For me id say after every lesson, give it a quick dust and wipe the strings down! i give it a real through clean before an exam!!

i need to clean my flute and clarinet everytime after practise and playing though

Our cleaner does the piano every Tuesday.

They look like string-orientated options in the poll - but I really don't want to think of what would happen if I didn't clean my clari (or flute or sax for that matter) out after each playing session......

The clav needs dusting, and I don't recall ever actually cleaning my voice.

But the recorders and the fiddle go back into their cases clean after each use.

My piano keys need cleaning every day almost! Lots of not too well washed little fingered pupils. My recorders are dried after every playing session, and oiled regularly. I eat peppermints and use mouthwash so I suppose that might count as a Kim and Aggie moment for the voice.

When I first started lessons, my teacher told me that some people never removed the reed from the mouthpiece... I found it hard to believe until I sat next to somebody in an ensemble who hadn't removed it for months and it was welded to the mouthpiece. It was DISGUSTING So was he ....

Having the same reed for months in any case isn't a stunningly brilliant idea, let alone having this same reed fused to the mouthpiece ad infinitum......

... but my favourite reeds are like old friends, I can't just discard them without a second thought

But I do keep them clean and tidy

Know what you mean. In the fickle world of clari reeds, it's very easy to become attached to certain reeds. One day though, the reed will 'go'. However hard it is to part with it, it's then time to get rid of the reed. It's a good thing to have a few reeds available to you, so that when one good reed 'goes', you can then start to break in a new reed while still having some good reeds to play on.

This post is miles off topic, apologies everyone......

I spend waaaaaay too much time cleaning my flute. I've got through 6 cleaning cloths since February!! And it's always the shiniest one at band. My Piccolo is the same - niether ever get put away without being cleaned. I think my excessive cleaning might be something to do with having OCD though.

My violin is kept pretty clean nowadays, it didnt used to be though.

I clean my piano keys daily before I play.
I don't clean the rest of the piano until I see dust.

Do you mean cleaning it, like pulling a pull-through through it, or polishing it cleaning it? I run my pull through through after every time I play it, and polish it every couple of weeks, because it gets played to much that it gets covered in finger prints, and then loses its shine. I get depressed if it's not shiny, well not depressed, but I'm far happier when it's shiny!

As far as I was concerned PD, I was thinking primarily of cleaning the inside of my clari with a pull-through (which I do after every playing session).

Certainly pull a cleaner through my clarinet after I finish playing it, unless I'm really in a hurry in which case I do it later. Otherwise it wouldn't be nice to play at all....

I know someone who plays the clarinet, and because they have a plastic clarinet they thing that they don't have to clean it. The last time he cleaned his clarinet was 2 months ago. It stinks! No wonder he never practises!

The smell that occurs if you don't clean your clarinet out is one very good reason why you should clean out your clarinet after every playing session without fail.

I know all too well, as I have a similar friend with whom I normally share a stand! He does practice though.

I clean the rosin off my strings after every session and use another cloth to wipe the rest of the violin because a cloth with rosin cannot be used to wipe the violin. I'd scrape off the varnish pretty quickly.

I give my violin a clean every time I play it, and sometimes half way through a longer practice/rehearsal if the strings are old and sounding particularly dead due to a build up of rosin...

Probably about once every 4 months - take off the handgrip, clean, rethread and put back on, polish whole Horn with the cloth. I need to get into using the pull-through properly as well (need to sort out some fabric to go on it). I oil/grease it up about every two weeks as well, but emptying the moisture out of it is a different issue - almost every half-hour I play

I may dust my piano before playing , but the REAL cleaning is often every week.

Yes, I'm the same and I also wipe the strings with a little ethanol twice a week to get rid of the really caked in rosin.

Keywork on woodwind instruments have yukky sweaty fingermarks wiped off after every use.

Sounds like my music teacher's instruments. I'm not sure what state the clarinet is in, but the flute is not pleasant!! Apparently it needs a service but i think a clean might be a start. I gave it a bit of a clean up the other night at band after she tried to put it together and there was rather a large grinding sound coming from the footjoint (hadn't been cleaned in about 10 years), and by the time i had finished my cleaning cloth was black!! It was disgusting!!

I just hate it when that happens...

