Hey so this is going to be really random but is anyone/has anyone been in high school percussion with a marching band and frontline (pit) or even uni marching with a pit? I’ve searched everywhere but there is nobody who has offered their expertise on how to care for a mallet instrument that gets wet (i.e. marimba, xylophone, vibraphone). Anyone have tips? That would reeaaaallyyyy appreciated, as I ran into this problem last marching season during a football game and during camp and I was concerned as to how the paint layer was coming off.
You’re mallets got wet? Like water wet?
No, the mallets were fine, but we’ve had to run the instruments out of the rain on a few occasions.
Oh I see.
I believe you should just grab some dry towels and dab them until they’re dry.
if the tops are wool, or soft mallets (I don’t actually know what they’re made of 
) I suggest being kinda careful with those ones as they may start falling apart.
So are we talking about all the instruments that have gotten wet?
And which ones are we talking about?
The director usually makes sure that the wooden mallet percussion instruments (marimba, xylophone, etc) are the first to get out of the rain, but both of those have gotten wet before and we don’t really know whether or not they’re safely dry afterwards.
Ooooh I see. And your director doesn’t know either?
I think she does, but she has a lot of the other sections to look after and she can’t always be babysitting the mallets, as both wood and metal are things that are waaay too susceptible to water damage. I think my former section leaders knew how to dry them, but they’re graduating this year and so since I’m section leader-ing next year I’d like to know how to take care of them.
Oh that’s very noble of you!
Metal is a lot easier to dry tho. Also, The metal instruments like trumpets, trombones, euphoniums, and baritones are cleaned by putting them in baths. So out of what I know, they should be way easier to dry than wood, as it absorbs water.
Maybe you should ask the person who is the current leader so he/she can teach you so you know for the future. Or ask the director to teach you! I’m sure either of them would love to help you figure it out.
Thank you for the advice 
It got wet??? 
I was in drumline when I went to school, and… That never happened. Sorry ^^’
Is it damaged?
Yeah, I live in the Midwestern United States and it rains a lot in the spring and fall, the latter of which makes up most of our marching season it’s not damaged to the extent where we had to replace anything but I’d still like to know how to take care of everything when it’s wet.
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Oh jeez…
Yeah nah, different for me in Texas. It hardly ever rains ^^ especially when I was in band. We called it icemaggedon since it was so hot and never rained. Lol
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Haha, seems nice, but everything gets so out of tune when it’s consistently hot
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Of course!
Hopefully I wasn’t rambling none sense that didn’t help or didn’t matter.
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Ofc not I need all the tips I can get 
Haha! Goodie!
(I love how I’m trying to help you when the only percussion instrument I play is piano, and I don’t even play piano in a band . Btw, I play Bass Clarinet and Trombone in my band(s))
What instrument do you play? (Drums I’m guessing, but which one/kind?)
All of them lol
Note that I have not implied in any way, shape, or form that my skillz in said “all of them” are proficient
But yeah I try to play all of them, and I’m not the worst one 
Two instruments though lol nice I could never, but mostly because I absolutely despise trying to read bass clef