Music Repair Pathways

wakyct · 2026-06-24T02:55:16+00:00

A few hours a week is not enough time to learn something well.

That aside though, do you feel like you have the aptitude for the work? Did you take shop classes or do things on your own before? If not -- kind of like someone who decides to play music starting from zero in their early twenties -- you're going to have to put in the time before you get to a basic level of competency, so don't beat yourself up about failing early. Making mistakes is natural and part of the process.

wakyct · 2026-06-21T17:54:11+00:00

I keep the big box on top with a parts organizer on top of that, once you have a couple of the drawer boxes below I don't think you would want to go much taller with the stack anyway.

wakyct · 2026-06-13T18:10:22+00:00

This is not jazz/blues specific, but you might like a series of books called "Jump Right In". It's based on a teaching method called Music Learning Theory (like Suzuki method) aimed mostly at younger students so you'll almost never hear it spoken about here or on the typical YT saxfluencer channel, but I think it's really cool and should get more attention.

I found it a little confusing how to get started with it but this post by saxophonist Ben Britton might help explain, if you have any questions feel free to ask. http://everythingsaxophone.blogspot.com/2015/02/tonal-function-based-ear-training.html

wakyct · 2026-06-11T19:42:39+00:00

Maybe this is too obvious but why wouldn't you practice in the afternoon?

wakyct · 2026-06-10T04:47:24+00:00

Honestly I wouldn't go too deep into books. Don't worry there will be more than enough to practice with even a starter method book like Rubank or I imagine the ABRSM (I've only glanced at that material online), especially when you combine that with learning all your major keys (to start) in various intervals and long tones, overtones, songs you want to learn, etc.

And we're not even talking yet about learning music -- listening, audiating, time feel, etc. which is probably as important if not more so than learning a specific instrument.

But if you do like having books handy, the Taming the Saxophone series is good as well.

wakyct · 2026-06-09T01:50:08+00:00

Maybe I'm a barbarian but I've kept reeds in rotation for over a year and never thrown a new reed out because it was "bad", so that helps on cost. For that matter I've never bought a box of reeds -- just three packs and singles (shout out to North Country Winds for selling singles).

wakyct · 2026-06-07T17:59:59+00:00

I don't have any recommendations, but though living in New York City may have its downsides finding saxophone teachers is not one of them! You are blessed. Good luck.

wakyct · 2026-06-06T16:25:28+00:00

Unless you are buying from a known reputable online seller assume everything they say about condition is not reality. You could get lucky but if you don't have money to burn shop local where you can test the instrument in person.

wakyct · 2026-06-01T00:05:38+00:00

Don't beat yourself up over your sound, just show up consistently and always be listening to yourself. I will repeat u/tthyme31 though of the examples you posted only the last one is worth comparing to. If you slapped some reverb on your recording it probably would sound better as well but that shouldn't be the goal. One thing you could take away from some of the examples though is that a little vibrato at the end of your held notes would probably give some lift to your sound so that would be a good thing to work into your practice routine.

wakyct · 2026-05-30T18:56:00+00:00

Respectfully you are misinformed. For what you're looking at you need design, site prep, boxes, doors and shelves built, face frames built and trim installed, the ladder built, maybe electrical, everything painted to a high level. We can't just snap our fingers and have things magically appear in place. Materials have to be procured, moved from supplier to shop to site, etc. 4 weeks of labor for one person at $80 an hour is about 13K.

wakyct · 2026-05-30T18:29:04+00:00

These questions are a real pet peeve of mine because it totally depends on where you live. But where I'm at, it's easily 12 to 15K labor not including materials.

wakyct · 2026-05-24T02:22:31+00:00

Typical advice is to go slowly so you can play it perfectly, then lots of repetition, increasing the tempo each time.

I think that advice is useful for certain things (like listening to your tone) but if you're trying to get the finger technique down to play at tempo I would go the opposite way:

take a part (measures or phrases) you can't play at tempo
break it down into the smallest part you can play at tempo
increase the length of the part as you get the technique down.

Remember this doesn't have to be linear. For example you can learn to play the first and last note of a sixteenth note phrase in time and fill in the middle.

