I have a quick question about how to stop (or at least deal with) condensation on a piccolo mouthpiece when playing outside in cold weather. This gets very annoying! Any suggestions?

Take along a cottn cloth to keep wiping it down. If all else fails, paint it.

In the band-aid section of most grocery/drug stores you will find cloth tape that you can place on the area where your lip sits for provide a firm surface. Hope that helps you out somewhat.

Great idea, Piko! I am off to buy band-aids! They would help, too, next time I fall down the bleachers...Klutzy me! Any other ideas?

I may suggest low adhesive painters tape. It leaves no sticky residue. Bandaids are very sticky are may probably leave sticky stuff. Painters tape is easily rip-able and can be shaped better I would think.
Choose which you like best.

last year was the first year i`d had my piccolo and with competitons.. it was out in the cold. the headjoint got like smaller.. and fit very loose, well once i took it to be fixed they told me it was because of the cold weather.. is there anything i can do to prevent this? has anyone else had this problem? with the cold competitions coming up i would really like to avoid that problem this year! thanks!

Even if Band-Aids leave a sticky residue it is not the end of the world. It will wipe right off with some rubbing alcohol. So it really isn`t a big deal.

It won`t be condensation. Condensation occurs on the COLDEST surfaces of an environment. This is a warm surface.

My guess is that it is saliva. In which case, stop allowing it ot get there. I used to have this problem. Don`t now. I collect the saliva in an appropriate part of my mouth (behind the lower teeth) and swallow it when I can.

Sorry, but I have to strongly disagree. It is condensation.

Warm moist air being exhaled from a persons breath is coming into contact with a cool metallic object, thus forming the moisture droplets on the surface of the piccolo.

Ex. Blowing your breath on a cold window on a winter morning will cause the window to fog up.

"It won`t be condensation. Condensation occurs on the COLDEST surfaces of an environment. This is a warm surface."

The piccolo would be a relatively cold surface compared to the human body.

The piccolo acts like a heat sink and tends to emulate the ambient temperature, especially a silver piccolo.

Actually i must have read thread wrong.

You probably do not want to use tape or bandaids, it will just let condensation gather more, the tape or band aid will act like a sponge.

I originally thought maybe it was so cold it was a bother to play, like reed players use plastic reeds and brass players have plastic mouthpieces for cold weather.

You are quite correct, kara.

I was thinking of condensation from the atmosphere, not from the player`s breath. I was thinking of condensation getting on the area where the lip goes.

Of course the flute is cold relative to the breath, and the breath contains close to 100% humidity. So where the BREATH contacts the flute, there will be condensation.

I`m sure the player could keep that from getting on the lip plate where the chin goes.

Anbd yes, if condensation (or saliva) is getting to the chin area, then a plaster is likely to turn to a soggy moisture retainer.

Yes, it is very cold where I live. Minnesota is freezing nearly year round and I know that it IS condensation and not spit...I`m not a drooler! It`s just that it gets so cold that I have exhasted my resources to prevent this...I tried the band aid trick at my last fieldshow practice and it worked to prevent my lip from slipping on the metal, but the condensation was still there...There is an annoying humming noise, too, if there is too much water on the metal.
Hum...maybe this is just one of those suck it up and live with it things...thanks for the suggestions!

I don`t know how much it would help, since I`ve never lived in a near- freezing environment, but you may some some luck if, before you play, you close all the holes (eg finger a low C) and just breathe warm air through the instrument for a while to warm it up. Then just before you play, you can wipe the mouthpiece on your sleeve or what have you, and then play.

Mouthpiece is dry, and because the instrument has been warmed up, its temperature is much closer to your breath while you`re playing, so condensation won`t form quite so quickly. (It all depends on how long it takes the flute to cool down though, which is probably pretty quick when the ambient temperature is near freezing.)

Between songs, finger the C and blow through it again to keep it warm until the next song.