What are your favorite early instruments for kids? And how do you motivate them to practice?
My kids started piano at 5, and my son loves it, but my 8 year old daughter not so much. What other good options are there for young kids? And/or how do you motivate your kids to practice their instrument?
5 answers
- courtcarp380
My kids do the Lets Play Music program and they love it! They start out on tone bells and learn wholistic musicianship before instrumentation. That way, they can learn music concepts before their fingers and hands have developed fully to engage with piano. Then they move to piano to practice theory concepts that they have already learned through play and songs. That musicianship can be more easily applied to any instrument later. It is a 3 year program designed for ages 4-8ish. They have programs for younger kids and older kids as well. My husband is a high school band teacher himself and we LOVE this program!
- rachel—We did Let’s Play Music too. I love, love, LOVE that program. I think that’s actually part of this. We did let’s play music for three years, and just the summer transitioned to traditional piano lessons. And that’s when our problems started. We have a lovely teacher (who actually used to teach Let’s Play Music) and she understands the musicality of what that program teaches. But now my daughter is being pushed more on her technique and really making sure that the foundations are solid, and it’s not quite as much “fun” (no puppet shows about monsters as you listen to classical music, etc). How did you guys transition?
- courtcarp—Haha! Well…my girls are in their third year of Lets Play Music, so we haven’t had to make that transition yet. However, one thing that has been AMAZING for my girls in practicing is developing and supporting the idea of a “positive practice”. I explained this concept more fully in a comment on a question about attitude during homework time if this explanation needs further clarification. For 10 “positive practices”, my girls get to randomly pick an index card from a deck our music teacher asked us to create. Each one indicates a different reward that they (with guided parent help) identified and wrote on the card. Like…bubble bath with ice cream, picking a new nail polish, item from the dollar store, mom does your chores for a day, staying up late on a Friday…just to name a few. We mark positive practices on their practice chart in smiley faces, as opposed to talley marks to track them. I also have a list of things that identify a session as a “positive practice” laminated and posted by the piano, such as proper posture, accepting redirection or correction gracefully, avoiding negative self-talk and identifying things you did well throughout. I give each of my twins the opportunity at the end to tell me based on those identifiers if it was a positive practice or not, then I can help adjust their assessment if needed. As far as instruments to play, my husband is a high school band director and one of the things that was helpful in recuiting students is what he calls “instrument petting zoos”, where they are able to have access to a wide variety and they can handle them and see what they are interested in. I know that isn’t an easy option to gage interest for many, but it is a valuable experience to know where to go after piano fundamentals, based on interest.
- rachel—Oh my gosh, this answer is amazing. Thank you!!!
- courtcarp—Haha! Can’t take credit for the positive practice idea myself. 😂 That’s all Teacher Katie. ❤️
- ktisme—I love the idea of positive practices. Thanks for being so thorough in your explanation, courtcarp! Presto is the LPM equivalent for kids 7-10 (I believe). It overlaps with LPM in the first semester (or less/more?), so you are interested, you might want to talk to a Presto or LPM teacher about a possible transition. They still have puppet shows, but incorporate music/world history. First semester (Green rockets) does one about Galileo to Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. There’s another with the Mayflower and I believe Vivaldi’s Winter composition. It’s more expensive in my experience, but still energizes the kids and provides valuable cultural enrichment. It requires daily practice for the child and at least one weekly practice with a parent (or it can be split to daily if the child does better with company).
Do they have the option to play an instrument through school? (Like the recorder in 4th grade) haha my oldest did that and now is playing the clarinet and loves it. One of my twins just started piano a few months ago but we haven’t gotten to the point where she’s pushing back on practicing. She is asking for Taylor Swift sheet music- so I was going to get her some for something fun to play. That always helped me when I was taking lessons!
ale2451
Following for other answers!
We are on the same boat. We’ve had Julian and Nico only on sports for afternoon activities. Julian has expressed some interest in music so he’ll be enrolled in guitar this coming semester and we’d love for Nico to be curious as well but so far not really
- rachel—Guitar sounds really cool. I’d love to have one of my kids try that at some point but we shall see…
- ktisme50
Violin is another instrument kids can start young. Suzuki is a popular teaching method (playing by ear) for youngsters. With enough practice, it can be as musically expressive as singing! 🎶 beautiful 🎼
I have a music conductor friend who has her littles learning to play cello on a Viola with a peg installed on the bottom. So cute! 😁🎻
- ktisme50
I have also heard this program is similar to LPM. https://belleameathome.com/ “Music together.” It’s geared towards homeschooling families, and I don’t know if it would accommodate or be priced well for those just interested in the music portion.
Looks like premium (includes the music) is $700/year and provides many enriching classes. I am not sure if there’s an additional cost for participating with any of the material directly.