Q: for auntie or others- music lessons?

MirandaHobbes

I was a band geek throughout my school years (drumline) and would love if DS were to get into music. My son's SN school has private music lessons available for kids as young as 3. Trumpet, piano, or starting at age 6- guitar. They want you to own the instrument and it's very expensive. When do you think it is worth trying music lessons? Does the child need to show some readiness? Is there an instrument that is better than others to start with? As much as I loved drumline, I wouldn't encourage it because I never learned how to note read very well.

MirandaHobbes

-auntie-:

I have a couple of friends who are professional musicians. Many of them would suggest holding off until your child is able to read text, since raeding music is a similar skill. You'd also want to consider the learning curve of the instrument. Fine motor skills play into this, but I know a few kids on spectrum with abysmal hand to eye and hypotonia in their fingers that play piano beautifully. I'd wait until they were ready, showed an interest and I'd probably start with private instruction.

If you are looking to build on this for a social outlet, pick an instrument for band. In many places, orchestra just doesn't have the sense of fun that marching band does. Where I live the stereotypical orchestra kid is a high acheiver who attends Chinese School on the weekend whereas the band kids tend to be more social though as high acheiving- both usually have a couple of National Merit Finalists, but band has more Eagle Scouts and Gold Awards.

Within the band, I find trumpets to be cut-throat and kids who aren't at the top of the pile can get turfed to other instruments- mellophones (marching version of French horn), trombone, baritone and tuba. Drumline are the coolest and most playful of those in our band with the low brass running a close second. Flutes are expendable and almost all girls, clarinets are 50/50.

I'm dying- you just described the social structure of my youth. I don't think I ever realized it until now. I was hoping that DS would enjoy the trumpet, probably because the trumpets were the "coolest", and the most sophisticated musically. Also extreme competition for 1st and 2nd chair- in my class both had band directors as parents. You're right- I wouldn't want to put DS through that. Flutes were all girls except the one guy who tended to hang with the girls anyway. Trombones were the jokesters/pranksters. Tubas were the big friendly guys. Clarinets sortof blended in. Sax players were always trying to prove themselves to the trumpets. And Orchestra was exactly as you said- kids whose parents sent them to language camp in the summer and were way too refined to stomp through the local 4th of July parade..

What instrument does your son play? When did he start?