Are you a lapsed sax player? What would it take to get you to start playing saxophone again?
Our Student of the Week Chris left his sax in the loft for three decades.
Even though he hadn’t played saxophone for over 30 years, Chris always thought of himself as a sax player. “My sax sat gathering dust in the loft,” explains Chris. My wife used to encourage me to play, but I never got around to getting my sax out.”
My sax was gathering dust in the loft
Back to Sax
Then Chris’s wife bought him a sax stand for Christmas – and that was the motivation he needed! “Seeing the sax looking so beautiful and shiny on its stand, made me want to pick it up and play it. And I was surprised how quickly it came back to me – the fingering, reading music, everything!”
Five years on, Chris is out playing sax in live gigs at his local sailing club, and at family weddings and parties. “I play every day, for at least an hour,” says Chris.
Finding Sax School
Chris discovered Sax School about a year ago. “To begin with, I was just using play-along books,” he explains. “But, I found I wasn’t making progress. I was getting bored and I wasn’t improving on my sax.”
Sax School was a revelation
Chris was treating himself to some new sax gear in Sax.co.uk‘s store and asked for advice. They recommended Sax School.
“It was a revelation,” says Chris, “I was blown away.” The structure of the lessons, the variety of styles, and the focus on technique in Sax School all appealed to Chris straight away.
Fast Progress
“I love to play blues, and soul, and jazz standards, and I’ve started looking at Be-Bop,” he says, “but the great thing about playing sax is you can play music in so many different styles.”
With Sax School, Chris is seeing the progress he was looking for. “When you’re learning on your own, it’s easy to get stuck on just playing songs,” he says, “but you really need to structure your practice and work on your technique. Learning how to do that has made a really big difference.”
Performing Live
Chris plays both tenor and alto now, but he started out at school on alto after an unusual test. “My music teacher, Mr. Hunt, got me to blow up a balloon!” explains Chris. “Because I couldn’t blow it up as fast as my friend, I got the alto and she got the tenor!”
At school, Chris loved playing sax with the wind band. “We performed in concerts, and even went on tour in Europe,” he says, “but when I left school all that stopped.”
Now that he’s back playing saxophone as an adult, Chris finds performing live is motivating him again. “If I could share one piece of advice, I’d say get out and play live, be brave!” he says. “Everyone loves the saxophone and getting ready for a gig is great motivation to improve your playing!”
It’s great to see your amazing progress, Chris – congratulations on being our Student of the Week!
Want to learn saxophone like Chris?
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