PSA: Valve Oil, the Key to Fast Valve Action

Over the years I have any number of times discovered students who had valves that while not actually sticking were gummy and slow. Some hornists certainly slog along with slow valves for literally years not realizing just how deeply it is holding back their technique.

One 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. Pretty much any brand is fine. If you are uncertain how to oil rotary valves I have a link to a video on the topic in this prior article, and Al Cass is a brand I keep coming back to for personal use.

If the valves are gummy as described you need to put enough 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.

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.

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.