Earth Day. Aprill 22, 2020. April 22 2020

APRIL 22, 2020
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY
Earth Day. An interesting day during this COVID-19 quarantine.  Think of it, though. Haven’t you noticed how clean the air is, how delicious the breeze smells, the quiet, the numerous calls of birds? In a very curious way, our lockdown is benefiting the earth, and let us celebrate that!
COVID-19 is also an opportunity to slow down and consider how effective we were when we could just jump in a car and go wherever we wanted.  Did we savor moments, friendships, practice time?  Did we have time to simply sit and think creatively?
Well we sure do have that time now!
At Flute Pro Shop we are using the time to reconsider products, services, and protocols.
We have been a fan of E-Cloth for at least a year.  I use the product around the house almost exclusively.  One day, after ordering for my own personal use, yet another call came in regarding cleaning and sanitizing the flute in a safe way.
It was an “ah-ha” moment.  Putting both the product and the need together was right there.
You see, E-Cloth is densely woven so that you can eliminate 99.9% of all bacteria and viruses from surfaces using only water! How perfect for musical instruments!  We began using E-cloth glass cloths at flute events. They cleaned the flutes immediately into a bright shine. This is especially good news for wooden piccolos and headjoints, for which alcohol is damaging.
Cleaning other surfaces, that we do not ordinarily think of, became quickly necessary with COVID. The E-Cloth general-purpose cloth can safely clean the outside of your case and case cover.  The E Cloth glass cleaner and polishing cloth is perfect for the outside of your flute.  A little spritz of water on the cloth and you can whisk away any germs that might linger.
That brings us to the next product we have fallen in love with. The Spit Sponge.  The Spit Sponge is dual purpose: the top side of the pad dryer is ultra-absorbent and is for the pads themselves.  The other side of the dryer-and this is super exciting-cleans the tone hole!  For all of us multi-tasking fans, this is a dream come true.
It dawned on us that conscientious flutists would want all these items in one easy to manage place that is portable.  An instrument cleaning kit was born!  The contents are: E-Cloth glass cleaner and general-purpose cloth, hand sanitizer (proceeds benefit Veteran Dogs) Spit Sponge (2 in a pack), 2-oz spray bottle for water, alcohol prep pads, just because, all in a convenient kit.  You can find all of these items either singly or in the flute cleaning kit pictured below at www.fluteproshop.com where 10% of all online purchases will go directly to the Red Cross for the Covid-19 Medical relief program.
From all of us to all of you, stay safe, stay clean, stay well and keep practicing!