Maintenance
maintenance is one of the most essential, yet overlooked, elements of proper playing. this of course applies to any instrument; i however only feel qualified to tell about brass instruments, or at least low brass.
daily care: always re-case your horn when you are done playing it.
trumpet, euph, and trombone players are always shocked when they discover that their precious horn is becoming tarnished, even after a few weeks. the oils in a player's hand are to blame. i recommend using gloves every time you play. this not only keeps the finish but also eliminates those ugly fingerprints. TROMBONES: never ever EVER touch the inner slide barehanded! this part is especially vulnerable to body oils.
another sadly overlooked point: never set your horn on its bell. this scratches the surface, but more importantly, it warps the edge of the bell, and over the long run effects the tone quality in a negative way.
cleaning your horn: whenever you want to clean your horn (about once a month) be sure to set aside a nice chunk of time where you can be with it, and not get easily distracted. i ay this because, when you are leaning over a bathtub with a piece of brass, it is all too easy to dent it. (believe me, i know. oh do i know.)
find a bathtub. this may sound gross, but you might want to consider cleaning your bathtub first. you never know what kind of colonies are growing there.
with lukewarm (NOT HOT!) water and a horn-safe soap (i use ivory), fill your tub. dissemble your horn into as many pieces as it will go. place pieces in tub. let soak.
use a snake (available at local music store) and run through everything. don't be afraid of the green mold that comes out. it's barely recognizable as a life form anyway. :-)
start taking pieces out. rinse them very, very well. not under the faucet though. get a smallish jug to pour water with, and use that instead. on the trombone, be sure to get that cork where the slide rests--- you know, the beginning of first position--- rinsed well. go through mouthpiece with a mouthpice brush. set everything on a towel and let dry for at least two hours undisturbed.
trombone: take inner slide. put just a little slide cream (trombotine is recommended) along the two sides. out one inner slide in an outer slide and move up and down; repeat with other inner slide. get excess gunk off. if the slide feels a little sluggish, mist it with water and do it again, until it slides like melted butter. .... a good investment is a mister. for trombonists who prefer slide oil this is not necessary, but the cool people who use slide cream really need a mister to keep everything in working order.
piston-valve tuba and euph: pretty self explanatory. put some valve oil on. make sure everything is alligned properly.
rotary tuba: put valve oil on at all the joints you can think of. unscrew valve caps and put oil there, too. put oil in at the top of one of the valve slides and, fingering the keys while you do this, work the oil all the way through until it reaches the spit valve.
everyone: take the tuning slides and put just a little slide grease on them. work them in their casings, wiping off excess. NOTE: whenever you put a slide in or pull it out, makes sure that its corresponding valve is depressed. this releases the potentially-dangerous vacuum that is built up inside.
finally, get a nice polishing cloth and some furniture polish (go pledge!) and shine your horn up nice and pretty.