Started learning clarinet in my 30. The internet was full of advice against learning clarinet without a teacher. So I took lessons. It surely helped but it did not feel like a great accelerator. Most gain came from practising almost every day for about three years. After the birth of my daughter I stopped taking lessons because I did no longer have the time to practice and to drive to the teacher's home once a week. I wonder if anyone has experience with online teaching? Commuting to a teacher's place won't fit my schedule anymore. But I wonder whether a teacher can really be helpful via a standard webcam.
I started learning the saxophone at about the same age than you. I agree that daily practice changes everything in terms of progress — one trick (suggested by my teacher) is to always have the instrument out of its box/carrying bag and ready to play. You will tend to pick it up (even randomly during the day) much more.
As for teaching, I found an amazingly kind, patient and talented sax teacher before the pandemic and went to her studio once a week. We’ve since transitioned to online teaching and although there are of course things that you need to adapt to (switching from facetime to skype to another device mid class because it’s echo cancelling the song you’re trying to play over), it’s really great.
Her academic / professionaly trained ear picks up all of the problems I’m not aware of. And her guidance and praise keeps me motivated. She comes up with new exercises knowing what will interest me (I’m learning almost exclusively by ear), suggests great new songs, etc.
I highly recommend reaching out to your teacher and asking if lessons are offered online.
And anyone looking for an amazing sax teacher, contact me. (No affiliation ha. Just lots of praise for this amazing person)
Right now I'm learning clarinet online via Skype due to COVID (clarinet playing doesn't seem to be the safest activity right now). It's honestly better than I expected. Try to get a decent microphone (not very expensive, I got one for around 30-40 euros, Skype does not have sound quality high enough to notice better mics) and headphones.
There are still limitations, teacher can't really test the reeds, and some things can't be heard through Skype, but it's better than nothing. You can also combine it with in-person classes once a month or once every two months so that the teacher can hear you for real and correct things every once in a while.
