How do I clean a clarinet?

Every time it goes away: drop the swab’s weight through from barrel to bell and pull it through a couple of times. Take the reed off and store it flat in a reed case. Dry the tenons after pulling the joints apart. Cap the mouthpiece, let the swab dry before it goes back in the case.

Now the part that actually keeps clarinets out of our repair queue: grease the corks. Cork is tree bark. It dries out, and a dry cork grips instead of sliding, so the student twists harder, and harder, and that is how tenons crack and keys bend. The single most common clarinet damage we see does not come from playing at all. It comes from assembling and disassembling: grabbing the keywork instead of the body, twisting in alternating directions, forcing a dry joint. A film of cork grease, applied with a fingertip when the corks feel dry, prevents nearly all of it. Use it sparingly, because over-greasing softens cork over time.

Teach your child the assembly grip once (hands on the wooden body, gentle twist, same direction) and you have prevented the most common clarinet repair there is.

The mouthpiece wants lukewarm water and a drop of mild soap, never hot. Hot water warps it. Wipe the keys with a plain polishing cloth and skip metal polish entirely.