I clean my oboe after I've played it... well I have dryers to put in it so I use those, and I obsesivly clean my keys and thumb plate (I hate the way they feel when they're not clean).
I will admit that I don't really clean my cello... well I wipe of excess rosin but I'm not really sure what else I should be doing to be honest o.o .

I have never cleaned my piano keys but it gets dusted. On one occasion, Petrat, when I arrived at my teacher's house eating chocolate, he asked me to wash my hands.

I clean my piano when the keys get dirty. Not very often - several months lapse between cleanings.

Clarinet once a month, Sax and Trombone before I play them and after I play them. Flute, I do it about once a week. And piano...well ... my mum does that one

I do not want to see your clarinet!

The recorders get dried carefully after use- that doesn't take long, even if I've been playing three sizes. I then leave them in the open case over night to dry fully. Oiling I do only if the bore feels as if it needs it - I like my whistles to feel softly smooth but not really oily, and if they feel a bit dry, I know it's time to get out the oiling kit. That takes several minutes per whistle - have to be careful not to get any into the windways, then leave the recorder out to dry, and the worst bit is not playing for a day or so - which in practice means not for two days, because you shouldn't oil a recorder which has just been played. It's very hard to stop playing the best recorder and go to the reserve one!

Yeah...I see dust!

Piano - Meh, don't do it
Violin - at least once a week. usualy 3 times.
oboe - put cleaner most of the time. don't do anything to the keys though

Why ever not ? It is a spiffing instrument

Well I play it once a week so it doesn't get too dirty

That sounds very much like one of the clarinet players in my school's orchestra. I don't think he has ever cleaned his instrument! On Monday he removed his reed and it was completly filthy underneath and the reed took a lot of pursuading to come free of the mouth piece to say the least; just the thought of the state of it makes me feel sick!

At least you HAVE to take oboe reeds out after you play...

I always clean my clarinet and put it away after a normal session. But like today, when I'm not planning to go out much (snow, slush, sleet, rain, cold, pretty grim really), I have the urge to just dip in and out of my clarinet in amongst the housework, rather than settle down for a concentrated session. What do other people do about cleaning your clarinet if you're just dipping in and out during the day?

I should clean my piano today. I hate the process...

Are you supposed to clean them though? I don't like the idea of what might be flourishing between the blades.

The tales of adhesive clarinet reeds are going to give me nightmares!

The routine after each playing of my clarinet is:

1. Remove mouthpiece, take off reed, wipe reed and put back in holder. Clean mouthpiece inside and out.

2. Run pull-through through clarinet several times.

3. Take sections of clarinet apart, wiping each one down with a soft cloth before putting it back in the case.

I practice every day, and once a week I add to the above:

4. Brush out keywork and tone holes with a soft brush.

5. Check for and clean any sticky sounding pads.

I wear cotton gloves while cleaning the clarinet.

I also occasionally volunteer to clean my friend Sarah's flute. I enjoy cleaning instruments, and like to see them well looked after. I'd also like to have a go at repairing them - I keep looking for a cheap 'junker' clarinet that I could have a go at.

I would still clean your clarinet out each time after you've played it skylark, and remove the reed, even if you're going to play it again later.

yes noodle.

an occasional polish when I clear the top of my piano.

After every practise I clean my flute, both inside and outside. Some psycological thing tells me that it plays better if you give it a good clean.

I clean our piano every few months - give it a good dust over, and use brasso on the pedals to make them nice and shiny.

I always find the left pedal needs more polishing than the other!

Yes, I find that too. I observed a similar phenomenon the other day with the less frequently used computer keyboard keys - they go grubby the most quickly.

Do you share your computer with any non-pianists? I love new keyboards which respond to the slightest touch; my partner who learnt to touch type on a typewriter really hammers the keys and they rapidly become far less responsive

Going back to the piano pedals; my daughter (who has just started having lessons) currently plays everything she is learning systematically without the pedal, with one pedal, with the other pedal and then with both pedals at the same time to see what effect it has. With a bit of luck the left one won't need quite so much polishing next time

months for the organ.....

I always clean rosin of the strings of my violin and from the stick of the bow after playing and then I use another duster to gently wipe over the body of the instrument and the neck.
I also make sure to wash my hands each time before playing.