Saxophone beginners Lost in the wilderness...

[zootsaxenberger]

This kind of bullying(thats all you can call it) really gets me angry! this guy obviously has problems of his own.
dont be discouraged by his attitude, you have got the chops,

 

[kevgermany]

Chris, I've been thining about this. And feeling for you. And just noticed a paragraph in a book (Inner Game of Music) that's relevant. He was talking about a couple of great conductors and mentioned that a cellist was having a problem with a difficult passage. Instead of jumping on her and putting her down, the conductor just asked her to play and look at him smile - she nailed it! He also commented about another conductor doing things the way your new director's doing. The author's a top bass player. But he came away as disillusioned as you because of the conductor's insensitivity and putting people down.

Walk away, put him behind you and find some decent people to play with! Life's too short to let things like this waste the work you've put in!

 

[piper]

hi ive just joined i feel like that but my reason is my music teachers very serious approach it unerves me ive only been playing for 4 months age 55 not had a lesson for a couple of weeks now

 

[old git]

You actually hold the trump card.

Explain how you feel and sift the answer, either they made a mistake and thought you wanted pushing or a that's what you get with me, always worked before attitude. If it is the latter explain gently that you are now leaving,you are cancelling all your lessons and taking your money elsewhere. You are learning for fun not masochism.

Apologies for being serious.

 

[Jeanette]

Hi Piper

I agree with OG, if the teacher can't teach as you want find someone else. Life is too short to be doing something that is supposed to be fun in away that doesn't suit you.

I changed my tutor for different reasons but wouldn't stay with someone I wasn't happy with.

Why not introduce yourself properly on the Doorbell forum and you will find lots of support.

Welcome aboard keep blowing

Jx

 

[TomMapfumo]

It is not straightforward finding the right teacher.

General encouragement to students is:

1. Find someone who you can relate to comfortably, and like.

2. Find someone who like the music that you want to learn to play.

3. Find someone who teaches in a way you find helpful.

You may not know these answers straight away but it is useful to think about what you want to learn - and how serious you are.
Some time teachers just have one method of teaching and do the same regardless. Maybe people on the forum can help you clarify what you want from a teacher, lessons, learning the sax etc.

Kind regards
Tom

 

[Rogerb]

There have been several times when either I or my teacher has said words to the effect "I think we need to review our approach" and we have sat down and had a re-think. There is no 'one size fits all' method in training, especially with 'one-to-one'.
And 'He who pays the piper calls the tune' 🙂

 

[gladsaxisme]

Hi Chris

Sorry to hear your in the doldrums or wilderness as you put it,seems to me like you've started to beat yourself up about how good you feel you are and don't think your getting any better at one or two things no matter how hard you try.In truth you're a far better player than you give yourself cedit for.This sight reading speed thing that seems to bother you,one thought is do you wear glasses for reading,I do and although I can still read the music without them I find using makes it that much easier,maybe if your not using reading glasses it may be worth an eye test,"only a thought"

.This sight reading ability is one of the reasons I haven't dived into playing with a band because I know if someone just threw a score at me and said lets go I wouldn't be able to do it,now I'm sure that, as you said the band has a very limited tenor section and knowing what a good player you are it would be worthwhile for him to make sure you had the score in advance to give you time to get up to speed with it,may be worth a word in his ear.

You seem to be worrying about how fast you can play a piece and I can't imagine why,playing fast isn't the be all and end all of everything It's far harder to play something slow and tonely beutiful than it is to thrash through something and as my tutor says to me the key to fast is SLOW and repetition and he means REALLY REALLY SLOW but with the correct flow of the music,whereby your fingers get automatic memory of the bit your playing and it stays there when you speed up,I personally don't think speed is all that important unless you want to be some sort of jazz soloing wizard.

As for what to do to get your mojo back I would say go back to the pieces you know really well and try playing them differently and perhaps recording these variations to see how you personally like the variations,it's surprising how much fun you can have doing this.

Thanks for all your help in the past I hope in some small way this helps you...john