Are you looking to do classical or jazz or.....????

Nathan Keedy at UT is a former teacher of mine, and he's good. He's much more of a classical player than a jazz player, however he CAN do jazz also.

Chris S

 

I prefer classical, but jazz may grow on me in the coming years.....haha....but I will definitely look into that!! Thanks!!! Anybody else??

 

Check out Don Aliquo Jr at http://www.live365.com/stations/southernarts?site=southernarts . I go back with his father to the 60s - they are both superb players. Jr has been at Middle Tennessee State Univ. for @ 6 or 7 years now.

 

Yeah, Don is a fine player. Belmont University has a commercial music program that is second to none. Their sax instructor (Jeff Kirk) -- I think that he is still there is a true jazz virtuoso.

 

I just noticed your post, and I thought I'd throw my two cents (or thereabouts) in. If you're looking for a school to study saxophone in Tennessee, I'd whole-heartedly reccomend Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville. I'm about to enter my sophomore year as a saxophone major, and I love it. Mr. Philip Barham, the saxophone professor, is the greatest teacher I've ever met in my life. Mr. Barham holds a bachelors from North Texas and a masters from the University of Michigan, where he studied with the god of the saxophone, Don Sinta. Mr. Barham is simply a wonderful guy. He'll push you to be the best you can possibly be. He assures every student that, as long as they're willing to put in the work, he can get them into a good grad school and get them an assitantship to boot. He has connections to everyone. I've learned so much from him, it'd be impossible to describe. He's simply amazing. He'll show you things about music and things about yourself that are incredible. He loves the saxophone, and he's nothing but great. He'll give you a fantastic grounding in classical saxophone while helping you a great deal with jazz...Aside from all of that, he's a great guy who really cares about his students. On Thursday evenings we have "Us Time" where we just come hang out with him and talk. You can talk to him about anything, and if anything at all's bothering you, he can help you. Just last Monday night, he and I went to a bar down the street from campus to sit around and talk for a few hours. He goes about a million miles beyond what he has to. In the two years he's been at Tech, he's already turned us into the best studio in the school, and the future just keeps looking brighter. I'm sure he'd be happy to give you a lesson if you don't mind coming over to Cookeville. His email address is pbarham@tntech.edu. I really hope you'll look into it. You'd never regret it. I hope to maybe see you around in a few years.

 

Ah, glad that this thread got bumped back up.

Nathan Keedy is no longer in TN, he's having some family problems, no idea when or if he's coming back.

It sounds like saxophonerific has a great teacher (never heard Mr. Barham unfortunately).

I also completely forgot Don Aliquo. I've heard him play many times, never had a lesson, and he's a very fine player. I saw him jamming a few months ago at the UNC Jazz Fest with Dana Landry, Jim White (formerly with Maynard's band), and Rufus Reid. Hot stuff.

Chris S

 

To music school or not to music school.........

The thing I struggled with in my last two years of High School (early 90s)was which direction to go in college. My 2 passions were computers and my horn. In the end, I decided that I would one day want to be able to feed my family/make the house payment/have children and not worry too much about money. So I went the computer science route, and have never regretted it. I still play my horn with various groups around town. In fact, in one of the groups, I sit next to a young tenor player who just finished his degree. He majored in music/Sax performance. Now he's planning to back for his masters in something else so he can find a job other than working at the cellular phone retailer where he is currently employed.

I'm not trying to knock majoring in music, but be sure to take everything into consideration when making such a decision.

 

If you major in music ed, you'll have no problem at all finding a job. Then, if you want to, you can get your masters in performance. Contrary to popular belief, a degree in music is worth quite a bit more than the paper it's printed on. You probably won't become rich and famous, but if you're anything like me, you probably don't care. Keeping my soul clean's a little more important than that...Sorry. That was off subject...Anyway, I just thought I'd post Mr. Barham's bio. http://www.tntech.edu/brass/saxophone/professor/
If anyone was at the recent NASA regional conference in Arkansas, you had the oppurtuntity to see him perform.

 

Krazykooter, I'll have to second saxophonerific here. Though I am doing it the other way around, bachelor's in performance and master's in ed, the same basic results can be achieved on a route like this: teacher's certification, teaching at a school and eventually a university, and having private students the whole way through.

I know some guys who make their living off of just having private students! Of course they're great players too and that's what it's all about. They tend to be really happy people, having made their living performing and spreading their knowledge about music. It takes a certain kind of dedication and work ethic to get to that point, but it's definitely possible.