What age to start teaching a child

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brownja
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Post by brownja »

Hello All,
I have a young son (3). At what age can/should I start teaching him the whistle?
Also, I'm still a beginner myself. Is it detrimental to his musical sensiblities to hear me practice badly? IOW, should I only let him hear good whistle playing?
Regards,
jb
DrGiggles
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Post by DrGiggles »

Now is just as good a time as any... Children learn very quickly when they're young - especially if they're having fun with it.

As far as hearing only good players - I'd have to ask: why? Most people play the whistle because it's fun. It's definitely something a parent/child can definitely share. Just keep it fun, and they'll keep coming back.

While it's said that perfect practice makes perfect; I say perfect practice all the time is boring... Just have fun with it, let them have fun with it and enjoy the process... And always take the time to smell the roses.

My 2 cents,
Frank
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Post by Bretton »

I've been attempting to teach my daughter to play whistle since she was about 3 yrs. old. She's 5-2/3 now and just starting to get the hang of it. At 3 her attention span wasn't really long enough to do anything but blow piercing 3rd octave C#s. :smile:
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Post by John Allison »

I've been working with my 4 year old daughter for just a little while and she can already play two tunes. The first thing I did was to get a whistle she can handle...in her case a Generation high F. Then I wrote down the songs in the form of how many fingers she has to hold down. (<i>Merrily We Roll Along</i> would be "0-1-2-1-0-0-0-1-1-1-0-0-0 0-1-2-1-0-0-0-0-1-1-0-1-2") She carries the songs around and plays them for everyone who will hold still long enough.
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Post by Eldarion »

Hellow Brownja! I'm no parent but I'd think that it might be better for a 3 year old kid to listen to more music than to pick up an instrument in a hurry. Theres seriously plenty of time for that in later life. Moreover motor skills are not well developed so listening might prove more enriching at that age, than playing.

Just play and expose the child to all kinds of music constantly (I'd steer clear of death metal and techno though=) so he'd pick up the nuances and all.

I feel that its more important to teach a very young child to love/appreciate music than to teach him to play an instrument. Because when he grows up to be a music lover, I don't think there'll be any stopping him from playing instruments. Thats just my two cents though=)
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brownja
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Post by brownja »

We're in no hurry. Actually, the child was a major part of the motivation for me to learn. We had a whistle sitting in a drawer for a few years and finally figured "If we're going to try to teach this kid ANY kind of music, we'd better learn to play someything ourselves." 3 would be early for the whistle. He does better on the piano and harmonica(neither of which I can play), just because of the mechanics of playing.
Thanks for your reply's
jb
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Post by WyoBadger »

Hi Brownja!

Here's my advice: Wait until the child WANTS to start learning. I generally don't give private lessons until 4th grade or so, because before that the attention spans just aren't up to all the practicing, and the child might well become turned off to the instrument. You are in a somewhat easier situation, though--YOU enjoy the whistle, and this will likely rub off on the child. Just keep it fun--don't ever let it become an obligation. If the interest wears off, let it, knowing it will probably come back some day.

I also think letting the child hear you practice is the best thing to get them interested. But you should also let the child hear some recorded whistling, too.

Enjoy, and good luck!

Tom
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Post by FairEmma »

I'm in there with the folks who suggest "encourage an interest expressed." There's a lot to be said, from a kid's point of view, for blowing third-octave C#s at the age of 2 or 3 ... I think the desire to pursue music intentionally may come later (but every child is unique - it's our job as parents to nurture that uniqueness without squashing it).

My house is filled with instruments and I play them all. I have loads of music (books, print-outs fluttering like leaves when the fan blows, CDs, etc.) always available. My son has been experiencing this ever since ever (he's 11 now). I gave him a whistle and a recorder when he was five, but he really didn't start to show focused interest until he was nine. That was also the time he took up alto sax in the school band, although he had been teaching himself piano since he was seven.

Everything has come together for him in exciting ways, and he and I now play duets together. I could press more, probably, but I don't. I think this stuff should come from the heart. But we do work playfully together, so he gets a modicum of mum-guidance with tips.

Some of the best parenting advice I ever heard was this: Model what you'd like to communicate (accepting it may never amount to a hill of beans), provide opportunity and watch your child for signs of interest.

Best of luck and joy to you and yours,
FE
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Post by LeeMarsh »

JB,

Children are clearly one of life's great mysteries. I've spent years studing them and I'm still utterly amazed they turn out as well as they do. So enjoy your child being a child, its a fond memory you'll need during the more trying periods, say early teens.

Kids and music are meant for each other. I agree that at three, the best thing is to play music all the time. If you play the music, live or CD, all day; then, as their hearing continues to develop, their sense of pitch will develop, too. They'll also develop a natural feel for the rythymns, melodies, and harmonies. It will also improve their pattern recognition skills which will not only server them in their latter with their music but also in mathmatics.

I also agree in the 'keep it fun' dictum. At age 3 almost everything is magic. If you take pour water from from a short fat glass into a narrow tall glass, the average three year old with think that there is now more water. The water magicly grows as it passes into the taller glass. The don't have the physiology to grasp conservation of mass, that happens about four or five years old. It's also about that time that the start playing games that have rules, constants, things like that. It the point were they can acturally imagine being someone else. So instead of play along side others they start playing with others. This is a magic they can control.

