I am thinking about teaching my daughter music. She is 4 1/2 and I was wondering if that is too young to learn how to play the Irish Whistle?
My daughter gets frustrated easily so I was just going to give her my Walton whistle and let her make some “noises” to boost her confidence. Then I can try showing her how to place her fingers…but I am sure she is going to get frustrated.
What does everyone think…is 4 1/2 too young…and if not…do you have any suggestions or tips on how to teach her the Irish Whistle?
I can’t imagine that would be too young. Some people start their kids on piano lessons at 3-4. I gave my girls a whistle each when they were 4-5 and they had fun with them for a little while. Neither stuck with it, but they pick them up once in a while.
I’d say just give it to her and let her play with it. Teach her a simple tune or two, like Mary Had a Little Lamb and such. Don’t make it a lesson, just keep it fun. If she starts to get frustrated with it, then back off. Maybe even take it away for a bit. You don’t want her to associate frustration with the whistle (or music in general).
There are several schools of thought on this sort of thing. I don’t start teaching kids re**order until 3rd grade. But for my own young badgerling, I guess that as soon as she starts to show an interest, I’ll teach her whatever she is capable of.
I started on piano when I was about 3 or 4 (I don’t personally remember when – you’d have to ask my parents). I played until I was 11 and I remember virtually nothing about it. I picked up Violin when I was 11 played until I was 21, at which point I left town and stopped playing for 6 years. I started whistle on my own about a year ago and haven’t put it down. I started playing violin again about 6 months ago and have quickly gotten back into it, but I do not have the skills one would normally associate with someone who has played for 10+ years.
My problem is that I was never passionate about music until a few years after I’d stopped playing it. I played piano because my parents enrolled me in it. I enjoyed it well enough, I suppose, but it wasn’t something I looked forward to and it wasn’t something I really practiced in my free time. Same with violin. I started playing violin because I thought it was expected of me, and I never practiced in my free time. When the passion for music finally found me, I had no instrument to play. I looked at violins, but could not afford to buy one at the time. When I discovered the whistle, I immediately ordered one and as soon as it arrived, I played it in every spare moment.
The point of this whole thing is this: kids are fully capable of learning an instrument so young. However, learning how to play is only part of the equation. Try to instill a love of music. Play with them. I know that if my parents had played along with me as a child, I likely would have enjoyed playing much more. As it was, it was a solitary exercise that held no real joy for me.
My oldest daughter, who’s only 20 months, loves playing around with instruments. She has various percussion instruments (my in-laws keep threatening to buy us more, to which I respond, “great! bring them on!”), and she even has her own whistle (a Waltons D) that she loves to toot on. Now, she doesn’t really play it, of course… she only really plays a low C and high C, depending how hard she decides to blow on it. It’s something she enjoys, though, and when she’s older, I’ll teach her the fingering, etc.
I have actually started some kids off at 3, and some took and some didn’t. But my little brother is almost 5, and hasn’t taken at all to the whistle. I guess it depends on the child, and if they want to learn enough.
I would say that there is no age that is too young. My two-year old has had his own whistle since he was six months old. It took him a while before he could make a sound, but by a year old he could blow it and get open C#. There were occassions when as I played, he would put the whistle in his mouth and blow along, which resulted in something quite tuneless, probably due to my playing rather than his!
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was practicing and Jeremiah was sat next to me, blowing his usual open C#, but I did notice that he was mimicking playing using his fingers. OK, so he was not managing to cover the tone-holes, but who cares in about that for a two-year old. Sometimes, he’ll play B, and I have tried showing him, but he doesn’t seem to want to be shown, so I guess he’ll figure it out in due course. Of course, he sometimes uses the whistle to intimidate the dogs, at which point it gets taken away from him.
So, in short, your daughter is not too young at all. I think it is a case of not being too pushy and trying to teach her some very simple tunes to give a good sense of achievement. Tunes like “Three Blind Mice” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” These are ones that she’ll know.
I would also add that recorders also make good beginner instruments.
Well, when I got home last night, I gave her the whistle and she was finally able to play a C# after several minutes of me telling her to blow gently…she was blowing so hard I think all the dogs in the neighborhood perked their heads to one side and then started howling
She had trouble putting her fingers over the holes so I just let her play however she wanted. She also had a hard time of breathing…she would inhale through the whistle. I was able to eventually get her to open her mouth a bit and take a breath and then continue tooting.
I picked up my whistle and started to practice…she would continue to belt out that C# with a whole lot of other over-blown noises. However, I watched her when I was playing and she would move her fingers up and down trying to imitate me. So, I think for now, I will just give her the whistle for her to make some sounds. I think eventually, she will get to a point where she will want to know how to play other notes, and at that time…I will try again to show her.
It’s something she enjoys, though, and when she’s older, I’ll teach her the fingering, etc.