Jazz-Sax.Com

Ok, I usually get about 1 or 2 emails a month asking if I do this. And frankly, the answer is no. The Internet is a great place. You can get a degree in a number of disciplines from online universities. However, for saxophone lessons I don’t think the Internet is a good medium for this.Number one reason is that you need to see and hear what is going on to fix a problem. IE: if the ligature is not on right, or the reed is not set right, then it could cause you hours of pain. How can I, as a teacher, address that problem over the Internet? I cannot.

Can’t see embouchure or what it is doing while your playing. Enuf said. No, seriously, if your biting down like some 1800′s patient awaiting a doctor to remove a leg, how am I to guess that. That is definitely something as a teacher that could be addressed ASAP.

Tone. While giving lessons, I deal with tone a lot. Notes and fingers are things that come with practice. Tone though, is something you really have to “hear”. My students are expected to play with good, full tone. If not, they get a “Doh!” and have to start again. Tone is something that is also dealt with easily if someone is actually there.

Now, I’ve been covering the basics. That actual tone generation, etc. Now, what about making someone who can play a little and giving them more reinforcement via online lessons.

Good question. I still maintain that “one on one” private lessons are the best way to do that. There is really nothing like taking a lesson with someone who is excellent on the instrument. Private lessons also are flexible. You can go off in tangents, perhaps during a solo you played an altissimo note. Your teacher can then maybe explore some other altissimo notes. Or maybe you had a very interesting motive that you used a couple of times, although randomly, during your solo. Your teacher could explore that with you as well, hopefully leading you to greater understanding.

This kind of teaching is something I do not see Internet lessons achieving. I don’t think they can. I’d love to see someone prove me wrong.

I do think that Internet lessons could reinforce intellectual understanding of topics. Improv theory. Harmony theory. Perhaps provide you insight to get your fingers more flexible. Increase your rhythmic vocabulary. Etc. But still, without some feedback from somebody, you might not achieve what your setting out to achieve.

I guess what I’m getting at is that yeah, you can learn some stuff off the internet. New patterns, etc, etc. But to really improve on your horn, I think hooking up with a teacher is faster/better/easier.