Pouring Oil on Troubled Trumpets

I get many phone calls asking for help because “I oiled my valves and now my horn won’t play.” The best way to avoid this is to oil valves using this simple method:

– Press the first valve down. 

– Remove the first valve slide. 

– Put a ‘squirt’ of oil in eac tube. 

– Press the first valve down. 

– Re-insert the slide. 

The oil will travel through the connecting ports to valves two and three. If you do this each day before you play, your valves will never stick and the valves will always be in the correct slot!

Jim Manzo
Retired MS Band Director
Retired US Army Band Director
Current Private Instructor, Beorne, TX