Hi Donna, I just picked up an Alto Sax three days ago and have been very excited to play. I pick it up for 45-60 minutes per day on a 1.5 Reed although this morning I woke up with throat pain. I'm guessing my throat muscles aren't used to this type of performance and my embouchure isn't correct, maybe too much tension in the throat when blowing. Is this common with beginners? How can I prevent / help with this? I just found your channel, thank you.
Congrats for starting to play the sax. The first thing I would say is that you should not have any throat pain or scratchiness - that means you are not using your air properly, AND you are putting in too much time at the very start. I would have suggested to start with 20 minutes a day for a while, then slowly increase your playing time. My strongest suggestion is that you take private lessons so that you can get feedback on your particular situation. The beginning is the most important time to get lessons because you are developing the foundation. A weak foundation leads to a poorly built structure.
What a delightful TH-cam post! You are so encouraging and reassuring, and have lots of sound, practical advice. I just turned 60. All my kids are musicians so I'm thinking (hoping?) that even though I was never encouraged to play as a kid or even a young (or not so young!) adult, there is something dormant in there. My son has given me a handful of sax lessons and I feel like I'm making pretty decent progress for my age and lack of music knowledge. For the past several years, I've been trying to listen to jazz more critically; maybe that's helping a little bit. Currently I am trying to master the first etude in the book of 30 etudes faciles et progressives. Progress is very slow but I feel myself becoming a little better every week. Some days I feel like I've backslid. I particularly liked your analogy of going to the gym. I definitely feel my mouth getting tired and my embouchure getting lazy if I practice for more than a half hour or so. Thank you again for your advice!
Hi Donna many thanks I too am 66 years old and indeed I take great delight at your musical insight and your quality of sharing your knowledge with us mortals. Please continue with your contagious enthusiasm. Stan Titus
Hey Donna! I am playing Bari in our local civic band (along with my hubby and 13 year old son) and haven't touched a sax in 35 years. Your tips and experiences which you have shared are VERY helpful. Now... any tips for those of us RETURNING to our saxes? I can relate to wearing out our chops after too many hours of physically playing our instrument in one day! I also catch myself fingering my parts while I'm supposed to be trying to get to sleep at night lol
I have tons of content that helps musicians at all levels, especially those who are returning to playing again. Check out my website for more guidance. However, if you really want a good tone and you want to save a tremendous amount of time, grief and money, you should invest in lessons or online courses with an experienced teacher.( Of course, I do that too!)
I have looked into your big course, but due to my hubby's recent job loss, it needs to be a future consideration.... thanks again... heading on back to your website!
This is so inspirational and I feel inspired to try the tenor sax and I don’t have any woodwind experience. I have a bit of musical experience and I played a little guitar, trumpet, trombone, sang in choir, etc and I’d like to get into music again. I feel that the tenor sax expresses me the most. I also feel that I’m too old at 31 to get started and that even if I do, I won’t really go anywhere because I feel that I don’t have enough talent and creativity to get me where I want to be. Have you ever had any of your students discover that they had a ‘hidden’ talent even if they doubted themselves? I want to play music to have fun and to discover who I am. I decided to star in a play for the first time at 31 and I did a FANTASTIC job and the audience thought I was hilarious and it opened up a new door of creativity and inspiration to perform around others.
Phillip, I have students that started the sax at 62,and I have students that are 73 years old too. You are never too old unless you think you are. If you really want to play tenor, contact me on my website to inquire about lessons. You don't need any prior woodwind experience, and you have an advantage of playing other instruments, so that's helpful
Donna Schwartz I had my first lesson today and the teacher thinks I’m doing very well and she notices that I have talent. I feel that it’s suddenly starting to come alive after being dormant for so many years.
I guess that this is quite possible, Donna, but perhaps you get emails or questions here from people who haven't seen your earlier clips and the new questions are about stuff you've spoken about before, and so you answer the new questions again because it's a lot friendlier than telling people to look up an older clip! I was sure I had seen a clip with the same topic of discussion (How much to practice). Keep up the great work, of course!
![ผัวเถื่อน - ยูริ โตเกียวมิวสิค [ OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P08ORRVDGl8/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Donna, I just picked up an Alto Sax three days ago and have been very excited to play. I pick it up for 45-60 minutes per day on a 1.5 Reed although this morning I woke up with throat pain. I'm guessing my throat muscles aren't used to this type of performance and my embouchure isn't correct, maybe too much tension in the throat when blowing. Is this common with beginners? How can I prevent / help with this? I just found your channel, thank you.