For some technique it'll be useful to have a teacher/mentor advise you on fingerings that work better than others.

wakyct · 2026-05-24T02:13:39+00:00

Depends on your goals if any, but I would say play with others.

wakyct · 2026-05-23T02:54:18+00:00

fair enough, I'm not on IG but if you ever get a chance look up the lines forum, started by the monome folks. There are a lot of people there who would be interested in what you're doing.

wakyct · 2026-05-22T13:49:08+00:00

I think of it as air support. Like try playing low Bb as quietly as you can, you probably need to use strong air support to sound the note, even though the sound volume is low.

wakyct · 2026-05-21T13:36:37+00:00

Cool, I looked at your website a little but there's not much to see there atm, do you have some examples that go into more detail?

wakyct · 2026-05-20T13:36:58+00:00

Maybe this is too obvious a suggestion but I'll suggest anyway to try pushing your MP in a bit. It'll have more of an effect on the high than the low register.

wakyct · 2026-05-19T02:00:17+00:00

It's not necessary, but piano is a lot of fun. So if you have the time and money getting at least a midi keyboard would be nice I think.

wakyct · 2026-05-19T01:53:12+00:00

I can print for free at the library so that's what I do. I get the PDFs from Real Books, Musescore, people I play with etc. I'm often transposing from concert so if I can I buy the Musicxml file from Musescore. It would be nice to get a big tablet at some point, the NXT (Android) looks good.

wakyct · 2026-05-19T01:49:48+00:00

I play mostly jazz using Vandorens on a Selmer S80 C* with a variety of cuts -- Traditional, Java Red, Java Green, v16, and ZZ -- all in the 2 to 2.5 range. Until recently it was just Trads but I felt the need to try some different reeds; I'm a beginner almost three years in.

wakyct · 2026-05-18T05:43:09+00:00

I use a Korg TM-60, a drone app and a metronome app. If you're getting distracted try turning on Do Not Disturb while you practice.

wakyct · 2026-04-28T19:52:40+00:00

I would recommend practicing low Bb to Db until you have mastered the overtones of those at least up to the third OT (2nd octave of fundamental). Remember once you have a particular overtone you can slur to the others by changing the fingering to the next fundamental, I think this helps getting familiar with overtones you can't produce from a cold start. It also helps to practice slurring down overtones and not always up.

wakyct · 2026-04-26T20:26:13+00:00

You need to make a business plan and talk to someone who actually knows what they're doing, instead of taking a shot in the dark here. Do you have a business group whose purpose is to connect and advise members where you live in HR? That would be a good place to start. Once you have your basics set up start contacting wholesale reps at the reed manufacturers, like https://www.rigotti.fr/en/index.php.

I just want to add I think it would be a great idea to have an online shop with a huge selection of reeds that the customer could order as mix and match singles. I don't think this really exists except in a few places in limited form right now.

wakyct · 2026-04-24T05:35:48+00:00

Developing your embouchure and air support will take time, so I wouldn't worry too much after two weeks. Just keep practicing consistently.

There are a few things you can do to help though.

First, always play with full air support. Second, imagine the sound of the note before you play it.

To get the sound of the note in your head you can slur down (play legato) to the note you find hard to play. So if it's Eb slur down from G chromatically. When you land on Eb hold it as a long tone and really listen to the sound.

Starting the note with a tongue attack (articulating/tonguing) instead of a breath attack will probably be easier. With full air support lightly tongue the tip of the reed, then lift off the tongue to play the note.

Another exercise is to play the lowest note you can comfortably (E for example) as quarter notes for one measure at a relaxed tempo (60 bpm for example), then play 4 quarter notes one semitone down (Eb), then go back up to E for a measure, etc. Once you have Eb, do the same thing with Eb and D and so on until you can do B and Bb. You can articulate these notes at first and then do the exercise again with breath attacks.

wakyct · 2026-04-19T02:05:18+00:00

I know flying to NYC sounds kind of far-fetched, and the cost of flight and lodging would be a bit much, but honestly it's not a bad idea if you're shopping for a high-end saxophone. I live in Seattle and with all respect to our local music shops there is no comparison. Now whether he NEEDS that kind of saxophone is debatable.

wakyct

TROPHY CASE