I play alto sax for my high school`s jazz band. I come across a few thing I don`t know about 1) how do you bend? 2) I know this may sound stupid but how do you drain the spit from it?

1.) To bend is to let your jaw go slack, and then increase pressure on the reed until your jaw is up tight against the reed...sort of relaxing your jaw and then tightening it up agian, or just plain making it go up and down. But remember to always keep a good seal around the mouthpiece or else the note won`t sound. Try a vibrato by using this technique, and practice just sustaining a note for as long as you can, making the pitch bend up and down in a rythm. This will get you very good at bends in general.

2.) Not a stupid question at all. There are several ways to drain the spit. Actually, I think most of the moisture that collects on the inside is actually condensation forming, but anyhoo, for a quick method, I turn my saxophone upside down, and let the spit drain out the bell. One good method is to buy a saxophone swab, and when you`re done playing, put the swab into the body of the saxophone, and run it up or down several times. This prevents the spit from drying and damaging pads etc. But never store the swab inside the saxophone, because then the purpose of the swab has been defeated, the spit it collected is still sitting inside the saxophone. Try buying a neck and mouthpiece swab as well.

Are you trying to drain the spit from the mouthpiece, or the sax? With the sax, you just tip it upside down. If you`re trying to drain the spit from the mouthpiece to get rid of the gurgling sound, put your mouth over the mouthpiece, and suck it out. I know that probably sounds really gross, but all of my band directors tell me to do that. I love doing it in front of my non-band geek friends. they always freak.lol