what is best instrument for babies ?

Subject: what is best starter instrument for a young child?
From: GUEST,Jiggers
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:09 PM

Hi,

My friend has a 1 year old baby and I go around on Sunday for lunch and we play folk music to her and dance with her. I bring my guitar and other instruments and we play music and sing for her. She seems to enjoy most of it.

Whats the best folk instrument for a 1 year old to start on ? She can't manage much, just whacks the bodhran with her hand and pulls at the guitar strings. I appreciate a 1 year old might not be able to mange anything but maybe in a year or two ? I just want to get an idea of what instrument is the best for a young child to get started on so she can join in a bit.

I'm hoping other Mudcatters will have some experiences to share.

Regards

Jiggers

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: lady penelope
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:12 PM

Good grief........

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Peace
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:14 PM

Rattles.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Peace
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:32 PM

Detach the snake FIRST!

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:37 PM

Look, if you don't know how to make babies...

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:38 PM

Be careful not to expose her sound loud enough to damage her hearing. You will NOT be able to rely on her to show if she is getting too much volume.

~Susan

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:49 PM

A plastic container with dried peas in.


Mind you if she is very intelligent, then try her on the bagpipes.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Peace
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:52 PM

At one year old she won't have the dexterity for bagpipes. Start with banjo.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:55 PM

LOL

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: harpmaker
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 08:12 PM

Oh shit. There's no hope.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 09:32 PM

In all seriousness - I'd recommend a toy xylophone, which makes a satisfying clang, needs no particular motor skill to bang on, and is easy to understand as she grows older.

I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon today with a three year old friend of mine who got started on music early - and he loves it. When he was just turning two his parents gave him a little toy ukelele (complete with instructional video from Marcy Marxer, of all people), which he calls his "guitar" and has a great time playing with. He doesn't play it - just plays with it, but it's a sesnibility we're developing here, and the interest is firmly established. Today he had fun banging on my hammered dulcimer.

Dan Schatz

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 01:13 AM

A grand piano ffs.

eric

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: GUEST,Neeraj Yadav
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 01:26 AM

I beleive two best instrument for babies which is Parents.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 02:12 AM

I would try a baby size guitar (I got one for $30 last Christmas) or ukulele, tuned in an open tuning. Then she can just bash at it until she learns to strum. You may need to retune it often but it's worth it.
Robyn

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Cruiser
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 02:16 AM

Spoons banging on pots and pans, a small cheap harmonica, washboard... Also encourage musical her by playing lots of CDs, especially before naptime and bedtime. A home full of nurturing music (no, Rap is not music) is the best environment a child can grow up in.

Don't forget that her voice is an instrument that can be developed from an early age.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Cruiser
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 02:20 AM

That should be: encourage her musical talents by playing...

It is way past my naptime.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 06:20 AM

I mostly agree with what's been said

her own voice

chance to listen to music that mum likes

plenty of chance to experiment and make sounds on improvised instruments

chance to copy e.g. 3saucepans, 3 spoons you play "tap", mum plays "tap" baby plays? "tap" . Then "tap-te-tap" etc. Maybe start by copying her.

percussion instruments/toys but chose ones that are sturdy and make a pleasing sound. Xylophones can be vey tinny. Me daughter had a set of different colour bells on a frame. She was too young to use the colour-coded music that came with them but enjoyed them

How about chime bars, give her those that make the right chord and whichever she plays might harmonise with what you are playing.

My friend takes her baby to a group, not sure if it's this one http://www.jojingles.co.uk/

I used to do most of these things with playgroup children, age 3-5 -singing, listening to music that told a story, listening to sounds and finding the picture of the animal or thing that made it, percussion. The percussion could get noisy, but we also used to play along to a tape (e.g. chieftans, Yorkshire Garland) and watch the "conductor" (me or one of them) - hands together = listen silently, close = play quietly, wider = louder.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 07:08 AM

The best present for the baby of people you DON'T like is a DRUM!

