So there we were warming up for state finals in marching band on saturday. It started raining. Our director usually lets the woowinds put our instruments inside, of course, but this was state finals! Me being only in hs and without the money to buy another clarinet, am out in the rain, plaing my wooden clarinet. (Guys i hope you don`t come and kill me in the night). So there i was, sadly watching the water trickle into my clarinet. Our uniform hats aren`t eh traditional shako-style, they look like cow boys hats with long feathers. So me being the stupid me, accidentaly look down and all the water on my hat pours onto my horn, and especially into the fragile A and G# keys` pads. It was saddening to see. So luckily then none of my pads had fallen off, so we get onto the field and it stops raining, but starts again when we strike the last note or our show. People say we cracked the clouds. Anyway I get back to the bus in record time to sry off my horn and put it away. (BTW we scored a superior rating and 1`s all across the board, we were in the "best of the state" block at finals. All year our contests we have gotten ones, and we were one of the only ones at states to get ones in all the categories.)

anywho at school today i checked out my instrument, everything was still together. Should i worry about the pads starting to fall out? Should i just go get it repadded? Please give me your advice! Thanks alot and please forgive me for taking my horn out in the rain. (hey, i got first chair in auditions!)
~Shanna

well, congrats on the 1s and 1st chair! That REALLY sux with ur clarient! i would have it checked out by someone... but i dunno, i dont hav a wooden clarinet, only a cheep plastic one since i play bass in concert band... again congrats!

Ummm...who cares about pads? Pads cost like 20 dollars to repair. But that`s not the reason for which you`re so dumb. Why would you put such an emphasis on it being wood if all you were worried about is the pads?! God, you`re dumb!!! (sorry about that) Definately, definately DEFINATELY oil the wood with either bore oil (found at your local music store) or sweet almond oil, which I use, (found at a GMC or health store). In addition, oil the keys with key oil, or they will rust, and your horn will absolutely fall apart. I understand about playing out in the rain for band, (kind of), and congratulations, by the way. but having your pads fall off does not destroy your clarinet. Having the wood crack or the keys rust and fall apart, however, does. Do something about this right away. I mean, your horn may be fine, but I know that`s what would happen to mine, it`s 55 years old.
So...good luck, I hope it`s not too late.
-Jackie

My instrument has gotten wet many times while marching and I wouldn`t worry about it...if you swabbed it out good, dryed the outter portion of the instrument everything should be okay....but then again I never marched with clarinet only saxophone.

Depends on which pads you have. If you have Gortex pads, I would worry. If you have leather pads, I would worry (coz that`d cost more than 20 bucks to replace. But if they`re just felt, then they deserve to fall off because they`re not good anyway.