If you
post a video of yourself playing saxophone (or singing or doing something else) on Youtube, there are trolls out there who enjoy pointing out everything wrong with it.
Could be your first video and you may feel bad about what they wrote.
But you shouldn’t. If it’s an anonymous person who doesn’t give a name or a video/recording of themselves playing, you really shouldn’t worry about it. They may or not know what they’re talking about. And expecting you to listen with a negative approach is silly.
Earlier, I got some anonymous comment criticizing my time and tone on sax and going on to say some other things about Sax Station. From an anonymous person.
Found it a little annoying. But I didn’t really care. If you have some constructive criticism for me about my sound or Sax Station, go ahead and contact me and let me know. I’ll probably appreciate it if you do it in a constructive way. Many sax players have helped me out with ideas and added things that make Sax Station better.
Feedback matters more when it:
A) Comes from someone you know and respect.
B) Comes from a sax player you know can play.
Preferably both.
Other saxophone players can play better than me. Sonny Rollins, Joshua Redman, James Carter, the list could go on for a while. But internet troll #347 isn’t on the list, since I don’t know what he sounds like.
Sax Station is about helping people learn the saxophone and it does that. I know because I run it.
If you have suggestions to help that process work better, I would love to hear from you.
And if troll #347 is reading this, include your name next time, makes your comment a little bit less like noise.
Thanks!
-Neal
I can’t speak for anyone else but I enjoy and have learned from your web-site.
Don’t let the trolls stop you in anything you do. They are in all walks of life.
Keep rocking!!!!
haha, thanks Tim. I’m not too worried. I know the site has helped quite a few saxophone players so I’ll keep it up. Not sure what he was trying to do….
Hear! Hear!
I agree. I used to let opinions matter to me…it was very self destructive to my growth as a player and my psychology. Now I let me own taste be my arbiter. Not to say I don’t take fair commentary from people, but it’s always with a grain of salt.
Young players, take heart. There’s a lot of frustrated musicians out there with chips on their shoulders, but there’s a lot of genuine ones too, with lots to offer. Trust yourself and you’ll do well. Don’t let the bad vibes get you down.
Thanks Adam.
Some of the best musicians I met are extremely humble and very willing to help younger sax players.
Appreciate your comment.
-Neal
Ugh, what a bummer. The internet makes it easier to put yourself out there, but it also makes it easy for people to criticize anonymously without having to back up their opinions.
As you say, ‘who’ is giving the critique matters. I learnt in writer’s workshops that a useful question to ask is:
“What is the source of this information?”
It helps separate the wheat from the chaff.
Cheers,
Dave
Hey Dave,
Definitely. Good to hear from you.
-Neal
I agree. It would be better to just ignore those people. Sometimes criticisms are good but if they came from the wrong people, those are trash. More power to you!
Hey George,
haha, yes. I’m fairly selective about who I really pay attention to, especially with criticism.
totally true! everytime I posted videos on youtube, there will be some troll who points to all the bad stuff. It is really annoying, but the only thing we can do is to ignore them.
Majority of people who give u baseless criticism is almost always 12 years old pimply kids trying to look tough anyway 😛
Hey Victor,
Yep, seems to be a somewhat common happening. I remember little kids would be smack talking with some of my roommates in college playing Halo, it was silly.
Neal: There’s that neat little button/setting on YouTube that allows you to review comments before they actually appear on your video.
You can set Comments on YouTube like this:
* Allow comments automatically
* Allow friends’ comments automatically, all others with approval only
* Allow all comments with approval only
* Don’t allow comments
We can focus on what’s most important – learning. But not from trolls!
Hey Charles,
Thanks. I generally will be careful about the settings, but sometimes I forget.