Help with choice of instument for dd will be 7.6 when she starts

[lexcat]

DD is desperate to start lesson but didn't want to do recorder this year but has got her heart set on the cello but the school don't do the cello. Her second choice is the saxaphone with trumpet or trombone as the next choices.
Is there some way for her to handle and try the intrument before she makes up her mind.
Plus is 7 1/2 a little young for the saxaphone. We are thinking about it now as it won't be long and we will need to put her name down for when she starts Y3 and can start lessons.

yes I guess so

we need to buy and french horn and clarinet at some point but they are expensive and the school ones are good.

DD(7yo) has mini clarinet which will be upgraded to full size when she is big enough.
Clarinet is same as sax, notes in same places and same blow technique, so this is usually suitable after clarinet at around y5 or y6.

but there were not a lot of negative comments about violin Rosa on the thread. If you meant my comment (?), I didn't want dd to do violin because I think she will find it too difficult. She doesn't have fantastic motor skills and she loses patience quickly. With violin you need a very good ear because (as you know) you need to find the note. For those reasons, I think piano or guitar would be a lot easier for her to learn and she'd be less likely to throw in the towel but since it didn't seem a whim on her part and she has wanted to play it for some time, I decided to try it for a while.

Her problem is too she starts off full of enthusiam for things (anything really) but after 6 months she loses interest and wants to drop it. I think an instrument where she makes more discernible progress faster would be better for her personally.

Like I said I don't actually find it sounds that bad when she practices. I don't need to run out the room with my fingers in my ears or anything like that. But then I don't have perfect pitch

boy that was waffly, sorry, can you tell I'm thinking a lot about these music lessons atm?!

Schilke -- is your DH a dentist? I'm asking because we were certainly told to let DS wait till he had his second teeth, but as I said, his sister has started earlier.

Thx!

Ah, I see he's a brass teacher -- still, is it because of damage to teeth or difficulty in adjusting when they come in?

It was more THIS one I was directing my ire at SsSandy2.

By SniffyHock on Sun 13-Apr-08 18:35:15
NOT a violin - they sound so bloody awful until you are really proficient

But actually I was probably being unreasonable because this thread in particular hasn't had a lot of anti-violin comments, that comment was just the straw that broke the camel's back, I guess.

From Schilke's DH:
Well both, actually. I have heard of teeth growing wonky due to the pressure being applied when they are not strong enough to cope with this.
But also, the formation of a good embouchure is crucial to successfully playing a brass instrument. To start before the adult teeth are established would be a bit like trying to build a house when you know that you're going to have to replace the foundations in a year's time. There really is no hurry to start. Many professional colleagues of mine only started at secondary school. Much more important to lay good foundations as a musician - learn to read music, play with a good sense of rhythm and beat etc. Recorder is a thing to start on (or piano if you've got one).
Any teacher starting children before adult teeth are fully formed is being very irresponsible.

OK, thanks. Will have to ponder whether little sis needs to go back to what she witheringly calls the boring old recorder for a year or two
(apols for hijack)

If she likes the sax then the clarinet is a good start. Beginner clarinets do not have to sound like a wounded seal- usually a good reed will sort this out. But it all rather depends on how tall the child is and how big their hands are. Clarinet is usually ok from about 8 if not too small and quite easy to transfer onto sax as embouchure/ fingerings very similar.

Having sad that I had a child in my school orchestra last year who was 9 and played the alto sax very well. She actually started age 7 on the soprano sax (about the same size as a clarinet)

What ever you choose, do make sure she is big enough to handle the instrument. I have known quite talented kids to give up too quickly as disheartened by starting an instrument too young.

what everyone has already said really. recorder v.good basis for most wind instruments and a good musical grounding.

but just wanted to say, wheelybug, tenor and alto sax don't have different fingerings - all saxes are like fingered like descant recorders, all clarinets are fingered like alto recorder

7.5 way too young for alto sax for most children, it's heavy (I find it a bit heavy even now) and there is the teeth thing too. you could start on the soprano but I wouldn't want to listen to it!

totally agree with what smartiejake says about not starting too young

I did think the soprano sax till I heard it not the easiest sax to start with.
She's nearly 7 now and as big has her 8 year old friends so was not worried about her size for the clarinet.
Plus she has all four of her adult teeth at the front. And more milk teeth are loose.

To Schilke's DH,
Well, the little minx has sidestepped the problem by getting her first wobbly tooth, so her teacher is going to switch her to the piano for now (he teaches both). Agree there's no rush -- she just spends so much time sitting through her brother's lessons that I thought she deserved a bit of his lesson time to learn something herself.

just been to the music shop and dd felt the weight of the sax and not so keen. Didn't like the feel of the clarinet had no trumpert into try.
Just as I thought we were done she deceiced she wanted to try the violin, and she has now feel in love with the violin. I think it just felt right to her. She's never like the idea of the violin before but having been a violin player when I was younger it looked right for her. She looked very comfortable with the violin in her hands.