Putting away a saxophone

Taking apart a saxophone is the reverse of putting together a saxophone. You will do everything you did in reverse.

1) Remove the saxophone neck from the body.
2) Place the saxophone body back into the case.
3) Loosen the ligature and take off the reed.
4) Place the reed in a reed holder and place inside the case.
5) Carefully wrap your hands around your mouthpiece, with the palm of your hands on the top part of the mouthpiece.
6) Twist the mouthpiece while pulling out the mouthpiece.
7) Put away the mouthpiece, neck and neck strap
8) That's it!

Key mistakes to avoid!!

- Reed is not placed inside a reed holder
When you buy saxophone reeds, it should come with a reed holder. These are sufficient for storing reeds. One mistake out of laziness is that often, students just leave their reeds attached to their mouthpiece with the ligature attached. There are two problems with this.

One, this will cause the reeds to warp. What do I mean by warp? Instead of the reed having a straight surface, instead, the reed will bend and curl up making it difficult to re-straighten. The reed will also produce a poor sound once in a warped state.

Second, leaving a reed out will cause a reed to dry out. When a reed has already been soaked and is left to dry, the reed will dry out and the saliva that is left in the reed well also dry out. Recall after playing the saxophone. Often times, you will find bits of dried saliva on the mouthpiece. This saliva is what is left inside your reed. Not only does it make it dirty, it also reduces the longevity of a reed and the quality of which the reed vibrates. Eventually, the reed will become not as resonate as a good quality reed.

- Saxophone is not swabbed

- Mouthpiece is left on the neck