Selecting a Musical Instrument for Your ChildWriten by Gene Smith
You child is interested in learning to play the guitar or piano or other instrument? What do you do? Do you play the music? If you do, some of your traits may have been deposited in the smaller being. He or she may have a head start on playing an instrument. If not, there's still hope. Let's go through this slowly.
WHERE'S THE INTEREST-Does you child want to learn to play an instrument..or..do you want your child to learn to play an instrument? Remember, you can lead a PhD to a broken commode, but he ain't gonna fix it! I mean, the child must have some talent, and more importantly, a strong desire to learn music.
A half a century ago, in my neighborhood, there was a little girl who took piano lessons religiously for years. Her playing was just about as good after three years as it was the first month! In music there is a bass line (pardon the pun!). You've got to have some talent and you have to be able to count to 4, 6, 8 or 12 over and over.
With all of this said, I must emphasis that desire and practice will overcome a lot of things. If your child really wants to play, he or she will do it and probably will do it successfully.
QUALITY OVER PRICE- You may want the first instrument to be an economical one. If it works out that the child has no talent or worse yet, looses interest, you won't be out of too much money. In this article, I'm not endorsing an product. However, I will mention several as we go along to give you an indication of prices, quality, etc.
For a first guitar, I think that one like a Yamaha is a good investment. They can be had for less than $200. You want an instrument that stays in tune, plays relatively easy and doesn't sound like a rubber band on a cigar box!
For a piano, you may want to skip a Steinway unless you have immutable wealth. The Steinway, of course, is a glorious piece of work! However, for a beginner, you may want to start with an inexpensive keyboard. As your child progress, you may want to move up to either a relative good piano or more expensive keyboard with more options.
I don't know much about brass and woodwind. Get a friend that plays to go to the music store with you for that kind of purchase. As with all instrument, if you go too cheap, the child will loose interest because of the poor quality.
Violins-You gotta start about mid-range..about $500. This is my opinion.
DON'T PUSH-I you start that you better practice your music stuff, your kid will get turned off of music. If he or she ain't got the desire, they ain't gonna play and they ain't gonna play well. This music stuff has to come from them and has to come from inside of them. It's just like-you can't make someone love you!
SINGING-If your child can sing, encourage him or her. Again, don't push-but give credit where it is due. Get your child to a good teacher and see what happens. With singing, you or your child can pull the plug. You don't have to ship back the voice or take it to a pawn shop. Just count it up as an experience of what you can't do very well in life.
PARTING WORDS-Parents, look back at your own life. You'll probably remember all those kids in high school that were in the band. For me, I know of few who continued an interest in music into adulthood. Think you those guys who had a noisy garage band. Some of them are now in their fifties and still playing!
But if your child wants to be in the school band, encourage. If your child wants to start up a duo, encourage. Remember, the greatest tree comes from a small seed!
Gene Smith is an E-Zine writer and songwriter from West Virginia. He has several CDs and two books. His newest book is, Call Of The Defiled, a collection of short stories. He holds a B.A. and is a former Fellow of I.S.P.E. He lives near Charles Town. Check out http://www.booksmusiccoffeeconfusion.com for more information or items that may be of interest.
(c)2006 Gene Smith
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