CHOOSING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

Which instrument should your child play? If ever there was a time to encourage your child to experiment, this is it. Chances are your child will want to try out at least a couple of instruments before settling on one.

Expose your child to instrumental music as early as you can. With some early music instruction in a church or community choir or even at home, she may be able to pick up an instrument quite rapidly. All instruments fall into four categories: string, brass, woodwind, and percussion. Piano is considered a basic instrument (many music programs expect “piano proficiency”). It also provides a good basis for picking up a secondary and portable instrument. Many students make the easy switch to a different instrument within the same family, such as from clarinet to saxophone.

HOW TO CHOOSE

• Learn with your child about the different families of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Try to find an instrument that meshes well with your child’s personality.

• Seek out local band or orchestra concerts with your child and, if possible, a friend who knows something about music. Take your child to an orchestra concert and talk afterwards about what you saw and heard.

• Listen to musical pieces that feature a range of instruments. Listen to a classical station on the radio and try to identify the instruments.

• Set a budget for your musical instrument. Some instruments, such as the French horn, tuba, bassoon and oboe, may be a bit on the pricey side, but school music departments usually have a small number of these instruments in their inventories.

• Let your child try out a few instruments by borrowing from a friend or going to a music shop. She will also likely have the opportunity to try a few out in music class at her school, as music instructors often let students borrow equipment.

• Your child’s school band or orchestra director should know someone who can lend your child an instrument.

• Keep your lifestyle in mind. If either space or mobility is an issue, go with the portability of a small instrument like clarinet or violin.

• Strategically choose your child’s instrument instead of falling back on convenience. Whether the piano teacher lives right around the corner or the music teacher gives free violin lessons at school, if the instrument is not a good match for your child, she will be frustrated, and the experience will have been a waste of your child’s time and your money.

PHYSICAL SUITABILITY

• Talk to the school band or orchestra teacher about your child’s interest, as well as her size, before making a decision.

• Consider physical restrictions when choosing an instrument. Some instruments, such as a cello or tuba, may be too cumbersome or heavy for a small child, and some instruments may require dexterity or extra breath support.

• Unless you plan on driving your child to and from school each time she needs to bring her instrument home, a tuba is probably not going to be a good choice. Stay away from an instrument with a case that’s difficult to manage on a crowded school bus.

• Few instruments come small enough for little fingers and bodies, so your child may be limited in the scope of available instruments. The player needs to be able to see and reach all parts of the instrument.

• Because string instruments are built in proportionally smaller sizes, children as young as 3 can play them.

• Recorders and flutes are available in smaller sizes for younger students.

• Due to their size, weight, and length, wind and brass instruments are generally better suited for older children.

• Small children can usually handle a regular piano keyboard with an adjustable chair or footstool.

• Some teachers recommend trying to find an instrument in the same range as your child’s singing voice.

YOUR CHILD’S PREFERENCES

• Spend some time talking to your child and get a sense of what sounds she likes. Which instruments appeal to her?

• Be sure to let her hear every instrument she has the option of choosing. You may decide to go to a local music shop to try out different types of instruments, or ask your child’s teacher if she would be willing to do this during music class.

• Don’t balk if your child tells you she wants to play a “less popular” instrument. Often, this means more opportunities to play in a group setting.

IT’S OK TO SWITCH

• It may help to think of your child’s first instrument as the first of many. Many beginning musicians have much greater success with their second instrument than with their first. Remember that only a few professional musicians actually began on the instrument they now play.

• This is another good reason to rent an instrument instead of buying one. Your child may play for three months and announce that she has decided that it’s actually the violin, not the flute, which she desperately wants to play. For this reason, make a short-term commitment if you’re renting an instrument. Also, many rental agreements will allow you to continue the agreement with a different instrument.

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