Year 4- which musical instrument to pick?

[miljee]

Music teachers come in this week to assess the interested pupils for aptitude. If they're selected, they have small group lessons, 20 quid a term.

Our options are:
Keyboard
Woodwind (clarinet this year)
Brass
Percussion

I've chosen keyboard and brass as I think to play a clarinet you should be able to play a recorder first, and DS1 isn't that rhythmical. Am I nuts? Will the parping of a trumpet drive me mad? Or IF he's selected for brass, would another instrument be better? My DH used to play the piano many moons ago and I can play the classical guitar and recorder. We can both read music and we're keen that the DSs get the opportunity to try and learn (I think it's a good 'brain developer). How long should we stick at it as I KNOW we'll face rebellion!?

Any experience?

when I first started my instrument it was at school, peripatetic lessons, they were free and the school had instruments for people to use if they didn't have or couldn't afford their own. When I got reasonably good I had private lessons and my own instrument, but it was good to start off with.
Do I take it same thing is no longer available?

IME year 4 is too young to learn a brass instrument. I tried to at that age but had to put it on hold until I was in year 5. I can't remember why (lack of teeth? lack of puff?)

which instrument? a light and portable one. Something like a piccolo. Piano is too too heavy.

Flowerybeanbag, I don't know if this is true of everywhere, but in the education authorities I have taught in or my children have been to school in, it is now normal to pay for the lessons (subsidised in primary school). Some schools can hire out instruments and I suppose it is up to them what they charge. I don't know if it was an oversight on the school's part, but when ds2 started violin, he borrowed one from school for free for a year. Then we were expected to buy or hire privately. I bought a very nice instrument being sold privately by the teacher at school.

It was different with ds1 who plays the flute. We had to hire privately for a year but then were able to buy the instrument at hardly any cost as the price was offset by the amount of money spent hiring it iyswim.

But all in all, I don't think you get the free lessons and instrument hire that you got when I was a child.

Oh that is a shame
I tried out two instruments before I found the 'right' one for me, not sure I could have done that without free lessons and use of school instruments.

Dg we get no instrument hire (I think it may be availbale but private shops do it cheaper and more easily, though I bought a decent enough starter violin from Ebat and music teacher said it was fine for 50). We dont pay in Infants though, and vey little in juniors- funny as we're both so close! And in Somerset its stonkingly expensive (at least, it was at ds1's old school- same price for one lesson as a term here!!!)

varies so much

You mean you get instruments to borrow for free? In the very next authority to me? Knew there would be a reason why we should have lived t'other side of the bridge!

DD is doing clarinet and it sounds lovely when she is practising - after sitting through a school concert a few months ago I was so glad she wasn't doing the violin - couldn't bear to listen to the awful noise on a regular basis

We were told to wait until DS had all of his 2nd teeth before doing trumpet, because otherwise learning trumpet might cause the teeth to grow in crooked.

Don't know if that's true, but it's sometimes repeated on the Internet, so decided to play it safe, opted for something else.

KTeePee, I know what you mean about the clarinet sounding lovely. Ds1 plays flute and ds2 plays violin and I went to a school concert once and picked out the clarinet as the instrument I would get dd to learn (I don't want any of them playing the same instrument because of competition between them).

Oh but not everyone makes a dreadful noise on the violin I will have you know. I don't know how or why but ds2 has an amazing aptitude for the violin and never really made that awful screeching noise you sometimes hear coming from the violin. (He just passed grade one with distinction so I know I am not idly boasting!)

Thanks for all the input. Still waiting to hear how he got on with the aptitudes. Regarding HIS choice, sadly with my DS1, given a choice in anything, the default position is not wanting to have a go at all! It's a confidence issue- he's sooner not have a go than risk the crushing humiliation of 'failure'. I was sceptical of his reception teacher when she intimated this, but now, in Yr 4, I see she was right! So many thanks to those amongst you who, sensibly, feel it should be his choice but sadly it won't work like that in this house!

Regarding his choice of music, we do play some classical stuff, background-ish but if you want to get my pair animated, Crazy Frog, that "I don't feel like dancing" by the Scissor Sisters and, of course, "Grace Kelly" does it. (Is there a theme regarding men with falsetto voices here??). I found some YouTube examples and he was more interested in the clarinet than I thought he'd be. His sense of rhythm isn't great so no drums- AND I think they can be rather antisocial. I have a long ancestry in brass bands so he's certainly hear enough of that!