Paco first fell in love with the saxophone when he was a teenager, but it wasn’t until he was 40 that he started learning saxophone.
Now with Sax School he’s making amazing progress learning saxophone online.
We loved his video of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” – so we made him our Student of the Week!
Beautiful Saxophone
It was the sight, not the sound, of the saxophone which first caught Paco’s attention. “When I was 16, every day coming home from High School, I would see the town band practising. That gold instrument, shining under the sun, engaged me forever,” explains Paco.
That gold instrument, shining under the sun, engaged me forever
As a teenager, playing the saxophone was just a dream. “I didn’t have the money to buy a sax and attend classes so I only listened to sax music. The first sax player I discovered was Kenny G,” he says.
Adult Learner
At last, when he was 40, Paco bought a saxophone. For the first year, he had weekly saxophone lessons with a teacher. Then life started to get in the way. “I changed jobs and I didn’t have time to practice. It was a hard time in my life, and I didn’t play my sax for almost two years. Then I lost my job so I couldn’t afford private saxophone lessons,” explains Paco.
A breakthrough came when Paco started searching on the internet. “I looked for online saxophone lessons, and that was the moment when I discovered Sax School,” he says. Paco joined in March 2018.
New lessons
With Sax School, Paco found what he was looking for. “I love all the sections of Sax School but specially the Jazz Performance Packs,” he says, “but the most important thing for me in Sax School is that it is a LIVE course – there are updates and new saxophone lessons. I tried many other courses and you only see the same videos all the time”.
The most important thing for me in Sax School is that it is a LIVE course – there are updates and new saxophone lessons.
Different Styles
Paco is making the most of the variety of saxophone lessons in Sax School. “I like to try different styles such as pop, jazz, funk, and classical, but my favourites are jazz and smooth jazz, especially slow, romantic ballads or tunes. I really like Dave Koz, David Sanborn, Michael Lington, Eric Darius, Steve Cole, Boney James, and Kirk Whalum,” he says.
Embouchure Challenges
Like all saxophone learners, Paco has had challenges along the way which he has to work on. “I sometimes find my embouchure gets tired very soon when I play, and I often run out of air,” he says. “Also, it’s difficult to me to read sheet music fluently because I’ve never studied music before.”
However, Paco is working on these, and the other things on his long list of saxophone goals for the coming months. “I would like to improve my breathing, my embouchure, my reading, fast fingering, scales… a lot of things!” he says, “plus I would love to learn to play by ear, transcribe and start to improvise.”
Paco clearly still loves the saxophone he fell for as a teenager. “I think the saxophone is the most beautiful instrument, not only for the sound – the closest to the human voice, – but also the instrument itself. It’s a very, very beautiful ‘machine,'” he says.
And he says this about learning saxophone as an adult: “I think that there is no age limit for learning to play an instrument. I love the sax!”
Congratulations Paco on being our Student of the Week!
Want to learn saxophone like Paco?
Get started with Sax School membership today and see how our Student Pathways, Mini Courses, and huge lesson library will help you make massive progress on your sax. Get Started Here!