Klarinet Archive - Posting 000164.txt from 1997/08

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: How young is too young?
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 09:16:55 -0400

On Tue, 5 Aug 1997, Rob Teitelbaum wrote:

> I'm wondering what all of you think--is 7 years old too young to begin
> playing?

It depends on your brother. First of all, if he's physically large
enough to play the clarinet, and his fingers don't slip into the
tone holes, then there's nothing physical to prevent him from
starting to play. You might put him on a lighter plastic clarinet
in the beginning, simply to allow him time to adjust to what it
feels like to play without having to compensate for the extra
weight of a wooden instrument.

Beyond the above, there is the issue of maturity. He may display
precocious musical talent, but if his attention span is that of a
typical 7-year old, then he may have trouble with private lessons,
much worse with practicing on his own. Probably the only way to
really figure this out is to go ahead and start him on the instrument
and see what happens. He may have precocious discipline as well
when it comes to music, in which case starting him this early
would ingrain those habits for life.

Neil