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 07:22 AM

A "friend" bought my son a keyboard when he was barely crawling, providing you can put up with the din created he had loads and loads of fun with it .......... his parents didn't, but he did !

Incidentally I bought a drum kit for a friends daughter which she has now worn out and wants replacing ...... that was payback time for the finger paints of many years ago

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: mrsmac
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 07:51 AM

my 19 month old loves her bodhran and can keep time really well. I bought her a keyboard too and i sing to her every single day. Its never too early to start. i can't remember when i started singing and playing, it feels like i have always done it and thats how i want it to be for her.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Dave Wynn
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 11:42 AM

Buy her a book on law or medicine. Give the kid a chance and don't let her become a musician. Lawyer, Doctor , Dentist or Accountant but not a musician.

Spot the Dog

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: frogprince
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 12:00 PM

"Lawyer, Doctor , Dentist or Accountant but not a musician."

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be mudcats...

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 12:08 PM

At 1, my son Dougie loved just about anything that made a sound. Pots and pans are good for drumming on and he had just discovered how to blow in a whistle.

At 2 1/2 he loves my concertina, so much so that I cant play it when hes about as he keeps trying to take it off me and play it.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Kaleea
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 12:56 PM

Most of us came equiped at birth with our first instruments, one listed above-voice, hands for clapping, feet for ambulating, and the body for girating to Music. As a Music Educator, I can tell you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving a child children's toy instruments. I can also tell you that in the past few decades many other classroom Music Teachers & I have noticed a drastically sharp drop in numbers of children who are able to match pitch, ie sing on key. Much of that is that children are not sung to by the parents & family, but instead placed in front of the tv or having stereos blasting with popular stuff in which there is absolutely no melody. Also, the very early grade teachers are no longer given training in Music, & Music class is commonly being reduced or removed from elementary schools. Add all that together, & we have children who can scream but not sing.
By far, the best thing one can do is to sing to children-look directly into their eyes and sing, sing, sing. While some may not be PolitcallyCorrect, the old early childhood songs/nursery rhymes were exactly designed to help children learn pitches. The easiest interval to sing is the minor third-5th note of the major scale down to the 3rd note, or G just above middle C to the E 2 white keys down on the piano such as in "see-saw, marjorie daw." Children will imitate what they see their family do, so when you play stringed instruments, let them have fun by "helping" you to strum. Let them sit at the Piano & play. Let them handle instruments-but be sure to watch them so that no harm comes to the child or the instrument.   My 16 mo old niece was wanting to grab my favorite Feadog (whistle), I handed it to her & she stuck it in her mouth & began to breathe into it which made a couple of soft sounds, so she figured out how to make more sounds. I have her a little bamboo flute-like thing to play & took back the metal one which could be potentially dangerous, not to mention it's my fav & best in tune feadog.
My old Irish Granny kept no toys in the little old clapboard frame farmhouse in Oklahoma. When the grandkids were very young & underfoot in the kitchen (they would not be allowed into the sitting room with the menfolk!), Granny opened the bottom cupboard doors & let them go after those wonderful pots & pans Cruiser mentioned.
Cheers!

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 02:03 PM

The late (and Great) Chares M Schultz had it right in a VERY old Peanuts strip , when Linus announces that EVERY baby boy should be given a BANJO !!

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Peace
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 02:13 PM

I would be very careful about things that go twang in the night. The things that would worry me about an infant and stringed instruments

1) the strings break

2) the ends of strings can easily pierce skin, eyes, etc

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 02:36 PM

Leadfingers, Linus said every baby should be given a banjo when it's born - not just the boys.
Peace, twanging instruments with plastic/nylon strings shouldn't damage children. I wouldn't encourage metal strings for youngsters - their fingers are too soft anyway.
Robyn

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: breezy
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 03:23 PM

nipples are ideal for wind instruments

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Kaleea
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 03:25 PM

uh, isn't that-fipples?

