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The Lowdown on Appropriate Musical Instruments for Children

By Ruth Williams


As a parent, you want to expose your children to as many interesting experiences as possible, and that includes exposure to music. Formal music lessons are a bad idea at a young age but listening to different types of music and creating noises and rhythm on simple instruments can be a lot of fun for the child. We recommend avoiding lessons before the age of eight, unless they show a real interest in children's musical instruments before then. Expose them to different styles and genres of music. Take them to live music experiences as often as you can.

In order to learn to play a musical instrument properly they will need to be able to recognise numbers and letters up to G. They should also be developmentally ready as well, both physically and emotionally. For example, children should wait until their second set of front teeth are fully grown before picking up the trumpet or cornet.

The recorder is a very popular beginner's musical instrument, and is a good introduction to other wind instruments as a child grows. When played well, it can be played up to concert standard, and can be a very rewarding and beautiful instrument. A child can play a recorder early, as soon as his or her fingers are big enough to cover the holes.

Other wind instruments such as the trombone or clarinet are better suited to older children as they require a lot of effort to produce a sound. Generally, these types of instruments don't come in smaller sizes and when they do (the piccolo or soprano saxophone, for example), they require a good level of skill and so are not really ideal for young children. Most children start with the cornet and progress to larger and more complicated instruments as they mature.

A popular musical instrument for having lessons on is the piano, which acts as the foundation to most musical learning. Once a child has enough strength to press down the keys they can learn this musical instrument. Another popular children's musical instrument is the violin as this comes in smaller sizes. Stringed instruments often come in smaller sizes, so children can start playing them at a young age. A number of stringed instruments can be one-eighth of the size of full sized instruments. The majority of guitars, for example, are available in smaller sizes and are suited for children aged 8 and above.

Sometimes children and their parents forget that the singing voice is the perfect musical instrument. Children ought to be inspired to sing from a young age and have self-confidence in their ability. Singing is something that all children can be concerned with and is a great group activity for school music classes.




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