Reed Holder & Key Clamps

[Redsax]

During band camp my sax instructor said to use a piece of glass and two rubber bands as a reed holder. Would this ever work?
Also are key clamps good or bad?

[musicforemotion]

This would certainly work, and I used it for a short period of time when I was in high school. The downside is that many of your reeds take on the rubbery taste of the rubber bands. The most important thing to do is to keep the humidity of the reeds consistent to prevent warping of the reeds. I used to keep the plate of glass in a gallon ziploc bag with a "humidifier" that I made myself, which consisted of an old prescription bottle with holes punched in it and a dish-style sponge that I kept lightly dampened at all times. You have to experiment with the amount of liquid to keep in the sponge to find a happy medium between being too dry and so wet that it molds your reeds. Eventually I moved to the Selmer reed case to store my reeds in and the Rico Humidity Control packs have replaced the sponge, but I still keep my reeds in the ziploc!

As for the key clamps...

I used to be a fan of key clamps and used them all the time, but I have recently stopped using them. Unless you are able to remove all the moisture from the horn after playing, I found that when I removed the clamps the next day, I had issues with keys sticking. I still use them whenever I have to travel with my saxophone (especially with the airlines) to prevent damage to the delicate keys, but I have stopped using them on a day-to-day basis.

Just out of curiosity, which band camp did you attend?

James

[Redsax]

Thanks!
I went to Howard Paine Band Camp in Brownwood, Texas.

[FunkyHorn626]

If you use a pad saver to keep in your horn while you are not playing it, and use this in conjunction with the key clamps, they are awesome and can save a lot of time and money by not having your horn go out of adjustment from gig to gig.. I would highly recommend them to any player