I realize I tend to make my posts way too long, and I lose out on responses because of it. But please, if you know anything about learning music and\or saxophones in India, I would appreciate your help.
I learned to play the piano for about a year and a half when i was in the second grade before my teacher moved out of town. i was in a no-name town in Saudi then, and finding piano teachers wasn't very easy. and i never really took it up again even after moving back home a couple of years later. very regretful in hindsight (as most things are
) Only now am I realizing what I left behind. I would like to take up music again, but the thing is, I wasn't very good to begin with. I knew people with barely any more experience than I had who were able to play pieces after hearing them a couple of times, while I was stuck fumbling around reading sheet music.
I was wondering if that sort of natural talent is a requirement for getting into music. Not a professional level by any means, but to a level of competence where you can say, “i play the guitar\piano\sax...â€. This is important to me, because im interested in learning to play the saxophone, which, when used as a jazz instrument, is centered around improvisation. But my history with music somehow tells me that my prospects might not be as picturesque as i'd like. I guess my question is this: can someone, who, lets assume, has a below average ear for music become proficient with regular (daily) practice without it getting in the way of one's normal life?
Another thing holding me back has been cost of entry. Before the sax, I was (and still am) interested in playing the drums, but portability and neighbor-friendliness required me to look at electronic drumsets. After some research, I realized it was way out of my budget with decent starter kits at around $800 to $1000. Now, im wrestling with the same issue with the saxophones. One of the most popular recommendations for student sax's are the Yamaha YAS-23's . Its around $600 in the states, and Rs 54k on bajaao.com both of which are well out of my means. Even the lower end student sax's are around $200 (used Bundy II's and the like). But I read on a forum where someone said to avoid Indian and Chinese saxophones despite their alluring price. I wanted to know what the price range of locally made sax's are in India. I'm not too worried about sound quality as I plan to use it just to learn. And if im any good after a couple of years, I want to switch to the baritone sax anyway, as its what im really interested in (student saxophones are primarily alto sax's). But it has to be reasonably durable. Also, how is the availability of things like reeds, mouthpieces and repair services for saxophones in India?
Thanks in advance.
I learned to play the piano for about a year and a half when i was in the second grade before my teacher moved out of town. i was in a no-name town in Saudi then, and finding piano teachers wasn't very easy. and i never really took it up again even after moving back home a couple of years later. very regretful in hindsight (as most things are
) Only now am I realizing what I left behind. I would like to take up music again, but the thing is, I wasn't very good to begin with. I knew people with barely any more experience than I had who were able to play pieces after hearing them a couple of times, while I was stuck fumbling around reading sheet music. I was wondering if that sort of natural talent is a requirement for getting into music. Not a professional level by any means, but to a level of competence where you can say, “i play the guitar\piano\sax...â€. This is important to me, because im interested in learning to play the saxophone, which, when used as a jazz instrument, is centered around improvisation. But my history with music somehow tells me that my prospects might not be as picturesque as i'd like. I guess my question is this: can someone, who, lets assume, has a below average ear for music become proficient with regular (daily) practice without it getting in the way of one's normal life?
Another thing holding me back has been cost of entry. Before the sax, I was (and still am) interested in playing the drums, but portability and neighbor-friendliness required me to look at electronic drumsets. After some research, I realized it was way out of my budget with decent starter kits at around $800 to $1000. Now, im wrestling with the same issue with the saxophones. One of the most popular recommendations for student sax's are the Yamaha YAS-23's . Its around $600 in the states, and Rs 54k on bajaao.com both of which are well out of my means. Even the lower end student sax's are around $200 (used Bundy II's and the like). But I read on a forum where someone said to avoid Indian and Chinese saxophones despite their alluring price. I wanted to know what the price range of locally made sax's are in India. I'm not too worried about sound quality as I plan to use it just to learn. And if im any good after a couple of years, I want to switch to the baritone sax anyway, as its what im really interested in (student saxophones are primarily alto sax's). But it has to be reasonably durable. Also, how is the availability of things like reeds, mouthpieces and repair services for saxophones in India?
Thanks in advance.
