Hi Allan,
I’m much the same age as you, starting my second year of learning to play the alto while also trying to read music —all with absolutely zero previous knowledge or experience of music, apart for being a lifelong modern jazz fan.
This was my retirement project, and I’m here to say that it can be done, and how enjoyable it is.
There’s no doubt that the best way to learn reading music / playing is with the instrument in your hand, looking at the score. There’s a wealth of good stuff out there, especially on this website, and I’m sure you’ll find your own route, but if my experience can help, this is how I started.
I started with Pete Thomas’s DVD The Saxophone, Raphael Ravenscroft’s Complete Saxophone Player Book 1 and John O’Neill’s Jazz Method for Saxophone Vol 1, and found these helpful, though there was a sudden step-up half way through the O’Neill book that stumped me for a while. These titles are often recommended, but I also found Alastair Ingram’s website immensely helpful in the early stages of reading and playing, as he has pages of simple exercises to download, plus audio files to let you hear how it should sound. He’s a saxophone tutor in California. Once you’re looking for good sounding riffs and little tunes and progressive jazzy exercises I’d very strongly recommend Kellie Santin and Cheryl Clark’s book Creative Saxophone. This is the first book of four they do, published by OUP, and I think it’s great, really well judged for beginners, and I’m still working with and loving volume 1. I don’t often see this book mentioned on the web, but it’s really worth checking out.
I worked on my own to learn to read music (more or less) and how to play scales on the alto —all basic stuff—before seeking out a tutor, on the grounds that they shouldn’t have too high a mountain to climb! But the forum guys are right –it’s really good to work with a teacher.
All the best—enjoy.
PS: If you’re an AJS, I’m a Moto Guzzi.
