longer to break down, but will still deposit on the instrument. This means you're adding to the surface of the pads, making them stick once the saliva dries off. It will also stick to the bore of the woodwinds, and will deposit on the wood or metal surface, even to the point of leaving visible deposits. If it's brass, it's coating your slides and valves, making them sluggish and sticky as well as coating the bore like on woodwinds.
There are some people lucky enough to have what they call their "food horn" or "beer horn," dependent on age and disposition. This is an instrument they keep around just for the situation that they have food or drink and no time to eat but still have to. It's usually a lower quality instrument than their nice horn, and they know it's going to get beat up and worn down from these types of situations. I know many people aren't fortunate enough to have this, but there are still ways to help your instrument from getting all that food in it.
There is a very simple trick for all of this, and your dentist will be happy when I say it. In your instrument case, put a tooth brush in a plastic bag. Even a cheap dollar store tooth brush will do the trick. The trick is to just brush the majority of the surface debris off your teeth. Brush for about 30-60 seconds, get a swig of water, swish it around, and swallow or spit it out. Don't use tooth paste unless it's really bad, and even then follow up with water, not mouth wash. The additives in tooth paste and mouth wash that would be left would then go down your instrument, and they will do just as much as the food for gumming up the instrument. You can floss if you've got the time, but even the simple brushing of your teeth will do wonders for reducing how much food ends up in your bores and such.
People tend, when they play and have nerves, to chew gum while they play. If someone is nervous and their mouth dries out because of this, the gum can help stimulate saliva, for the reasons mentioned above. I have no problem with this, as long as the player stays away from gums with intense flavors or artificial sweeteners. These always include some acids to the mix, like citric acid, and those will deposit like food or drink will.
Also, something to remember for concert time, if you're female, is to not wear lipstick when you play. I know we all want to look professional and presentable, but having to clean the lipstick off the interior of an instrument takes a while, as it's part wax. Even in flutes, I can tell if the person has worn lipstick, as some of it will come off and be blown down the bore of the instrument, let alone what is left as a print on the lip plate.
Bottom line is that it goes in your mouth, it shouldn't go in your instrument. A tooth brush will serve you well to keep the instrument from gunking up when you don't realize it. It'll still need to be cleaned, but at least your instrument won't be as petri dish.
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