Hi,
Not sure where else to post this question.
My son is to young to thing about college, but have a music related question. He loves playing saxophone and has been taking private lessons for over a year from a great teacher. However she teachers classical music and he loves jazz. She told him that with jazz she can’t teach him much more.
Do I know find him a teacher that just teaches him jazz or someone who would teach both?
Thanks!
Nina
It is would be great if he could develop both skill sets – He could do a test lesson with a jazz teacher, while continuing with the classical teacher. As kids grow musically they sometimes out grow their teachers, or just need a change. Do you have a music conservatory nearby?
I personally would look for a jazz teacher in addition to the classical teacher, if you can afford both, and be aware that the two styles can conflict and cause some issues, especially as he gets older and closer to college age. You could consider getting him some lessons with a jazz saxophonist this summer or he could do a jazz camp this summer and see how that goes. I know of some teachers who teach both styles, but their students are usually either much more successful in one of the two areas (almost always the one where the teacher has had the most success), or else the students end up good in both areas, but not great.
Some kids have an easier time switching modes than others. Letting your S explore at this age would be advised. There are some excellent classical saxophonists who are great jazz musicians as well, but most gravitate toward one or the other by the end of high school. Some classical profs at the college level will encourage jazz exploration, others discourage it.
My son is primarily classically focused (will be entering a classical sax program this fall), but he played in the very good jazz ensemble at his high school for a few years. He enjoyed it but had some difficulty doing both. He often felt like jazz messed up his embouchure and tone for classical and his tone and his interests are best suited to classical. Mouthpiece and reed choice can be different for jazz vs. classical, too. My S decided to play bari sax in jazz ensemble because it was different enough from alto that he could more easily separate them in his mind. That was especially important his senior year during audition season.
Your S is young, so it’s great to let him try different styles and teachers at this age and see where his preferences take him. Good luck!
I would find him a jazz saxophone teacher. Jazz isn’t just about repertoire or playing style, there’s a lot of theory and endless jazz scales that are the core of the jazz language. My son’s going to be a sophomore in college (jazz studies, saxophone performance) and he’s still learning new scales.
My son favored jazz from early on, fully caught the bug attending a summer jazz camp in middle school. But he played both through high school. His private teacher had a BM and MM in classical sax but played jazz professionally and could teach it. My son started taking lessons from a collegiate jazz saxophone professor his senior year in high school.
My S was taking jazz lessons for bass and then added classical, so both lessons each week for a while. Both teachers were aware.
Thank you all. I can’t afford both teachers but just heard that the teacher we found while specialized in jazz teaches both. I’ll ask him if he can continue teaching him both.
We have a music conservatory an hour away.
Datapoint. Our teachers ranged from $50 to $85 per hour. Quality was fine with all. We alternated weeks with each one for quite a while.
What is datapoint?
Hi, @nina11. A datapoint is a piece of information that is specific and true, but not guaranteed to be representative of the entire universe of data. For example, maybe the average nationwide instruction cost is $95 per hour. That would mean that my information is not representative of the norm. However, since it is a truth, it can be told to the group here as a piece of data. In a way, it also invites others to provide “datapoints” so that an understanding of the broad picture can be developed from several data points.
Thank you GoForth:)
You are welcome @nina11. It is nice that the instructor told your son that they are near the limits of her jazz teachings. We had great luck having a jazz grad student from a nearby college to instruct our son very far into jazz theory and other jazz stuff. The pricing there might be better, maybe. Another of my son’s fine instructors was not a professor, but a working musician who also went through the college track. His pricing was also affordable.