Congrats for starting to play the sax. The first thing I would say is that you should not have any throat pain or scratchiness - that means you are not using your air properly, AND you are putting in too much time at the very start. I would have suggested to start with 20 minutes a day for a while, then slowly increase your playing time. My strongest suggestion is that you take private lessons so that you can get feedback on your particular situation. The beginning is the most important time to get lessons because you are developing the foundation. A weak foundation leads to a poorly built structure.
@@DonnaSchwartz thank you so much for the reply. I will let you know how I get on and in the meantime I shall check more of your videos.
Age is just a number. Once can start learning anything at any age. I agree with you.
What a delightful TH-cam post! You are so encouraging and reassuring, and have lots of sound, practical advice. I just turned 60. All my kids are musicians so I'm thinking (hoping?) that even though I was never encouraged to play as a kid or even a young (or not so young!) adult, there is something dormant in there. My son has given me a handful of sax lessons and I feel like I'm making pretty decent progress for my age and lack of music knowledge. For the past several years, I've been trying to listen to jazz more critically; maybe that's helping a little bit. Currently I am trying to master the first etude in the book of 30 etudes faciles et progressives. Progress is very slow but I feel myself becoming a little better every week. Some days I feel like I've backslid. I particularly liked your analogy of going to the gym. I definitely feel my mouth getting tired and my embouchure getting lazy if I practice for more than a half hour or so.
Thank you again for your advice!
Thanks so much :)
Thank you Donna, I'm a beginner and I'm turning 50 Feb 22, 2019 and I really want to play the saxophone.
Hi Donna many thanks I too am 66 years old and indeed I take great delight at your musical insight and your quality of sharing your knowledge with us mortals. Please continue with your contagious enthusiasm. Stan Titus
Thank you Donna. you are amazing.
Hey Donna! I am playing Bari in our local civic band (along with my hubby and 13 year old son) and haven't touched a sax in 35 years. Your tips and experiences which you have shared are VERY helpful. Now... any tips for those of us RETURNING to our saxes? I can relate to wearing out our chops after too many hours of physically playing our instrument in one day! I also catch myself fingering my parts while I'm supposed to be trying to get to sleep at night lol
I have tons of content that helps musicians at all levels, especially those who are returning to playing again. Check out my website for more guidance.
However, if you really want a good tone and you want to save a tremendous amount of time, grief and money, you should invest in lessons or online courses with an experienced teacher.( Of course, I do that too!)
I have looked into your big course, but due to my hubby's recent job loss, it needs to be a future consideration.... thanks again... heading on back to your website!
This is so inspirational and I feel inspired to try the tenor sax and I don’t have any woodwind experience. I have a bit of musical experience and I played a little guitar, trumpet, trombone, sang in choir, etc and I’d like to get into music again. I feel that the tenor sax expresses me the most. I also feel that I’m too old at 31 to get started and that even if I do, I won’t really go anywhere because I feel that I don’t have enough talent and creativity to get me where I want to be. Have you ever had any of your students discover that they had a ‘hidden’ talent even if they doubted themselves? I want to play music to have fun and to discover who I am. I decided to star in a play for the first time at 31 and I did a FANTASTIC job and the audience thought I was hilarious and it opened up a new door of creativity and inspiration to perform around others.
Phillip, I have students that started the sax at 62,and I have students that are 73 years old too. You are never too old unless you think you are.
If you really want to play tenor, contact me on my website to inquire about lessons. You don't need any prior woodwind experience, and you have an advantage of playing other instruments, so that's helpful
Donna Schwartz I had my first lesson today and the teacher thinks I’m doing very well and she notices that I have talent. I feel that it’s suddenly starting to come alive after being dormant for so many years.
If this was published on 26 June 2017, how come I saw it many months ago? :-)
That would be pretty impossible since it was just filmed....
I guess that this is quite possible, Donna, but perhaps you get emails or questions here from people who haven't seen your earlier clips and the new questions are about stuff you've spoken about before, and so you answer the new questions again because it's a lot friendlier than telling people to look up an older clip! I was sure I had seen a clip with the same topic of discussion (How much to practice).
Keep up the great work, of course!