How Hard Is It To Learn Saxophone
Not everyone can be a musical savant and be able to pick up a musical instrument like the saxophone. That means for most people there are likely to be some challenges when it comes to learning how to play the saxophone for the first time. This article was designed to help the beginner by describing some of the more common challenges and tips that have been used by other beginners to get by the challenges. It also includes a number of methods that have been used successfully over the years when it comes to learning to play the saxophone online.
How Hard Is It to Learn Saxophone?
Beginners’ Challenges and Useful Tips
- Looking for the right saxophone for them
Not all saxophones are the same and they produce different types of sounds; soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone. Each one is capable of producing a very distinct tone and of sound. There are also a number of different reeds (part of the mouthpiece that vibrates) that can be fitted to the instrument.
- Upkeep on the saxophone
Like any musical instrument, the sound that a saxophone makes involves all parts of the instrument. This means it is extremely important that you keep every part of the instrument in tip-top shape. All of the valves need to be well lubricated, the body needs to be free from dingles and dents.
- Finding the right posture
All woodwind type instruments require air to be blown into the mouthpiece in order to generate the sound that comes out of the bell of the instrument. This means that it is extremely important that you maintain a correct posture that allows the air to flow freely from your lungs and out of your mouth to the mouthpiece.
- Hitting all the right notes
Learning to play the exact notes on the saxophone is thought to be one of the most difficult things to do. However, with plenty of practice, you should be able to master the proper fingering of the valves, proper posture in order to be able to play all of the correct. It is also a unique challenge to hit the right tone for the specific note.
- Avoid becoming stagnant
To avoid becoming stagnant with your saxophone playing is to continue to challenge yourself to excel. You can also switch up your practice routine and push yourself to learn new and more challenging songs. It is also a good idea not to think that you have reached the top of your ability, this is a sheer fire way to become stagnant.
4 Methods For Learning How To Play The Saxophone For Beginners
ArtistWorks is an online membership website that offers all paid members access to its massive online database that features video-based lessons. The lessons that make up the database are created and uploaded by the more than 200 professional musicians that people at ArtistWorks have assembled.
One of those professional musicians that you find inside the massive database is Eric Marienthal. Eric is one of the world-class saxophone players, who has won a Grammy Award and recorded 6 albums as part of a jazz band. He has performed alongside some of the biggest names in the music business like; Elton John, Billy Joel, and Stevie Wonder.
All of the lessons are video-based and cover a different topic. He has created several hundred individual lessons that cover a wide range of topics. Each of the topics is organized into three different categories (Beginner, Intermediate, and advanced) to make it easier to follow them all in proper order. As a paid member of the website, you will have access to the massive library and all of the lessons.
2) Udemy Saxophone Online Lesson
Udemy is a website that offers 1000’s of online training courses that cover a wide range of topics. It is set up similar to what you would find at a brick and mortar college or university. The training courses are all video-based and are lead by an instructor that is usually a subject matter expert.
When you visit the website you will need to search the massive library of training courses. By typing “saxophone lesson” in the search box you will get a result page that features 85 results for the saxophone lessons. Each of the results is a link to the specific training course that is available to sign up for. As a paid student, you will be granted full access to all of the class material. The only requirement will be that you will need to have a reliable internet connection.
3) How-To Videos Online
How-To videos are one of the most popular ways that people learn how to do just everything there is to know. One of the most popular websites for finding these types of videos is YouTube.com. The website boasts of a massive library of more than one billion video clips, with thousands being added every day.
Most of the videos are recorded and uploaded to YouTube in order to help others to be able to do things for themselves. The videos are one of the best ways in order for anyone to be able to follow everything that is being demonstrated in the video. The videos are mostly homemade and uploaded in order to help others to be able to use the information that is contained in the video. Using this method is the cheapest of all the methods is because it is totally free to access the website and view all of the videos.
4) One on One Tutorial Lessons
When it comes to learning how to play a musical instrument one on one training is one of the most successful ways to learn how to play the saxophone. These types of lessons are generally established by professional musicians who are looking to help others learn how to play.
These online tutoring sessions are set up mainly using one of two different video chat technologies; Skype and Apple’s FaceTime. The best part of this type of teaching how to learn how to play the saxophone in your own home. In order to be able to take advantage of setting up a one on one training session is that you no longer have to worry about being in the same room as your instructor. As a matter of fact, you could actually choose an instructor that could actually be halfway across the world.
The Difficulty and Hardness of Learning Saxophone
Music is a huge part of most cultures and in the US, there are many different genres of music. Each of them features a number of unique instruments that are responsible for creating a certain specific sound. The saxophone, which is part of the woodwind family of instruments can be found in a wide range of musical genres. For this reason, there are a lot of people wanting to learn how to play the saxophone.
However, it can be a bit of a challenge for a beginner who is just picking up the saxophone for the very first time. This article was designed to help the beginner by offering suggestions on how best to learn how to play online. Also, it looks to help by identifying some of the major challenges that many beginners are likely to face. We hope that all of the information that has been included helps in some way makes it easier to learn how to play the saxophone.
Corrected, thank you.
The saxophone is NOT in the BRASS family of instruments, it is in the WOODWIND family of instruments!
You make this statement in the second to last paragraph.