‘I bought a sax at a pawnshop and I used to play it pretty well.’ I hear such stories one in a while. My question is ‘and why did you stop playing it?’

Through my experience to teach amateur and professional saxophonists, the last year, I started to upload YouTube videos to support people in suburbs of the world, where they can hardly find someone knowledgeable about saxophone and performing it.

An Internet video chat student of mine in Germany is a very hardworking Sunday musician and he drives for 4 hours to join jazz workshops. And he has been studying jazz sax performance with me for 4 years.

First 25 videos I shot in 2016, video number 000-024, are advice that beginners should see. Video 000 starts with how to select reeds and how to put a reed on mouthpiece. Video 001 explains abdominal breathing that is the most important fundamental technique to play wind instruments. And video 008 explains ghost note tonguing with visual image. Some saxophonists of the world have already liked it.

This year, I have started off with a video for intermediate level saxophonist. Video 025 explains chromatic approach note and chromatic passing note associated with basic rhythm analysis of Bebop phrasing. As a matter of fact, I was a teaching assistant of rhythm analysis classes at New School University Jazz And Contemporary Music program in 2001.

I hope my video would help saxophonists who understand my slow English in this world, and those who bought sax at pawnshops would keep playing.

I think a saxophone can be your friend for life. What do you say about that?

Playlist of Wataru sax lesson video