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Water/spit. Key/valve.
Take any combination of those in order and that is likely what you, dear reader, refer to when I say “water key”. It’s that little device that you operate to dump water out of your horn quickly so that you can reduce or eliminate slide pulls and horn gymnastics.
Water accumulates in your horn because there is a lot of water vapor in your breath. As you play, the water vapor is exhaled into your horn at a fairly rapid rate. The metal of your horn is likely cooler than you are, so the water vapor condenses on the insides of the tubing much as water vapor in the air will condense on the side of a cold drink glass.
The “sweat” drips and gathers, running down to the lowest point and settles there. As it accumulates it begins to block the tubing somewhat and will often get pushed back and forth by the airflow or the sound wave standing in the instrument. Emptying the water becomes necessary.
Some players produce more water in the horn than others. Some players take more time to pull slides or rotate the horn than others. If you have difficulty getting the water out of your horn quickly you may want to install one or more water keys to facilitate the evacuation of the accumulated condensate.
The first question many ask is whether an installed water key will affect the horn’s sound at all. My general reaction is that, no, there will be no adverse affects on your horn either mechanically or acoustically, when properly installed and maintained. Any interruption to the internal dimension of the tubing will be so slight as to render its subsequent acoustic effect unnoticeable to the human ear.
Installation of a water key will involve some drilling through the tubing and soldering. An experience technician will have no trouble making a good job of this.
Water keys are usually installed at the lowest point of the leadpipe, on one of the F horn branches, and on the third Bb slide crook . I have seen them elsewhere, including the third F slide crook, and even on small return branches near the change valves in triple horns.
My next article, Water Keys 102, will explore the types of water keys and their relative merits.
