Old oilers

[Cary Karp <ck@nrm.se>]

Here's a snazzy snippet from an older source which makes reference to 
the oiling of woodwinds. I'll withhold my commentary on it until 
you've all seen it.

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>From Bartolomeo Bismantova's, "Compendio Musicale" (1677),
translated by Bruce Dickey, Petra Leonards and Edward H. Tarr,
in, Baseler Jahrbuch fuer historische Musikpraxis, vol 2, 1978,
p. 160.

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Advice on playing the recorder and the cornett at dry times or in
the summer: It will be necessary to smear the inside of the tube
of the recorder with pure olive oil, sweet almond oil, or Jasmin
oil by means of a feather. This is done to sweeten it and in
order that the high notes speak correctly. It should be oiled
very lightly for in this manner the high notes will adjust
themselves, and you should treat the cornett in like manner, once
or twice a year. Whenever you want to play the cornett, you
should bathe the inside of the tube with fresh water, but only a
little - and one glass will be enough. Humid weather makes the
instrument rise in pitch, and hot dry weather makes it fall. [The
above procedure] is done in hot, dry weather, and you should
follow the same principle with other wind instruments.