Which instrument for 8 year old

[ArtOfTheImpossible]

From next year my 8 year old daughter can choose any instrument she wants at school. She doesn't know what she wants, any advice on how to pick?

I play the flute myself but knew what i wanted around age 10. I'm wondering whether something like oboe, cello might be a good choice - there seem to be so many violinists already.

Not a cello. Something she will be able to carry to school by herself.

Trumpet. Starting on a cornet if she's little. Valves are great for little fingers.

Definitely trumpet/cornet!

Tenor horn. Nice big mouthpiece, easy to get a nice sound out, and not too high and squeaky

Drums are great. DD started at 9 and had done her grade 8 well before GCSE’s and I think it has become a life long passion

Something with a mute! So agree with a horn of some description

Definitely something easy to carry. I packed in the bassoon purely because it was too heavy for me to lug around.

I played the oboe, thanks to Iva Davies from Icehouse, Andy McKay from Roxy Music and Mick Karn from the band, Japan.

It's fiddly, expensive and sounds terrible until you really learn it well.
I played it from age 11-18 and I loved it.
Im 51 and im now thinking of picking it up again.

I should say oboe as that's what I did. Started at the same age (or thereabouts). Teacher was a little reluctant as I recall as fingers can be a little small to stretch over all the keys at that age! I really wanted to do clarinet, though (long story). Either are good as relatively small cases to carry!
In terms of how to choose, it was a case of what was available with a loan instrument! What sort of music does she like listening to? If choice was (virtually) unlimited and I had my time again, I'd go for an instrument that's common in the sort of music I like to be able to learn some play along stuff.

Can you take her to one of those concerts (the National Theatre does them, but I’m sure there are others) where kids can see and sometimes try different instruments before short concert aimed at children? That’s where my dd fell in love with a bassoon (though she had to start, several years later, on a tenoroon, and even that was pretty big for her).

Cello definitely... with a good case they are perfectly OK to carry and would prob start on a half size. Ds1 started in year 3 and has now just finiahed A levels.... G8 and sounds amazing. He sounded good from pretty early on... my brother played oboe and it's v hard when young. And you need to find the right Reed etc etc and v expensive to buy if she does carry on.

Ask the music teacher at school if she can do "taster sessions" of a few instruments. Also ask if they have any recommendations based on what they've seen of her at school. String instruments may require more dexterity, wind or brass instruments more "blowing" power, etc.

Show her some YouTube videos of people playing different instruments and see what she is attracted to.

Lastly, encourage her to something slightly uncommon, as that maximises her chances of getting into bands at school. There will be a million kids learning violin, but very few learning bassoon, oboe, trombone, etc

Thank you. I love the National Theatre idea. Agreed on the finger stretching for wind instruments, and ease of carrying them.

I'm guessing a trumpet isn't that heavy?

Trumpet is heavier and bulkier than clarinet or flute, but doable. It’s quite a big case for a small back, though, has a tendency to bump on the bottom of a primary age child. Cornet as a starter is very portable, though.

DD chose the violin at age 6, she’s been playing for 4 year now and loves it. She also loves the saxophone and cello.

Cello would be great. I wish I'd picked it instead of violin - much less screechy, especially at the start, nicer playing position, and both good tunes and bass lines in orchestras. And you can do solo stuff or be in a section in orchestra. If a child wants to play in an orchestra, wind and brass have to do a lot individually and there are restrictions on how many, whereas strings always have company! Or there are always bands for brass and wind to play in groups.

What sort of music does she like? I play the guitar and chose it because of how versatile it is. I've recently been listening to Vitamin String Quartet who cover a lot of modern music and wish I could play a string instrument now.

Ukulele. She’ll be playing very quickly and it will give her the confidence to try something more complicated.

Guitar, it will still be cool to play when she is older

I played the cello at school and had a 25 min walk to get there. It was very tiresome, especially when it coincided with days that I also had pe and cookery. I gave up in the end

As PP said see if you can get some taster sessions. Some music centres do week long taster holiday courses where kids try several instruments and then pick one for the rest of the week and then perform. DS plays cello and loves it. Started with a teeny 1/8 size. Used to love being the kid with a big instrument. Less squeaky than a violin too.

DD is 7 and has been learning the recorder for the last few months, with a view to moving on to clarinet when her teeth are all through. She's come on really well with reading music and getting a sense of rhythm.

Nice thing about string instrument is that you don't have to be very good, you can just bumble along at the back whereas with wind instruments you are going to be more exposed.

Trumpet. Such diversity of repertoire - classical, brass band, jazz, funk/soul.

Our primary school had an evening once a year where all the peripatetic music teachers came in and "set out their stalls" in the classrooms and the children went round with their parents and tried the different instruments out to see what they liked the best. Gave the parents a chance to have a chat with the teachers too.

I know it doesn't help you immediately, but might be worth suggesting at your school?