What Is the Best First Instrument?

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Dec 04 - 12:01 AM

Well in the words of Glenda The Good Witch of the North....start at the begining. And....hmmm I think Maria said it too....start at the very begining its a very good place to start. NOW that said, where you start kind of depends on where you want to end up now doesnt it. Where do you want the music to take you? What do you want to achieve?

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: GUEST,slickerbill
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 11:03 PM

While I tend to jump to the guitar side of things, I'd say one to consider beside the above would be a hand drum of some sort. They come in all shapes and sizes, a starter like bongos or a small djembe aren't too expensive, they're portable and it teaches time. Rhythm seems to me to be one of the first things to catch a kid's attention, and you can play along to so much stuff. bd

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: bbc
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 09:48 PM

Perhaps, generally speaking, piano is best. For me, 5 years of lessons as a child just convinced me I couldn't play an instrument. Approximately 40 years later, a friend suggested that I try the autoharp & I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could sense what chords to play & had an instrument that could accompany my singing. Piano just made me feel like a failure.

best,

bbc

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Pauline L
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 08:20 PM

I never studied piano but I agree that it would be a good place to start for the reasons cited. My mother wouldn't buy a piano because of the size and price. As for the disadvantages of size and price, there are now electronic keyboard instruments.

I also agree with the people who said the best instrument to start on is one you want to start on, not the one your parents picked for you to start on.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: *daylia*
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 07:39 AM

Guitar has certain advantages (like being portable and easily tuned), but I think it's easier to learn the basics of music on the piano. Everything is laid out in "single file", black and white. Piano is an easier instrument to handle physically too. At least you don't have to hold it while you play it! Guitars are bulky and awkward at first, and each hand must be trained quite differently.
Better than violin though -- at least a guitar has frets to guide intonation!   

A lot of my students start out on keyboards now, which has it's advantages. Keyboards never need tuning and take up much less space than a piano. I encourage parents to avoid the little "toy" models though, and opt for a mid-range keyboard with at least 5 octaves of regular-sized, touch-sensitive (ie you can play loud or soft) keys, and a minumum of distracting sounds and buttons. That way it will last the kids at least a couple years - but if they want to continue studying piano seriously of course they will eventually need the "whole" instrument!

Real pianos have a better action and a much more pleasing sound though - as long as they're properly maintained and tuned. You wouldn't believe how many families I've dealt with over the years who'd spend thousands on hockey equipment, video games and vacations without batting an eye, but try to convince them to upgrade or even spend $60 to tune and fix the old clunker Grandma sent all the way from Timbucktoo??? NOT!! *sigh* So many times I've heard "Oh I know it's not in good shape, but it's just fine to start on ..." Well, would you give your kid a rusty old bike with the wheels falling off it, tell him "ok kid, learn to ride!" and then expect him to like it???

Can't count how many times I've heard "Your piano sounds so much different than mine!" or "WoW - it sounds so much better when I play it here!" I tell them "yeah. It's because mine's in tune." It's frustrating to try to play an instrument when half the keys don't work, or when they do you hear 6 tones instead of one, or it sounds like doo-doo no matter what you do .... and they quit. So much for "it's fine to start on - and we'll get a nice piano in a few years if he's serious".    :-(

Anyway, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. 27 years of watching kids struggle with and give up on the old clunkers'll do it to ya. And one more thought - I think the easiest instrument for a child to learn is the recorder!

daylia

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 07:00 AM

I'd go for guitar because it's versatile, easy to get a good sound out of, looks cool (very important for kids, a lot of the time), and portable. Also, you can, with a bit of searching, get one that sounds good but isn't too expensive, which makes it easier to bear if it gets broken or the kid loses interest.

My brother has a 3/4 size guitar, it's perfectly playable. It might be better to get a nylon-strung one for very young children, as steel strings can hurt the fingers and that's not exactly encouraging...and i'm sure kids' curiousity could lead to some pretty creative ways to injure themselves on steel strings...
One thing i think is important, is to get one where the distance between the frets hasn't been scaled down with the rest of the guitar, as this might get confusing if and when the person gets a full sized one.

