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Over the years I have any number of times discovered students who had valves on their instrument that, while not actually sticking, were gummy and slow. Some brass players certainly slog along with slow valves for literally years not realizing just how deeply it is holding back their technique.
One horn player I worked with in particular comes to mind years ago who had been told by a prior teacher (who may have not even have known how to oil rotary valves!) not to over oil their valves. So they never used more than one drop of oil on them! The horn was fairly new, so they did not stick, but were gummy and painfully slow. Seeing the student play was like watching a slow motion video of valves, and to try to actually play on the horn was very frustrating.
The solution is to use valve oil. Lots of it and not too heavy, as in a nice light oil. Pretty much any brand is fine. For my personal use I keep coming back to Hetman (light/thin versions) and Al Cass.
If horn valves are gummy as described the trick is you need to put enough light oil down the slide tubes to cut the old residue and get things moving. There is no danger in using too much valve oil. Some horns may require oil every day, and some older instruments will require oil heavier than standard valve oil on bearings and linkages.
Expanding that thought, higher quality instruments have TIGHT bearing surfaces. Be sure you use oil that is not too thick. Oil marketed as rotor oil tends to be too heavy, I regularly use the thinnest types of valve oil. You really only need the heavy oils if your valves clank like an old sewing machine.
On my recital this semester I used several different horns. Of those a couple had been played very little for some years and required a lot of valve oil as described above to get the valves really going where they needed to be. Don’t be afraid to do what needs done.
In short, insist on fast valve action; don’t put up with slow valves. Even if they don’t stick they are holding you back.
For more on the topic be sure to also check The Mellocast episode 118, just released, on the topic of Oil.
