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About Us
My Mission
I set up Ed Sax School because music has brought me so much joy throughout my life. And for me, music is about communicating that passion to others and helping others to experience that joy as well.
I’m not a genius and I certainly wasn’t born with any innate ability – I got there through hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and by having loving and supportive family and friends around me, encouraging me every step of the way.
My mission is to show you that you, too, can get there. I’m here to support you and to provide the structure and encouragement and all you have to do is to provide the hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.
Whatever age you are and whatever experience you have, I want to prove to you that you, too, can become a great saxophone player or a great improviser – and nothing would make me happier!
Good luck and I look forward to seeing you in the lessons.
Ed Barker
In 2012 Ed was solo saxophonist for the pop legend, George Michael and in 2014 a song from his debut album, Simple Truth, called When You Smile became No. 1 in the US Independent Pop Charts for 4 weeks in 2014. Because of all the US radio plays the song was getting, Ed relocated from London to Hollywood, LA, at the end of 2014.
But Ed really didn’t want to lose his saxophone students from the UK so he started transferring them all over to private Skype lessons and taught them over webcam from LA. This worked for a while but as Ed’s playing career got busier and he was inundated with requests for more Skype lessons, he decided to set up Ed Sax School.
Course for Complete Beginners
If you’re totally new to the saxophone and have never read a note of music in your life, these lessons are for you!
Learn At Home Any Time
Take your lessons at any time of day or night and watch them as many times as you want.
Watch The Lessons on All Devices
The site and lessons work perfectly on any device – iPads, tablets, phones, computers and laptops.
The most comprehensive beginner saxophone lessons on the internet
The benefit of this was that Ed could keep his current students but rapidly take on more students from around the world and start creating an online jazz and saxophone community. Students from around the world can benefit from each other’s experiences and we now have an increasing number of students from America, England, Russia, Australia, Brazil, China and Japan. Instead of a lesson being private, it’s now available for everyone to use – over and over again!
Before all this happened, Ed was lead alto saxophonist with Britain’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra which took him all over Britain between 2006-2010 and, of course, to London’s famous Ronnie Scott’s, not only performing but taking workshops and teaching the saxophone and jazz to students from around the country. He then wrote a transcription book with his favourite saxophone player and friend, Nigel Hitchcock, which was endorsed by America’s leading jazz educator, Jamey Aebersold.
Ed was never formally trained as a musician so he has a unique perspective and approach to learning the saxophone and jazz harmony. He took clarinet and piano lessons up to the age of 16 but taught himself the saxophone – in fact, he started by stealing his sister’s saxophone to practise on! A lot of his learning happened by sitting alongside other sax players in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra – which is why the international community element of Ed Sax School is so important for Ed. He also learnt by listening to and talking to his heroes – like Nigel Hitchcock.
Ed is out there, gigging, performing and recording every day and putting into practice the same principles he will be teaching you so he is unlike any teacher you’ll have come across before.
Ed Sax School currently has over 500 students worldwide…
Once the site was set up and students began enrolling on the courses, Ed said that he wishes there was a resource like this when he was learning where someone could have structured his education from the very beginning – he says it would have saved him a lot of time!