Excess saliva

[jkconzone]

Sorry if the title sounds gross but wanted to just say what my problem is.

I picked the sax back up about 5 months ago after a long, long hiatus. Started with an old Alto I got and worked on getting back some of my skills. Used to play tenor in school and that was my goal.

Things went well so I bought a Kessler Custom Tenor and it arrived last week. I have been blowing the heck out of it and it sounds great and am starting to be able to get a real nice sound out of her. Standard mp that comes with it, Vandooren #2.5 regular. Have some Java reeds coming. Lot more air needed to blow with this puppy than the alto, though.

My problem is that I seem to be creating a lot more saliva now when playing the tenor, and it sometimes comes out the top three holes onto my top fingers sometimes and I have to wipe them off.

Again, I am not trying to be gross but this is bothering me and I would like some guidance so I am saying exactly what is going on. Is my embrochure wrong or am I just a person who has a lot of moisture in their mouth? I also find I get that wet sound out of the reed sometimes and find myself sucking on the mp to get it dry.

Thanks and again sorry if I was indelicate in my description. Didn't know how else to put it.

[EZ]

Spit happens.

I think we all deal with this to varying degrees. Different horns will drip out at different places, too. What I do is keep a silk pull-trough swab handy and if I have to, I'll take the neck off the horn, take the reed off the mouthpiece (not the mpc off the neck, mind you), and give it a once through. I have a larger silk swab for pulling through the body which I might do at a break, too. You can use one of those pad savers, too, to give a quick dry, but don't store it in the body of the horn when wet.

[Mike Ruhl]

Actually, it's condensation - not spit.

[jkconzone]

Spit happen. Pretty good! Will try those ideas.
Thanks!

[jmartin]

Someone needs to print up a Sax player's bumber sticker that says, "Spit Happens!" That's just funny.

[Sigmund451]

Over time you may find that you get less. When your new some of more may be spit than just condensation. I also wonder if your overblowing and thereby not as likely to be able to control the amount of moisture your putting in the horn. Perhaps with a lighter reed you would accumulate less. Also, suck in (quietly) in between passages to keep from soaking the reed and baffle area of the mpc. And last...as mentioned...its just part of playing the horn. Winter is the worst. But hea...depending on where you live when summer comes, you have sticky pads to look forward to :D

[WillieB]

Things went well so I bought a Kessler Custom Tenor and it arrived last week. I have been blowing the heck out of it and it sounds great and am starting to be able to get a real nice sound out of her.

My problem is that I seem to be creating a lot more saliva now when playing the tenor, and it sometimes comes out the top three holes onto my top fingers sometimes and I have to wipe them off.

I got the Kessler Custom Tenor yesterday and am very happy with the sound and the horn in general... but I had the same issue with it as well- or issue with me... anyway. I just got the horn with the brand new MPC. Granted, I haven't created that much "condensation" with my other saxes. Since I've only be playing for the past couple of months after a long layoff as well, I'm not going to be concerned until my chops come back.

jkconzone - let me know how you make out.

[Gordon (NZ)]

Just a few possibilities

1. A tenor has more metal between the mouthpiece and the first tone holes, and a different shape. So more water vapour is condensed, and it may well run down from that hump in the neck, straight down to a tone hole or two,

2. I keep a space behind my lower front teeth, under my tongue, to collect saliva, to be swallowed when the opportunity arises. Perhaps you do that too. A tenor has a larger mouthpiece, so perhaps this means that there is no longer such a space under your tongue, depending on your mouth/tongue size and shape.

3. Perhaps the tenor is newer, or has a different surface finish in the neck. A smooth, polished surface, is most likely to cause condensation to gather in large droplets, which then run down the bore, perhaps into tone holes. A rough, dull (perhaps gunged-up) surface gets the condensed moisture to spread evenly over the surface, and gradually SEEP down the bore, perhaps avoiding tone holes. Dragging through a pull-through or rag with a little detergent on it may have the same effect on the surface.

4. Do you play the tenor at a different angle, such that the condensed moisture runs past tone holes instead of in an area there there are no tone holes?

I agree with prevention - a quick, quiet suck during rests.

[Grumpie]

Same problem here, doesn't happen on alto, only tenor, I was just thinking it is the angle with me. I like the alto to be upright in front of me. The tenor is mostly a bit sideways. But maybe I'm also playing a bit more 'wet' on the tenor.

At least I know that when it stops on the tenor it might be time for a beer.:)

[progmr]

A little late to the discussion but I'll add my 2cents. I'm a starting over player coming back from a 17 year break and man my spit was unreal. Private instructor said he had the same problem but resolved by switching to Lavoz reeds (I was using Vandoren). It worked like a charm. No more spit! At about 2 bucks a reed might be worth it.

[sciomako]

2. I keep a space behind my lower front teeth, under my tongue, to collect saliva, to be swallowed when the opportunity arises. Perhaps you do that too. A tenor has a larger mouthpiece, so perhaps this means that there is no longer such a space under your tongue, depending on your mouth/tongue size and shape.

Hi Gordon,

This is good to know this is a common practice.

As a beginner on alto, I found I would get a lot of saliva collected under the tongue very quickly. This is particularly problematic when I practiced tonguing. My tongue would drag the saliva out and spit into the mpc. Very awful sound. I didn't know how to deal with it.

NOw i know it's nothing wrong accumulating saliva in the mouth. I just need to learn to "strategically" manage it and its disposal. :D
--
John

[martysax]

Ever try swapping spit?

It's the true way to have sax with a close friend.;)

You should be happy to have excess, some don't have enough. On some gigs, especially with a lot of flute doubling, my mouth gets wicked dry when not enough libation is available.

[francoisM]

I've been playing alto,tenor and soprano all my life (born in 42):cry: and I did have this problem for time to time. but most recently I had to have a back tooth pulled out and then the problem of the saliva sound reappeared in my tenor sax (only) not matter what I did with my reed or my mp. The reason of this problem is the configuration of your mouth/tang/teet etc... when you play. After the extraction of my tooth I had to practice to adapt the new configuration of my mouth with my mp.

[bubblegirlsax]

Swapping spit is fun from what I remember :D

Do you have a drink or something before playing? Or something to eat? Maybe this is a factor. Is it better or worse at a particular time of day?

[martysax]

The OP should feel bad for those who don't have enough saliva.