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.

If cello is too big, and violin too frequently occurring, how about viola? DD plays that and all the ensembles are desperate for her (not because she's good, she's not 😂). It's alto clef which isn't the most useful, but once you've got the hang of that, it is easy enough to switch to treble or bass if you need to.

I started with woodwind as a kid then moved onto strings as an adult.

There are you tube videos of people discussing the instruments they play, if your daughter chooses an instrument she loves the sound of, she will be more likely to commit to it.

Both my DDs started on brass instruments at about 8 as the result of being able to have a go on one at school/seeing them being played at concerts.

The trumpet is a brilliant instrument but it's quite long (cornets are shorter) and the centre of gravity can make them hard for smaller children to hold up without causing neck/shoulder pain. The ptrumpet is made of plastic and makes a decent sound though so if your DC is interested in the trumpet, that's worth looking at. As others have said, the trumpet is brilliantly versatile in terms of the ensembles it is played in - trumpeters have to switch to cornet or flugelhorn if they want to play in a traditional brass band though.

Someone else suggested tenor horn and I'd second this. It's held closer to the body than trumpet/cornet and makes a beautifully mellow sound. It has a larger mouthpiece than the trumpet which some people are better suited to. Tenor horn players often progress onto the French horn which is a completely different fingering system and price bracket! This is what one of my DDs has done and she now plays tenor horn in an adult brass band and French horn in various youth ensembles.

If you live in an area of brass bands, many of them have training bands which will teach the instrument as well as provide it! My two have had a lot of fun playing brass instruments, are pretty decent players and have had some amazing opportunities as a result. The brass world is still a very male-dominated one so being a female trumpeter/horn player and being good means they will often be the sole female in the section. It's never been an issue for my DDs but it is very noticeable that the violinists in most professional orchestras tend to be female and the brass players, male (and white). There are some fabulous, female trumpeters who are worth listening to if your DD is at all interested in the trumpet e.g. Alison Balsom, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Laura Jurd.

But if you play in an amateur orchestra you do! I know plenty. The beauty of playing an instrument is it is for life, you will always be able to find others to play with if you want to, whether it's mandolin, ukulele, recorder, viola anything really.

If you start with violin it's easy enough to pick up viola - my dd1 did that and is now much more in demand as a mediocre viola player than a slightly less mediocre violin (she doesn't practise much). Flute is lovely and an easy start but disastrous if you want to be in orchestras as loads play it and not many needed.