Teaching Saxophone
Originally published in 2008. Updated in 2025
A few months before I originally wrote this article, I read a post on SOTW that had made me particularly uncomfortable. A high school student was planning on teaching sax in the summer rather than getting a regular part time job. He was asking for advice, since he didn’t know where to begin.
The information he was being given was mostly in short bits, and for the most part, was sound. He just wasn’t listening to it. I don’t know what he wanted to hear, but he wasn’t hearing it. He kept clarifying his position. The more he clarified, the more uncomfortable I got.
These particular exchanges I believe go beyond this one high school student—who is by now a middle aged man. 😉 They bring to light some overarching questions, which are salient to how we as instructors, work with our students.
The original poster asked:
So, basically, I’m going to start teaching lessons over the summer to make money (I need to make $1000 by the end of summer). I’m going to be teaching middle school kids, basically that have never had lessons before. They’ve played a bit in school band but don’t practice that much at home. I don’t know where to start or what to do. I need help!
Thanks.
He went on to say:
Thanks for the advice! However, I kinda don’t want to waste time. I have the feeling that if I’m not actively teaching them a lot (in 30 minutes), then they’ll be uninterested and quit classes, and I want them to stay because I need the money.
After people responded to this comment, he came back with more:
It’s not completely about money, as I know some of these kids, and I want to teach them actually. It’s gonna be a lot better/funner than working a job. And, of course I’m not gonna like force Rascher philosphy on them, or anything silly like that. I might tell them to do some exercises out of the top tones book though 😀 .
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to say something.
Have you ever taken lessons before? What did your teacher teach you? How did he or she teach you? Did it work for you? If yes why? If not, why not?
Those are really good places to start when trying to figure out what & how to teach.As as an aside, realistically, I haven’t met too many middle school (any?) students that would at the “top tones”, or other advanced techniques level such as multiphonics or altissimo. At best, an occasional student might be considered intermediate, but my money would be on flat-out beginners. Most will likely not even have learnt how to correctly form an embouchure, so any advanced techniques would not only be over their heads, but most like actually counter productive.
A number of experienced teachers have already pointed these things out in this thread, but I’ll mention them again: Most students you’ll meet will not have been taught how to put their reeds on right; put their horns correctly together, or really correctly position their saxes when playing. This should be lesson 1 or 2 at the latest!
You also have to ask yourself, why are you teaching. Yeah, you want to make $1000… Do you have any other reasons? What are they?
How I ended up teaching saxophone
I started teaching clarinet and saxophone when I was in grade 12, and had a clarinet student who week after week, despite ridiculous amounts of practice, couldn’t do anything beyond what she could do the week before.
After about 2 months of feeling like I was doing nothing but banging my head into a wall, I called her mom and asked her what was going on. I expressed my concern and said that I was getting frustrated. (Remember, I was only 18, so I really didn’t have a freakin’ clue what I was doing. I only had 1 way of approaching a topic. If a student didn’t get it, I couldn’t change my style and method to adapt.) I told the kid’s mom that I was worried because the lessons were not helping. And maybe worse, were perhaps doing just the opposite: setting the kid back, because of my frustration.
Then her mom told me that she knew that her daughter had no musical talent. She was sending her there because she needed to build her self esteem. The kid had epilepsy, and suffered from really bad seizures. All the girl wanted to do was play clarinet, it didn’t matter how badly. But even if the improvement was measured in baby steps over months, that would help her feel better about herself.
This little piece of information changed my outlook on teaching forever. It might sound obvious now, but until that moment, I had never thought about teaching music as being about anything other than teaching music. That conversation with that girl’s mom taught me that students come for different reasons, and not all of them are musical. Asking them why they’re taking lessons, isn’t always going to give you the answer you need or are looking for.
Our job as saxophone/music teachers
Saxophone/music teachers—teachers of all stripes really—become role models for their students. The questions we have to ask ourselves as would be teachers include:
- Do you have the teaching skills to be able to approach the material in more than 1 way if the student is not able to grasp it in the way you presented it to them the first time around?
- Are you prepared to give of yourself beyond the 30 minute lesson time allotted?
- Are you able and willing to be flexible in your approach to your students so that they get something tailor-made for them, rather than a box that they have to be put in?
As teachers, we should never underestimate the influence, both intentional and unintentional, we may have over a student. A simple comment made in passing, or in jest, can have a ripple effect far beyond what we ever imagined.
Tips to keep in mind when working with students
In a paper on learning for my Master of of Adult Education degree, I pointed out a number of simple truths that instructors need to keep in mind when working with learners. I’m just offering them up here for your consideration:
- As a teacher, it can be extremely easy to discourage students. A teacher’s job is to support and nurture students, not erode any self-confidence that they may have.
- We sometimes only have one chance at making a difference.
- Sometimes a simple comment made can have a consequence for the learner that is completely undermining.
- A learner’s self-esteem and self-worth may be more tied into what they are doing than we think.
- Being a teacher carries with it an enormous amount of power. It can be easy to manipulate a student’s thinking, either intentionally or unintentionally.
