GRoss
New Member
- Messages
- 18
- Locality
- Australia
Hi all,
Another thread with questions from me! (TL;DR at the bottom)
Been playing my tenor for 7 months, still struggling with finding the "right" embouchure. Low notes are still giving me trouble. High notes, above high D are giving me trouble. I've been practicing my long tones, trying to make progress with overtones (2nd one still giving me trouble) and practicing my dynamics. I play around 1-2 hours a day, mostly playing every single day.
I find with all of the above my progress is slow. I'm not happy with my sound. I'm not happy with inconsistency. I feel like I should be making more progress. Perhaps my expectations are not consistent with reality?
I asked my teacher about it and he said that most of his students only get to playing the whole range of the horn around 1.5 years in. I got a few lessons from another teacher, to see if he has any different opinions and he shared a lot of similar views, even going in so far as to say that I shouldn't even bother with overtones at the moment and should focus on playing new tunes and practicing long tones. He even said that playing Bb, etc shouldn't be my priority at the moment either - saying that I should focus on the middle of the range and that he even knows a few pro saxophone players that have issues with low Bb. Both teachers have been playing for many years and both performed quite a lot, with one of them been a career saxophone player, performing in many bands. Basically - they seem to know what they are doing. They both tell me that I'm overthinking it, with all my concerns with embouchure, good quality tone, biting/not biting for high notes, etc.
And yet I find stuff online that says that I should be able to play Bb in the first few weeks and play the whole range of the horn within a few months. A year in, I should be playing in bands, etc, etc. That stuff makes me think like I'm either doing it wrong or have zero natural ability for woodwind instruments.
For a point of reference - I used to play on the guitar when I was a teenager and I clearly remember putting nowhere near as much effort and getting really good results. I actually dug up a few videos of myself playing and was really pleased to hear the sound, etc.
TL;DR: What should I be aiming to achieve when playing my first woodwind instrument - a tenor sax, 6 months in, 12 months in, 2 years in and so on. Assuming average of 1 hour per day, consistent, thoughtful and focused practice + a good quality, new Yamaha horn. What's reasonable and what's not?
Thanks!
Another thread with questions from me! (TL;DR at the bottom)
Been playing my tenor for 7 months, still struggling with finding the "right" embouchure. Low notes are still giving me trouble. High notes, above high D are giving me trouble. I've been practicing my long tones, trying to make progress with overtones (2nd one still giving me trouble) and practicing my dynamics. I play around 1-2 hours a day, mostly playing every single day.
I find with all of the above my progress is slow. I'm not happy with my sound. I'm not happy with inconsistency. I feel like I should be making more progress. Perhaps my expectations are not consistent with reality?
I asked my teacher about it and he said that most of his students only get to playing the whole range of the horn around 1.5 years in. I got a few lessons from another teacher, to see if he has any different opinions and he shared a lot of similar views, even going in so far as to say that I shouldn't even bother with overtones at the moment and should focus on playing new tunes and practicing long tones. He even said that playing Bb, etc shouldn't be my priority at the moment either - saying that I should focus on the middle of the range and that he even knows a few pro saxophone players that have issues with low Bb. Both teachers have been playing for many years and both performed quite a lot, with one of them been a career saxophone player, performing in many bands. Basically - they seem to know what they are doing. They both tell me that I'm overthinking it, with all my concerns with embouchure, good quality tone, biting/not biting for high notes, etc.
And yet I find stuff online that says that I should be able to play Bb in the first few weeks and play the whole range of the horn within a few months. A year in, I should be playing in bands, etc, etc. That stuff makes me think like I'm either doing it wrong or have zero natural ability for woodwind instruments.
For a point of reference - I used to play on the guitar when I was a teenager and I clearly remember putting nowhere near as much effort and getting really good results. I actually dug up a few videos of myself playing and was really pleased to hear the sound, etc.
TL;DR: What should I be aiming to achieve when playing my first woodwind instrument - a tenor sax, 6 months in, 12 months in, 2 years in and so on. Assuming average of 1 hour per day, consistent, thoughtful and focused practice + a good quality, new Yamaha horn. What's reasonable and what's not?
Thanks!