Maintenance and repair oriented problems of Western wind instrument players and solution proposals

The aim of this thesis is to find out the maintenance and repair oriented problems met by Western Music wind instruments players in Turkey and propose solutions for them. To that end, a research group of ninety players of wind instruments from symphony orchestras, State Opera and Bale Orchestra, military bands affiliated to the Turkish Military Forces, education faculties, conservatory and Kent orchestras were exploited. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview form applied to the research group. The questions in the form were grouped under four headings: (ı) Players' awareness and level of knowledge about instrument maintenance and repair. (ıı) Players' level of knowledge on technical features of their instruments. (ııı) Maintenance and repair oriented problems. (ıv) Problems in the instruments and players caused by irregular maintenance and repair. The data collected has been analyzed using mostly qualitative descriptive method; however quantitative method has been used where necessary. The results show that the research groups' answers have overlapped on highly similar points to great extent. Most of the subjects did not take academic courses on instrument maintenance and repair in the past and gained their knowledge from their music instructors. It is seen that they do not find the current written and visual materials on maintenance and repair adequate. Most of the subjects do not know the names of the parts of their instruments correctly and they have deficient knowledge about the raw material from which the instruments are made. In addition to these, most of the subjects declared that they try to repair the instruments on their own when necessary. They use different materials for the repair and the maintenance routines they follow are different. They admitted that regular maintenance and repair contribute the performance and lack of these leads to technical problems. In case of irregular maintenance, for example, some technical problems occur for the woodwind or brass instruments such as the key position, stucking the instrument pads or pistons/valves/backstage parts. It was observed that the subjects keep their instruments during the moments they do not play in instrument cases and stands mostly. About one third of the subjects admitted that they suffered from instrument originated health problems. In order to solve the problems cited by the subjects some suggestions have been put forward. It is thought that it would be beneficial for students to arrange more academic courses in the educational institutions. Furthermore, opening of new maintenance and repair programs, training new students and specialists in higher education and preparing new written and visual sources in Turkish for wood and brass instruments will contribute to the solutions. In addition, daily, weekly, monthly and annually maintenance schedules to be followed were explained in detail.