[Pipster]

When Im playing for more than 10 mins I get loads of Spittle spraying out from the left 2 key and my left hand gets soaked in spit and my fingers start sliding off the keys...does anyone else have this problem... what can i do about it?

 

[Ferret]

I tend to feel some from time to time... not massive amounts. I just ignore it, mostly.

 

[hakukani]

It's condensation. When humidity is just so, and you blow warm air, it condenses. Just swab your horn to keep the level down.

Here in the tropics, this is just something you get used to doing.

 

[RootyTootoot]

Collect it in a little bottle and sell it on ebay as "Genuine Saxophone Spittle".

Or... try to breathe air down your sax rather than blowing spit down it. Make sure the reed you're using is soft enough so you're not fighting the reed/mouthpiece combination. But don't get too hung up about it. Playing the sax does include getting moisture, sometimes a lot of it, in the m/p and instrument. Rejoice, you're normal!

 

[rs1sensen]

I tend to get it on my right hand. It works its way around one of the pads, glides down the rods connected to the spatulas, and dumps itself on my middle finger. Most of the time I can ignore it, but sometimes after several hours of playing my fingers do feel quite weird!

 

[Smalltownsax]

Sometimes I get the mystery spit that randomly drips from the palm keys when least expected. Or else on my index and middle finger of the right hand. It does get slippery and nasty, but is not too bad to deal with.

 

[Reedsplinter]

It's condensation. When humidity is just so, and you blow warm air, it condenses. Just swab your horn to keep the level down.

Here in the tropics, this is just something you get used to doing.

So, if you think of it as "condensation ," it's really not so bad.

Right, Cujo?

*drool*

 

[paulio]

Yes this is a problem i also suffer with, it can on occasions make an unsightly wet patch just where you don't want one.

Have you looked at the angle you hold the horn at? Try to angle the horn so the water naturally drains down the side away from tone holes and collects in the bow area.

 

[Jolle]

Condensation is the word indeed. If that would all be spittle, you would be dried out pretty quick

Have the same problem, but not always. What helps me too is holding my sax straight, not bend forward and let it dangle from your neck. And still some c_o_n_d_e_n_s_a_t_i_o_n finds it way down.

edit : all was mentioned already. Still, it works

 

[esimpson252]

Spit happens.

 

[Crissax]

Where do you guys dunk your spit after you're finished playing your horn?

 

[JL]

As Hakukani and others have pointed out it's not spit, or "spittle!" It is water (H2O) condensed out of the warm air from your lungs. You couldn't put all that "spit" through the opening between your reed and mouthpiece no matter how hard you tried. It's actually a good sign. It means you are blowing a good amount of air into the horn. You want to fill your horn with air to get a good sound out of it.

Solution to the "problem" is simple. Keep a small towel or rag handy and use it when necessary.

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

I don't think I blow any spit into my sax. I collect it in a space under my tongue, behind my lower front teeth, and swallow it when time permits.

If the player plays leaning forward, or with the head down, then this 'pool' of spit can easily enter the sax. So, head up!

If this is indeed, just condensation, then also attend to what you do with the sax during rests. You may be tilting the sax so that the condensation runs to these tone holes.

Warning: The rest of this post is gross! But so might be your sax.....

"As Hakukani and others have pointed out it's not spit, or "spittle!" It is water (H2O) condensed out of the warm air from your lungs. "

Yes, that is an ideal. But in reality, it is naive.

Every experienced technician must have met saxes which have a gooey, off-white lining (of shed mouth cells?), inside the bore of the sax, especially in the upper half. Sometimes it can be 1/2 to 1 mm thick if the player does not swab the sax for a long. It's gross; it's 'reach-worthy'. It is semi-dried spit from a food-ridden or unhealthy mouth. Much more often, the neck is lined with the stuff, probably because more people don't clean necks. Also the dried equivalent is often seen flaking off inside the lower end of the sax, where it has more chance to dry.

This is not a product of condensation! To me, it is obvious evidence that quite a lot of players do indeed blow a fair bit of spit into their sax.

I have also seen saxes with that dried stuff all over the mechanism. One player explained that he was a 'wet blower'. What he meant was that this was the dried residue of what came out of the sides of his lips while playing, or possibly even from his nose. Charming! Student Yamahas have the most amazingly robust lacquer, but the that two-year-old sax had probably the most corroded keywork I have ever seen.