Also, a good teacher is important, no matter what the instrument is. Doesn't matter if they're paid, or just a friend who can play... they have to be able to get the pupil interested, or the kid will just give up.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Joybell
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 06:47 AM

Piano, is the one we both recomend too. We show beginners how to chord and sing with it right off, along with the tune playing and the theory. Then we see which way the student wants to go. It's much easier to see how chords work on a piano. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: GUEST,banjoman
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 06:38 AM

start with a flute, then when you are good enough progress on to the recorder - a much malignes instrument which is a far superior instrument in the right hands. It was never intended to be a childs beginner instrument.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: open mike
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 04:48 AM

when i was in school the 4th graders all played Tonettes, which were
small plastic flutes, like recorders. this apparently was determined
by the school system at the time to be a good instrument to start out on.
The piano, it is true, is quite linear, and a good way to see the relationships, intervals, etc. but is large, heavy, cumbersome and
too expensive for some . Many kids start out on violin, with the
Suzuki method before they are 5 years old. This seems to be quite a good way...Suzuki explains music as a language, and the younger you are when you learn it the better you can learn. Both my kids were Suzuki students and i believe it gave them a great understanding and appreciation for music.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 10:35 PM

Kalimba (factory-made African "thumb piano"):
- small,
- cheap,
- logical (you can "see" high & low),
- you can sing with it,
- the tines next to each other are in harmony,
- it's hard to make it sound bad,
- tends to stay in tune,
- sturdy,
- relatively rare,
- has a great sound, and
- can be tuned to different scales.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 05:04 PM

The piano has 7 white notes and 5 black notes.
The rest are all octaves covering all of these same notes.

It's not rocket science...but requires the RIGHT teacher to simplfy the learning process and motivate you - although you should NEVER take up an instrument unless YOU have the motivation to learn. If practising feels like work or is a chore, you've chosen the wrong hobby.

You have ALL the elements of a full symphony orchestra encompassing everything else right down to a solo monophonic note making machine --- at your fingertips. Piano IS the foundation that everything else builds on.

If you're fortunate enough to learn piano first (and preferably at an early age) then it makes learning any other subsequent instrument inherently easier.

To me instruments are like women.
They're all the same and they're all different. :-)

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: GUEST,kbraun
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 04:43 PM

In the abstract, piano is a great choice. In real life, the question is frequently what is the best instrument for Bill or Sue. You need to take into acount who Bill or Sue is.

I started out on saxophone, something I had a passion for. It served me well because of the passion, not because it is a great instrument. My son started out on piano. He gave that up to imitate me and is trying the saxophone. He is eleven and a very "manly" child (sports, cars, action movies, with lots of pals and buddies). He has a PVC flute in the bathroom and some of the best music eminating from our house (everyone plays or sings) comes from his extraordinary long baths. He rarely practices the sax and there are 9 saxophones and only two flutes in his school band. Of course he will have nothing to do with suggestions that he switch to flute. I'm just greatful that he gets in 30 to 40 minutes of playing every day and year 'round-- without sheet music too. And that is on top of band rehearsal, which he enjoys.

Anyway, for me it was sax. For my boy it has been piano, recorder, sax and now PVC flute. Who knows what's next?

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 04:29 PM

Piano.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 04:21 PM

Piano *lessons* provide an incomparable background in music theory, even for those who never actually learn to *play* the piano with any degree of competance. Most of us can probably agree on this.

However, the piano is not always a practical choice for a first instrument, especially for a child. (Given the time of year, I assume that this question relates to the best musical present for a young person not already playing an instrument.) The piano is bulky and expensive (for anyone), and (for really small children) requires hands large enough to play it.

Depending upon age and size, the best first instrument for a given child might be any number of things. Cost is definitely a factor when there is doubt whether the recipient will develop a serious interest.

~ Instruments the player blows into or strikes with a mallet are generally better suited to small players with small hands than are stringed instruments that must be fretted and keyboard instruments requiring a certain degree of "reach."

~ Instruments that seem appropriately simple at first glance may be *too* simple -- frustrating for anyone trying to play. I'm thinking of the 8-key toy xylophone here; a child may be capable of picking out tunes by ear, but may quit trying after attempting too many tunes requiring sharps or flats or notes above or below the single available octave. A toy piano (if not a "real" keyboard of some kind) with black keys and two to three octaves would be more satisfactory for a kid with that level of interest and/or talent.

~What about scaled-down versions of standard instruments, like 3/4 size guitars -- any comments?

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Peter T.
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 12:44 PM

Well, I'll be damned. Of course it weighs 25 pounds (!) and probably costs a million dollars (the site has no prices). I was thinking small and portable, but it is a start. I mean the traditional accordion is built like some 19th century weavers loom.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Mitch the Bass
Date: 20 Dec 04 - 11:03 AM

Peter T said (of accordions):
Hmm. It has to be a small one. These big Chryslers kids carry around are bizarre. The bellows is fun. Why no one has invented an electric accordion that lets you play different instrument sounds (like your average keyboard), I do not know.