Its also important to 'keep it simple', playing simple games with simple eye hand requirements. You might want to get an ocarina for the child since this would be easier to manipulate and safer than a whistle. You could play follow the leader, duplicating what ever the child plays on ocarina with your playing the whistle. This is cool to the average 3 year old because its giving them control of their environment, the fact that they're getting responses from mom or dad is even cooler. Also later they may try to do what mom or dad is doing, follow the leader with a CD or other source as the leader.

Children sing, nobody teaches them, they just try to copy what they hear. If they hear flute, whistle, etc, and have a simple instrument like an ocarina; then, for the child, learning to copy the melody is part of exploring the world about them. From ocarina you might want to go to one of the PVC whistles, (one of the good uses for that old indestructable Susato).

Don't worry about the child hearing off notes, do worry about the child seeing you worry and get frustrated over off notes. Show them that you enjoy practicing and the experience of your music, even the mistakes. If they catch you making a mistake, and they recognize it as a 'mistake'; have fun with it. Blame it on gremlins sneaking in and messing with it. That's why you have to play it over and over and over and over again so the gremlins will get bored with it and stay away. Make sure the child know's your joking, but also that its okay to make mistakes, it's why your practicing in the first place is to find and fix the mistakes.

Of course every kid is like every other kid... every one of them is unique. Enjoy them.

And ultimately teach children to ...
Enjoy Your Music,
Lee Marsh
From Odenton, MD.
DrGiggles
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Post by DrGiggles »

...and keep the Copeland Low D out of their reach when they start playing Baseball.

Wonderful Reply Mr. Marsh. It was very well thought-out and very inspiring... makes me want to buy Sweetones for all the kids on my block - and a year's supply of ear plugs for me. :smile:
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Post by jbgibson »

Ditto what 'most everybody else said :smile:, but in addition ...

You already are teaching ... by playing whistle, CD, nose flute, whatever. Ear training, if you want to formally name it; at least as important as fingering, breathing, note-reading, the other mechanics. Internalizing the rhythm, the lilt and pulse, all those melodies.

But more than that, what you teach from birth on up is *joy* of music. Kids want to do what the people around them are doing; talk, walk, play reels ... even more so if it looks like fun. There's got to be just as many kids soured on playing for life (or at least decades) by draconian imposition of music training as there are those turned on to the lifelong expression of themselves with music (by doing lessons or osmosis right). Personally I don't care if my kids ever get """really good""" at instruments or voice, if they get (or even give) joy from it. Sure, if music is language, fluency can bring *more* joy, but if all you want is dependable echoing of notes from the paper without there needing to be any expression of yourself in the sounds, then get a good player piano and a CD player. For teaching *expression*, give the kids joy in their life, and show them how much fun *you* have in expressing your own joy (or for that matter sadness, or whatever) with your whistle (banjo, crumhorn, castanets, noseflute ...). Lessons for the basics, for proficency if it's appropriate, for mastery if the kid's really got promise. Beg for time for yourself some lessons - could that promote a healthy view of 'em?

'Nother thing about fostering an atmosphere of music for young'uns to model -- let's assume you're into some facet of celtic music. Promoting that in most neighborhoods is going to be cultural guerilla warfare. So don't tell the kids "hands off my prize Mary Bergin tape" -- if they'll listen to it, *let* 'em leave it in the car and broil to an early demise. Let 'em haul the Larry Nugent CD out in the tree house in the back yard to play on the boom box with their buddies .... you rather it be Larry Nugent or Ted Nugent? (Actually Ted would be vastly preferable to most of today's alternatives :smile: Get 'em an MP3 player and preload it with Clips & Snips :smile: or some of the bought or free celtic stuff on the net. If their friend acts interested, get *them* a Sweetone, or a tape. Okay, so the original question was about a 3yo -- you've still got influence with the kids' friends. Ditch the Barney tape; lead 'em all around the back yard yourself as pied piper, with them on ... uhh ... percussion and ocarina.

There's also the WHOA component of teaching kids to think of. If the kid has a whistle, it's still in your family, eh? Getting one for a family member's gotta be even better than for yourself, at least if there's maybe some duets in the future. Or if you think you can occasionally swipe it ... If letting the prize Overton also go out to the treehouse galls you, then get the kid something he or she would like as much -- for a young enough child, the bright Sweetone may do (heck, what's a can of automotive enamel do to the cost of most cheap whistles -- double it? Perris may be scarce, but Wal-Mart's got the same day-glo nuclear warning orange in a can for less than three bucks ....)

Personally, my 8 year old is the one interested - doesn't need an F, but the D is a bit of a stress ... so I got her an E, and of course myself a matching Low E so I could play along. Educational expenses, y'know. I won't be a whistle zealot -- if one of 'em wants a guitar, that can be had for the cost of a couple of restaurant dinners, or a pair of shoes (this is Alabama -- what we need shoes for 'cept Church, anyhow? :wink: . Dulcimer? I'm building one of the other kids one of her own, so we can both play. I told this 8yo the harp'll have to wait a while, but if she *really* wants to learn, we'll figure out a way.

Uilleann pipes? Hmmm. There I might encourage the kid to do a *lot* of lawn mowing :smile:

Have blatant fun playing & listening, and the kids may too. Spouses may require more delicacy ... but I've read on C&F of the success folks have had with quieter whistles (discreet WHOA, again), or taking requests, or getting the spouse into a suitable accompanying instrument if whistle just won't do. And put the tooter down when one of 'em wants to talk or play ball or swim or climb trees. "Hmmmm ... if I put a rainproof pouch up this tree wonder if the squirrels'll leave the old Walton alone here... ?"

Jake, in AL (long winded? practicing to be able to handle a Shaw :smile:
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