Desperately need advice about music lessons for my child

[Snowybird]

My child is 6 years old and spent a long time begging for music lessons, specifically clarinet lessons. We found a lightweight instrument and a teacher, but she always finds reasons not to give a lesson. He has had one lesson since the beginning of December. He has been playing three months now and is therefore essentially self-taught. The trouble is that no teacher seems willing to take him on because they say he is too young and are unwilling to believe that he is very, very motivated and works hard. (I haven't played the "talent" card because I don't really know how talented he is, but he is definitely a competent learner who practices hard and looks forward to his lesson.)
My little boy is now becoming discouraged because of the lack of tuition.
I have of course approached the school and specifically the "music teacher" there but he has no interest in KS1 children and did not get back to me as promised. The school has a huge stock of percussion instruments which are never used. There is no alternative school available.
I have also approached Kent Music School (I live in Sevenoaks) but they say there is nothing they offer for six year olds.
I feel as if I should be doing more, jumping up and down and stamping my feet, but don't know whether there is anyone in the education authorities who might be expected to help me.
Any advice, please?
Many thanks
Laura

[snorkle]

I agree he will need some tuition, so without a willing teacher he will struggle. If you can't find a teacher prepared to teach him clarinet yet could you find a recorder teacher? A lot of the skills are the same & are transferable and the fingering might even be transferable on some types of recorder too. Then when he's older he could switch to clarinet or keep both going?

[AMumInScotland]

Hi, I believe the issue with clarinet is to do with younger children not having their adult teeth yet, rather than the teacher doubting his committment or ability. It's certainly normal enough for a 6 year old to have music lessons eg violin or recorder.

As Snorkle has said, you may do better to try to get him recorder lessons for now, with an agreement that he'll change to clarinet once he's a bit older.

[Snowybird]

Thank you Snorkle and Mum in Scotland for your replies.
I should have said that the instrument is not the problem. He has a Lyons clarinet which is very light and he is not losing any teeth yet. None of the teachers have been put off by these aspects.

It is really about their doubts of his commitment or understanding, even before they meet him!

[CuppaTeaJanice]

Sounds like the teacher has committment problems, not your ds!

Have you tried approaching the music colleges? Guildhall, Royal College of Music etc in London, or more local colleges. One of their clarinet students may live near you. Their students often teach kids to earn a bit of beer money.

[mistlethrush]

The trouble with getting music students (and I know, I was one!) to do lessons is that you don't know which of them will have a talent for teaching small children - its very different from teaching older children - even 10 yos.

I think that you should try to find a good teacher of children - and then start ds off with whatever they teach - this worked for me and the violin (I wanted to learn the flute). If you get the right teacher, they might be able to teach a number of instruments anyway (eg piano, recorder etc).

[Bramshott]

Can you try to find a local teacher through the ISM register here Even if there isn't one locally, someone might be able to suggest one.

I'm not surprised in some ways that the school are concentrating their efforts on the KS2 children, so I guess you'll have to organise it privately. 6 IS very young to learn the clarinet - fair enough that he's not losing any teeth now, but he will, and then will he not play for 2 years while his new ones are coming through? You need to find a teacher who is happy to take this on, and as you've discovered, that might be hard to find.

[seeker]

My dd was desperate to play the clarinet - but all the local teachers said that she had to be at least 9 before she could start - because of hand stretch, strength, teeth and breath control. Could he focus on the recorder, or maybe something like a piccolo if he wants something a bit more challenging?

[MollieO]

I thought it was about the difficulty of correct positioning on the mouthpiece not losing them! What about the piano. My ds is desperate to learn the guitar but isn't allowed to have lessons at school until he is in year 2 so he has started on the piano with the promise of learning the guitar if he does well.

[Bramshott]

With a lot of brass and wind instruments it's not a brilliant idea to play them while your adult teeth are coming through, because the pressure and embouchure can make the new teeth come through crooked. Piccolo is also not really suitable for small children because of the sheer amount of 'puff' required - much more than a flute! Recorder is an ideal start and makes the transition to other woodwind instruments very easy.

[seeker]

Sorry - showing my ignorance again! I thought that if the OP's child had enough puff to get a decent noise out of a clarinet, it might be a good idea if he tried one of the smaller wind instruments - and I got the feeling that the recorder wouldn't be enough for him. Hence my suggestion of the piccolo. I wonder what else he could try?

[ShellingPeas]

People under rate the recorder - a treble recorder (key of F and size up from the standard soprano one we were all inflicted upon at school) has an equivalent repertoire to the flute and is a particularly lovely instrument. I wouldn't discount it as an alternative.

A difficulty with learning wind instruments at a very early age is that the shape of the jaw changes and with that you have changes in embouchure and production of sound. Also the size of the instruments are not so readily scaled down as with stringed instruments (although I do appreciate there are light weight, smaller version of clarinets and oboes for sale, also flutes with curved head joints.) It may be frustrating to wait but it will be better in the long run. As a music teacher I try to encourage children under 6 or 7 to do a general musicianship course (teaching music skills using voice and on tuned and untuned percussion) before embarking on a specific instrument. It gives them a musical foundation and once they've found an instrument which suits their personality and physique they progess so much faster.

There is too much pressure to focus on playing one specific instrument too early. My primary instrument is the flute, but I didn't start playing that until I was 13 (although I did learn piano from around 7 years). Within 2 years of starting flute tuition I was Grade 8, so waiting won't hold back an eager, keen and talented pupil.

[twentypence]

He still has his teeth now - but they will drop out soon and then he will be useless until they grow back.

At 6 I will teach the recorder and the fife as neither really require teeth.

Self taught is such a bad idea at 6, really he is probably doing all manner of things wrong. His breathing will be all over the shop, he will be harder to teach than if he'd never had a lesson. You may find it difficult to get a teacher because of this even when he is 8.

My advice? Let him carry on until the teeth go and then make him stop until they grow back. Then get a really good teacher.

[Snowybird]

Thanks everyone for your advice. We have happily found a very good teacher who I think is flexible on which instrument DS learns once the teeth are a problem.
Although my little boy sight-reads very easily and has a musical ear, he is struggling with tonguing (tongueing?) so the teacher is unsure how quickly he will progress and if/when the teeth will become a problem. That's because he's never had a six-year-old with commitment before! So we'll see how things go, but the main thing is that the teacher is prepared to stick with us!

[thirtypence]

He needs to keep blowing and just using the tongue to stop the airflow. Think of it as putting your thumb over a hose pipe- the water is still trying to get out and is building up pressure.

Using the french rhythms names is also helpful. A crotchet is Ta, so if you think about saying "ta" the tongue will go to the right place.