Have a look at the Roland Virtual Accordion http://www.roland.com/products/en/FR-7/. My accomplice Dr. Stradling has recently acquired one. When playing for Scottish dances this damn piper keeps chiming in.

Mitch

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Nancy King
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 09:17 PM

I agree with those who say piano is best to learn the basics. As a friend of mine once pointed out, "it's all laid out in front of you in black and white."

When I was a kid, I took piano lessons for only two years (got through "Teaching Little Fingers to Play" and "Thompson's First Grade Book") before my mother, the piano teacher and I all agreed there was not much point in continuing. BUT even that little bit gave me a (very) basic understanding of scales, sharps and flats, and reading music. I can still pick out a tune on a keyboard if I have to -- a useful skill -- though I certainly can't "play" the piano.

We all had "melody flutes" in grade school, and I tried playing the cello for a while, and have dabbled a bit with the guitar for many years, but I know those early piano lessons were the foundation.

Nancy

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 09:14 PM

Not intending to be sexest, however, the best first instument for males may be found at:
://www.circlist.com/instrstechs/history.html

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Peace
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 08:04 PM

I really like that the posts are about which instrument people should start on and not whether they should start. I think everybody should learn at least one. At least.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: freightdawg
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 08:01 PM

From never having done it, I would say learning piano would be the best place to start.

I started with guitar, and outside of maybe the mandolin and the banjo, have never really wanted to learn anything else. But I have learned through the years that if I had a better understanding of the basics of music, I would understand the guitar better. I think the piano is the best place to get the mechanics.

Every music major I have talked to says the same thing. They may be majoring in voice, violin or guitar, but they all have to be at least functionally proficient on the piano. If all major music departments think the piano is so foundational there must be some reason for it.

Trouble with me was/is, I can't get one paw to go one way and the other paw to go the other. What I wouldn't give to be ambi-pawxderous.

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Mooh
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 06:33 PM

I figured there would be different opinions on this issue.

For what it's worth, piano. Without exception, the students I get for guitar (etc) lessons are much better prepared if they've had a couple of years of piano first, even if there's been a lapse. Other instrumental, voice, or theory lessons don't hurt either, but the piano students always seem to be ahead of the game.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: GUEST, Mikefule
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 05:33 PM

It is the instrument that can capture the person's imagination, and which will give easy rewards in those first few weeks, and then present challenges when the young musician is genuinely hooked.

With me, it was the harmonica. It is easy to pick out a few tunes by ear, so that you have something to play in between "serious" practising.

At the other end of the scale would be something like the violin or trombone where it can take weeks simply to produce a decent note in tune.

The guitar is perhaps the most versatile, and has the advantage of being suitable for almost every genre of music, from folk to country to rock and roll to heavy rock to classical.

It helps if there are obvious role models and plenty of inspiring stuff to listen to. (My own problem here is that most harmonica that you I is blues and country style (bending the notes, playing on the draw and so on) or, if "straight", played on tremelo tuned instruments.)

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 05:33 PM

I seem to recall hearing many professionals, music teachers and classical musicians saying at various times that the best place to start is piano...

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Once Famous
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 03:21 PM

Why deny that it is truly the guitar?

It is where most people start I would think.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Peace
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 03:15 PM

Voice.

If you can talk you can sing.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Peter T.
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 03:12 PM

Hmm. It has to be a small one. These big Chryslers kids carry around are bizarre. The bellows is fun. Why no one has invented an electric accordion that lets you play different instrument sounds (like your average keyboard), I do not know.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 03:07 PM

Accordion. It's a whole orchestra in a box.

Subject: What Is the Best First Instrument?
From: Peter T.
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 03:05 PM

I know, I know, different instruments depending on different people, But to make enemies, I think the recorder is a dreadful instrument to start on, it is so shrill and bitty. The piano is fearsomely difficult.   My vote is for the mbira (thumb piano) -- I was in a music shop the other day, and there were five year olds playing quite happily on the mbira -- it has percussion, tinkly tunes, and you can make very sophisticated melodies with your hands, and you can carry it around. I think the saxophone would be next -- you can make all kinds of big noise really easy, much better than a recorder, Ukelele? Harmonica is pretty good, though the blues is a bit tricky.....

yours,

Peter T.