What instrument for Year 2 DD?

[AtheneNoctua]

I have left it too long and there is a waiting list at school for DD. She is entering year 2 and they can choose between violin and piano. But, I have slacked off getting her name down and now she is on a waiting list. Oops!

So now I am thinking that we will have to find tuition outside of school. And if I am going to do this, then I guess I have more to choose from then just violin and piano.

So, please, help me out here. I have no idea what instrument or anything else about music really. But, she has taken ballet, tap, and modern dance for several years. So I think an instrument would compliment her dance very well. So I am keen for her to pick something up. Just don't know what!

I asked her what instrument she would like play. And she paused, looked up and said "electric guitar". She's 6. I don't think so. She is on the petite side, so big instruments are out for now.

I am sort of pondering the recorder for a year and then let her pick an instrument. I don't want to make a big investment in something she may lose interest in in 6 months. But, I am willing to invest in something she really wants to learn.

Over to the MN collective wisdom...

Yup, at DDs school they can do a tryout for brass and woodwind in Yr3 but some aren't ready.

Recorders have the huge advantage of being dirt cheap for a beginner and easy to get a bit of a tune out of!

Violin - good but only if your child has good pitch! If they can't pitch a note singing or tell if something is out of tune (like my DD was) then surely best avoided!

Oh the hideous grating I can't stand it

Recorder provides a good base for learning woodwind instruments, particularly ones such as flute or oboe which have similar (but not identical) fingerings. I am a big fan of the recorder, when it is played and taught properly.

Ukulele is also a great instrument for a youngster - I play it, and have taught both my DCs to play. As it only has 4 strings it's easier to manage than guitar - you can play a C major chord with one finger. It's easy to move from the ukulele to the guitar at a later stage.

If you don't fancy the violin then do think about cello - this has a mellower sound than the violin so is easier on the ears when beginners start to play.

I would say I'm biased about the instruments I mentioned because I play and teach all of them!

"OP - why did you ask her if you weren't interested in what she wanted to learn?"

Ouch.

I asked her so I could take her opinion into account and so she could be part of the decision. The problem with guitar is that school music teacher advised me that year 2 is too young to learn guitar and the choices are piano or violin. I don't actually mind if she wants to play a guitar and join a rock band. In fact, I think it would be very cool. But, she's just not big enough.

Ukelele is actually a very interesting idea.

But, there has been another development. I think a violin tuition opportunity has fallen in my lap this afternoon, so that may have settled it. She has a friend who might like to share the lessons with her and DD will be very happy to go with her friend. In fact, who is joining the activity is usually far more important to DD that what the activity is. My little socialite.

Guitar very popular at our school. Beware of woodwind , we are finding the oboe hard to rent and expensive.

Yay the grating violin is the winner. There are loads of violin lessons on Youtube if you need any help at all. In addition to that there are violin exam pieces to watch other people playing so that you can hear them. There are also lots of fun folk tunes and jigs to inspire her. Good luck with it

Violin with a friend sounds a really good idea - if she's sociable then a friend will help her keep going with it hopefully. If their abilities diverge or they both get really good then move to individual lessons. I was going to say cello to be different from her friends at school (& more in demand later), but cost seems to be a bit of an issue & they are really expensive relative to violins especially if you have to go through several stages of reduced size ones as you would starting at year 2.

AramintaCane- she plays violin at a much greater level than she can read. I am sure if she was playing at the same level that she can read she wouldn't find it as 'hard'.

guitar every time (I'm a violinist and it is much easier to play with others on guitar).

Something I was wondering about violin is would it serve as an introduction to guitar? I realise the sound is very different but I was thinking the "finger work" (for lack of a better word from this music novice). I'd be quite happy if she took violin for a year or two and then switched over to guitar.

And...

Does anyone have any advice on how/where to buy a violin? (Or other instrument as this debate is not yet decided. I am waiting to hear back from the friends mum to see if this joint violin lesson is a go.)

My son started guitar last year (age 6). Electric guitars are much easier to play than acoustic ones for small children.

Guitars are much more useful in later life IMO, you can hardly see people singing along to a violin when she is 20 at a party or whatever.

The cost of electric guitar is quite modest, about £150 for a decent guitar, then we bought a Roland Micro Cube for £50, which has a full range of Jimi Hendrix-style effects (but can run off AA batteries and is only 2 Watts).

He was not the only one either, a substantial number of the year 2 cohort also started guitar last year.

They start off playing twinkle twinkle little star (as single notes), etc., learning to sight read, and eventually progress onto chords.

hmmm... wonder why I have been told year 2 age 6 is too young but your year 2 age 6 child is fine. Is this his first instrument?

I do think her personality is more suited to a gutar and a rock band than it is to a violin and and orchestra. But, she has now confirmed that she wans to do whatever DF friend and it doesn't really matter what the instrument is.

yes, first instrument.

Our county music service offers lessons outside school on a wider variety of instruments. If you choose something relatively obscure, you'll get a better deal on instrument loan, even cost of tuition. My DD will get a free cello loan for as long as she plays in one a music service group (she's on a 1/8 size cello at the moment, so this could represent a big saving over the years).

Sorry, I should have said you may get a better deal - I think music services vary a lot in their funding levels.

Best place to look is the book 'The right Instrument for your child'. A Ben-tovin and D Boyd. (we got it on Amazon) Goes through every type of instrument and which fits with which type of personality.

My dc went to a music school with dh and tried out all the instruments they had. She had a perfect fit with the violin and could immediately get a good sound out of it (!). Later got the book - and it would have saved a whole morning's work for dh!

DD started piano whilst in Year 2. We got a decent digital piano for Christmas for her and she started lessons in the January. She sis learning to read music, her scales and to play small pieces. She has weekly lessons outside of school, which will restart again next week after the school holidays, and does practise most nights.

But you do need to have a piano.

she needs to choose for herself. If she's not sure, leave it. ds1 didn't choose an intrument until 13. He's now 16 and nearly Grade 8 on the piano.

'The right Instrument for your child' has some interesting points and is worth a read, but it is rather anti piano, anti violin and anti starting anything except recorder young. It does recommend trying out different instruments too to see what a child gravitates to which is a good idea if feasible. They may well have a point in that starting young doesn't always work out, but it does work well for some children.

"Guitars are much more useful in later life IMO, you can hardly see people singing along to a violin when she is 20 at a party or whatever."

Thanks for that note of sanity.

It is completely absurd to suggest that you can play a violin before a guitar (I'm a violinist and play every week). Guitars have marks to show you where to hit the note. Violins don't. That is why violins are so hard and sound bloody awful most of the time.

Violin is a deeply anti-social instrument unless you have a friend who plays the cello and/or a mum who takes you to orchestra practice in her spare time.

Would love to rant further but am off to rehearse Bach on my violin -I've finally got a string quartet I can have a laugh with so am reconciled to my parents' choice of instrument)

yes that makes sense lingle, I am looking at DS' guitar and the frets are an inch wide - it's pretty hard to accidentally playing a C# instead of a D.

okay, I think the violin lessons with DF are a go. But, now, I am tasked with finding DD a PINK violin. I'm sure this child is not related to me. I hate pink! Oh good grief, please, can someone tell me something about choosing a violin... apart from what color it is! Pink? Yuck! But, okay, I want her to like it. So pink it is. Weirdo. We are not related.

Anyone have an opinion on this: Fricken pink violin

I measured the distance form her neck to her mid-palm and got 47 cm which I believe equates to a 1/4 size violin.

I know very little about music so if anyone wants to guide/correct anything I have typed here, please feel free to do so.