Playing the saxophone What are the most common problems. Either for yourself or students if you teach?

[dexdex]

Reading, and precision of execution are becoming more and more acute issues for me.
Age is obviously taking it’s toll.
Playing written music on stage is generating much more stress than 10 years ago. This stress influences the performance to a point it also makes the more (supposed to be) laid back open for solo parts less … laid back.
Not sure how far I can fight or solve this. Or learn to live with it.

 

[mizmar]

If precision is, more or less, what I was waffling on about errors, above; that's not in the list

 

[Wonko]

I would tend to think of that as reading issue. Unless the part is actually too fast for your fingering technique in which case it’s a fingering issue. Or both of course.

I think it's just my brain that is trying to control too many thing at the same time. Things need to get automated (doing them without thinking) for them to start running smoothly.
The reading might be part of it. I suspect that I have dyslexia, not a severe form, but enough to slow things down and make mistakes in reading. I have heard that one of the symptoms of dyslexia is that it is difficult to get things (mental processes) automated.

 

[r. giuseppe]

I am with @Pete Effamy: Tightness and a tendency to biting. Only in my case not for students, but for myself. This could be an extra check box although it certainly affects sound, breath (support) and intonation.

On German clarinet as a kid, I trained the muscles to settle on 4,5 reeds. On the sax then it felt easy to control the whole range right from the start, but not with a big sound. It took me years to rethink and relearn a different, more open sound concept and let go of the control I had, learning a different sort of tone control. Whenever my chops are tiring now, I fall back to the old strategy.