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 03:29 PM

My initial reaction was "droolflute", but then I googled "musical instruments for babies" and came up with such websites as:

http://www.doe-a-deer.net/baby_musical_toys_
http://shop.nurturecenter.com/muinandtofor.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/1095926/203-1910176-4193558

not to mention:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/parents/yourchild/childdev_chart.shtml

YMMV

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: shepherdlass
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 05:21 PM

Let her work out herself what she wants to play when she's old enough. Meantime if she wants to join in, give her a couple of pans and a wooden spoon to bash them with - a perfectly useful drum kit for now. If you start her on an actual instrument too young she may find it a chore as she gets older. Kids are just amazing at telling you what they want to do (like my daughter, who'll play every style BUT folk!).

I met a kid who was an amazing sax player even at age 11. He went on to win the Stan Getz trophy at age 17. He'd started on piano at about 5 and didn't enjoy it. His parents had the good sense to let him give it up. He chose the instrument he REALLY wanted within a few years and was playing semi-pro by the time he was 10.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 07:20 PM

What are you thinking? How many members do you wish to lose?

Last December our choir did its Christmas concert. 36 adults had put in hours of practice, and for some of them it was extremely challenging work.

At the concert, someone in the front row had a baby with a rattle. We were trying to figure our where the irritating scratchy sound was coming from, and as a member of the Building and Grounds Committee, I was trying to sing and figure out if a fire alarm with a weak battery was going off. Or was it the sound of a stained-glass window disintegrating?

Boy, were people peeved when they figured it out. I could see that it was getting on our director's nerves, but she could not do anything. So finally I impaled the mother with a severe, nonstop stare, and she took it away.

There's a time and place for babies to play, but church is not it.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 07:42 PM

Babies are an instrument in their own right....noises (amongst other things) emanate from both ends!

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Zhenya
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 10:12 PM

Now, now, ye of little faith:

       (Excerpt from) Champion At Drivin' Em Crazy

Well, a little while after, she says to me, "Pat,
I think that your whistlin' is making me fat."
And, a few months being over, she up and begat
A wee fellow, the image of me.
Well, at three weeks of age he could lilt a few tunes;
At a month he was batterin' on bodhran and bones.
And now he's the master of chanter and drones
He'll be champion at drivin' 'em crazy.

Well me wife she soon left us, and all in due course
For "musical cruelty" she got her divorce,
And despite all our vows of "for better or worse,"
I'm left all alone with the baby.
Well, he's Ireland's best piper by quite a long chalk;
His fiddling's unequaled from Sligo to Cork,
And, as soon as he learns how to walk and to talk
He'll be champion at drivin' 'em crazy.

Recorded by Robb- Hang the Piper

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 10:22 AM

Love it, Zhenya!

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: breezy
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 10:59 AM

Shame on you Leeneia and all your choir.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: open mike
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 11:14 AM

the Orff Schulwerk program introduces music to young children.
theyr main instruments are zylophone type thingies.
they have ones that have removealbel keys so that
the sounds can be in harmony...

http://www.aosa.org/

the suzuki program is excellent at introduging youngsters
to music with teh violin.

they make them in tiny sizes, and 3-4 years can be a good time
to start.

Suzuki compares music to language and
suggests that kids learn it as naturally
as learning to speak if they listen, and
are exposed to it.\
http://www.suzukiassociation.org/
http://www.suzuki-music.com/
The Suzuki method is a teaching system developed by the Japanese violinist and educator Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998)
it uses classical music to create a firm foundation
of music which can be translated to any playing style.
\
wwhile searching for the suzuki method
i found this q-chord thing....
http://www.suzukimusic.com/qchord/

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: GUEST,Val
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 03:42 PM

Anything that either has a volume control that can be locked on "low" or can be damped. The xylophone/glockenspiel with dampers on the battens might be a good option - no small parts, not a lot of precise motor control needed to pluck just the right string. Or an electronic keyboard with a small speaker & weak batteries.

