At the last show Deception played at The Gourmet Gallery in June, I had an entire family come up and talk to me. I had noticed that they had been sitting directly in front of the band during the first set, and the older boy had been watching me intently. During the set break they introduced themselves, and told me that they had driven in from Coquitlam (about a 30 minute drive minus any traffic snarls) to hear us.
It turns out that the 12 year old boy had been playing alto sax for a year, but wanted to switch to tenor. They had heard about our band, and since there were so few bands with sax players, and even fewer that played in venues where kids were welcome, they made the trek to hear and see us, so that their son could hear me, and that they might be able to talk a bit to me.
I spent the 10 minutes of the set break talking to them, and answering their questions. Things like: Yes, all saxophones play basically the same. You finger the notes on tenor, the same as you would on alto…Stuff like that.
I told them that if they get a tenor for their son, that I would be quite happy to give him a few lessons over the summer, to help him make the transition. It would require a bit more breath support, etc. etc.
I really was on autopilot. I wasn’t thinking. I’ve been saying the same thing for years, and wasn’t really giving my current health situation any consideration.
After our set break was over, we played for another hour. The family from Coquitlam stayed for most of the 2nd hour, despite having to get up at 4:00 AM to drive one of their kids to hockey practice. When they left, I waved goodbye, and then I forgot all about the conversation until I got a phone call this past weekend from the mom.
It turns out that about two weeks ago they got a tenor sax for their son (I heard him playing it in the background) and she was wondering if she could take me up on that offer to have a few lessons. I explained that I’m currently not able to commit to teaching, and have no students, but would be willing to spend a bit of time with him here and there, as needed, to get him up and running. So we settled on Monday at noon.
So yesterday at 12:00, I open the door to the entire family, minus only dad. They came in and the first thing the kids were drawn to in my studio was the case of my bass sax. They of course wanted to know what was in the purple box on the couch, so I showed them the bass sax.
Then they gravitated to the next biggest case, that of my Medusa bari, and they wanted to know what was in there. I showed them that horn…It’s of course nice & shiny and new.
After show and tell was over, everyone but the oldest son (the sax player) left for an hour. He and I then spent an hour going over all the things I normally go over in a first lesson like this. Stuff like: assembling & disassembling your horn; reed care; never totally trusting your neck strap with its cheap plastic clip; & breath support. I gave him some exercises to do that would help him given where he’s at; provided a list of a few things that would be helpful like a Reedguard; and suggested a couple of books.
I also tried playing his horn, to make sure it wasn’t leaking too badly, and wasn’t going to be a source of frustration for him. As I started looking it over, I realized that it’s a Yamaha YTS-23. It had likely only been out on rental 1 year previously, and was in really nice shape. The only sign of wear was where the left thumb operates the octave key, but other then that, the horn was minty.
So after an hour, the rest of the family gets back, and everyone piles back into the studio again. We go over the list I provided of useful things and suggested books. We discuss the rest of the summer, and I agree to do another lesson towards the end of August, after their holidays are over.
What’s really great about this kid is that he has not only got a talent for music, he plays piano, so that of course helps too, but he is really motivated, and as we teachers know, that can be a rare quality. How many 12 year olds want to take sax lessons in summer? How many 12 year olds ask their parents to get them another type of sax in the summer, so that when they start band in September, they will be comfortable with their new axe? In my experience, not many! I also think it’s really amazing that after 1 year of playing alto, he came to the conclusion, that tenor was more his voice.
Yesterday was a nice day for me. Despite the fact that I was
a lot & was unsteady on my feet during the lesson (I had told the mom on the phone what was going on with me, so she knew and could tell her son) I also felt like I was able to “be normal” again in some small way.
For that 2 hours I spent with the family from Coquitlam, I was able to be Helen Kahlke, Saxophone Instructor, rather than Helen Kahlke, neurology/vestibular patient of doctors V, S, S, V, A, L, et al.
