Grant Parsons,
9, gets guitar lessons from instructor Eric Stockton at
Quick's Music in Phoenix. (Sherrie Buzby/The Arizona Republic)
Selecting music instrument for your student? Let cost,
age determine course
By KENNETH LaFAVE
The Arizona Republic
Your fourth-grade son has asthma, your sixth-grade daughter
has braces, and you have a limited checkbook and a love
of music.
You want each of your children to take up the study of
an instrument. But, which ones?
The boy is crazy for the tuba, the girl adores the clarinet.
Should you let them have their choices and let fate decide
their level of success?
Yes.
And no.
"The student's desire is No. 1," says Theresa Hulihan,
who teaches band to elementary school students in Phoenix,
and at the Arizona Conservatory for Arts and Academics,
a charter school for aspiring performers.
"If the student wants to play a certain instrument, that
motivation alone can overcome physical difficulties."
Hulihan's own story is a case in point. As a child, she
wanted more than anything to play the flute. A concert she
heard in fourth grade, given by virtuoso flutist Carol Wincenc,
convinced her that the silvery tone and hyperagility of
the flute were her destiny.
"I had a really bad overbite," Hulihan recalls. "The teacher
took one look at me and said, 'You can't play the flute,
kiddo. You won't be able to make a sound.'"
The clarinet was threatened as an alternative, but young
Hulihan Theresa insisted on the flute. Braces corrected
the overbite, and before long, she was on her way to a degree
and a career as a professional flutist.
This reminder of follow-your-bliss attitudes aside, there
are physical and financial considerations to keep in mind
when choosing an instrument for your young musician.
Linda Sanchez, an elementary school band director, tells
a story that's the converse of Hulihan's.
"I had a student who started on clarinet, who had a lot
of hardware in her mouth," Sanchez says. "She loved the
clarinet, but the braces made it difficult for her to work
the mouthpiece. She would've been better off on flute."
Unlike the clarinet, the flute doesn't require the mouth
to engage with the instrument: You simply blow across an
open hole.
"She insisted on the clarinet," Sanchez says, "and in the
end, just gave up. It was sad."
Both Sanchez and Hulihan say the best thing to do for your
future virtuoso is to expose him or her to lots of live
musicmaking. Take the kids to concerts and let them discover
the power of the trumpet or the charm of the saxophone,
and they'll tell you what they want to play.
Once that's done, Hulihan and Sanchez offer a few pointers:
— A child with severe respiratory problems might long to
blow the tuba, but he or she might not be able to muster
the wind. Try the saxophone instead, which produces a loud
sound from fairly little wind expression.
— If your child has bony fingers, try to steer clear of
the clarinet or the saxophone: They require fleshy fingers
to cover the tone holes. If the child has good breath control,
think of flute, trumpet or trombone alternatives.
— Trumpet or trombone? Thin lips work best for the trumpet,
thicker lips for the larger mouthpieces of the trombone
or tuba.
— Don't look to percussion as an easy out. A good sense
of the beat and of dynamic control are paramount for percussionists,
and many band directors demand the utmost diversity from
them, including the playing of mallet instruments and timpani,
in addition to the old snare and bass drums.
If you have a first- to third-grader in the house who
is itching to get started musically, don't promise band
instruments yet. At this age it's a bad match.
"Grades one through three, the kids aren't big enough
physically to blow the wind instruments," says Jim Nugent,
manager of a music store. "That's why band programs don't
start until fourth or fifth grade.
"For a youngster in the lower grades, the piano is always
a good instrument. Or if your school has a string program,
you can start on the violin or cello, because they make
smaller-sized versions of string instruments."
For kids, the most popular object with strings attached
is not a standard concert instrument, but a guitar. Most
music stores offer guitar lessons, but once the student
gets through the doors of the band room or orchestra hall,
he'll find himself shunned. The guitar is not a school instrument.
With the guitar absent, a lot of kids go for the one remaining
instrument they recognize from pop music: drums.
Nugent recalls his own experience:
"When I was in school and wanted to be in band and there
were no guitars, I said, 'OK. The drums are cool.'"
For parents, expense can be a factor, especially if the
student musician continues to perform past the time when
simply renting an instrument is acceptable. Nugent says
some parents encounter sticker shock when shopping for going
to buy a saxophone.
"The design of the instrument and the amount of time it
takes to manufacture make the sax pricey. A student sax
is twice the price of a student clarinet."
The oboe and French horn are rarely beginner instruments.
The former requires extraordinary lungpower and the latter
has a very small mouthpiece that needs lip control usually
outside the abilities of a fifth-grader. Unless you have
an obvious prodigy, wait for middle-school years on these
instruments.
Although woodwinds have to wait for the late primary grades,
strings should be started early, on a private lesson basis.
It takes much longer to master the violin than it does the
clarinet or the percussion section.
One instrument is good for all ages and all proclivities.
But you won't find it in the band, either.
"The piano is a tremendous aid to any other instrument,"
says piano teacher Evonne Beattie.
Band teachers agree.
"The piano is a great instrument to start kids out on,"
Hulihan says. "They immediately get a sound, and they learn
how to read music."
Beattie returns the favor, encouraging pianists to learn
other instruments:
"You're wise to continue piano as long as you can, but
the beauty of learning another instrument is that the piano
can be a lonely thing. With other instruments, you get to
join a group."