As for an instrument that can be DAMPENED without harm, that's another story - but also a good idea to consider when dealing with children & klutzes (like myself).

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: cyder_drinker
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 07:32 PM

And I was thinkin' the suzuki method was all about learnin' to ride motorbikes.

Kids, until they learn the necessary motor skills, are just happy to do anything that makes a noise. That's part of the learning motor skills process.

Get 'em singing - they love it. Don't force Bob Dylan or whatever down their necks, though - simple, repetitive, drive-you-up-the-wall tunes are the ones they love (well, mine do).

Once they've got control of their feet, get 'em dancing - that improves motor skills, and also instils a sense of rhythm. Without a sense of rhythm, they'll never play music.

When mine ask for an instrument, they'll get one - but they're having too much fun singing and dancing at the moment, which gives me a chance to save up for the instruments :-)

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: GUEST,jiggers
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 07:53 PM

Thanks for the responses - some sensible and some not so (no more banjo jokes please or babies are bad stuff - they happen so get used to it)

Here is a summary of the sensible tips :-

Be careful with volume as childs ears are sensitive
Look in their eyes while you sing ( do that already)
Pots and pans make fine instruments
Toy ukelele and bodhran are fine to start with (got both already !)
Play CDs at bedtime
Allow to touch and play with instruments but be careful with strings (do that already)
Don't force it (prob best advice)

Thanks for advice.

Jiggers

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 11:23 PM

Jan takes care of several youngsters (none are ours) in our house. Henry, the 17-month-old customer, loves the little 1-octave glockenspiel--it has a good clear sound--not tinny. (I thought it was a xylophone, but have been corrected). He also loves to play the piano--and our cat Lucy is far more tolerant of his playing than of mine. She jumps up on top of the piano. Then I'm allowed to play a piece through, but not to iron out any passages--if I do she comes down and sits on the keys. Henry, however, can play extremely modern music for quite a while and she remains contentedly listening.   He also loves traditional percussion--pots and pans.

Jan also sings to him a lot--and has been trying to encourage his mother to do the same. Jan has a good voice but she is trying to convince his mother that the main thing is to sing to him, even if she is self-conscious about it--that he just wants to hear her voice.

Jan also plays classical music to him (to take naps by, for instance) as well country music and other types around the house.

With the musical instruments, puppet theatre with chest full of puppets, train set, lots of children's books which she reads to them, etc., they never want to go home at the end of the day.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 11:47 PM

A "Baby Rodger Rustle Bag."

Never out of tune.

Convenient and trouble-free.

Toss in the washer and its ready for a another session.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 04:55 AM

True traditional answer is probably - penknife...

Regards

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 06:48 AM

Jan also says that Henry really likes whistles--any whistle. The little plastic slide whistle is a particular favorite. If you want to include your 1-year old, maybe a slide whistle could be worked into your session.

And he likes the tambourine. And likes the guitar--he goes upstairs and points at it. He likes to pluck the strings and to strum it, with Jan holding her fingers on it to make a chord.

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 11:17 AM

cooking spoons: 2 EA
pot, metal, inverted: 1 EA

show the baby how to bang the pot with the spoons

Subject: RE: what is best instrument for babies ?
From: Abby Sale
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 11:38 AM

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to learn to play a musical instrument. As fate would have it, I was at a yard sale last Saturday, and saw a moldy guitar case among the clutter. I took it as an omen that my musical career was about to start, and I was able to buy the guitar and case for two dollars.

With my new instrument in hand, I got a book from the library and started to work.

Last night, as I was practicing chords, my seven-year-old son asked "Daddy, can I try?" and I told him maybe later.

He kept asking, until I finally gave in. I handed him the guitar, and asked, "What do you want to try, son?"

He looked at me and said, "I want to try to put it back in the case."

(This is an original story. It really happened. I'm going to wait until he's a teenager to get revenge.)

            As told by Bill Horne & posted to rec.humor.funny, Jan 29 1998