I feel I am making some improvement finally. This makes me happy of course. The main issue I had to get worked out was the fact that I was puffing my cheeks when I blew into the saxophone. This caused my tone to be weaker and it didn’t sound as good. The other issue was that it was much harder to play, and my mouth would get tired after about 15 minutes of playing and I could no longer hold the proper shape to make any sound at all. After about two months of working on it I feel I have it pretty much fixed now. I can last longer and can start to work on other aspects of my playing. I still have a long way to go however. I heard somewhere to look at about 3 years for a good foundation. I’m not sure how true that is or not, but it would seem reasonable.

So far I have been using two books in my practice sessions with my saxophone. My main book is “Play Alto Sax Today! A Complete Guide to the Basics” I like it because it starts you out playing simple tunes right away, so you are not bored by playing single tones over and over. Now playing long tones are important to building up strength and lung capacity, however it’s nice to have a little variety. I usually start off with some long tones of various notes, usually I focus on the low end and high end of the saxophone as these tend to be the hardest for me to play properly. The mid range is fairly easy to get a good sound out of. The book also comes with a CD with all the songs on it, so you can hear how the song is suppose to sound, which can be very helpful if you are having to do this without a teacher.

The other book I use is Rubank Elementary Method for the Saxophone. This book is good for technique and endurance. Playing scales, long tones, etc. It has a few songs in it, but not much. This book is a little harder to use without a teacher however as there is no explanation on how to go about doing some of the tasks in the book. This is where a teacher would come in handy.

Currently I’m working on learning a few new simple melodies from the first book I mentioned. Once I get those down I’ll make another recording and post it online. Should be sometime next week when that happens. My goal is to post a new song once a week to gauge my progress. Check back next week for the new songs, and remember, comments are always welcome.

If at all possible, the best way to start to learn the saxophone is to get a good teacher to help you along the way.  I didn’t start out with a teacher and ended up with a few bad habits that just made playing that much more difficult.  Plus I now have the extra challenge of “unlearning” these bad habits.  So do yourself a favor and find a good teacher in your area.  If you live in the Houston, Texas area I would recommend Alisha Patillo.  She is a great teacher in my opinion and helped me get back on track.  Currently I have to stop with my lessons for a few months as money is just tight right now, however as soon as things pick back up again I will sure to get my lessons going again.  Alisha has a web site you can contact her by going to http://www.saxophonelessonshouston.com/

Welcome everyone.  I have created this blog to cronical my learning process with the Alto Saxophone.  I will be posting what I learn while I practice the Saxophone on a daily basis as well as samples of what I am able to play at that time.

I hope you all enjoy this journey with me and it will inspire you to take a similar one of your own.

Ivan Windon