Klarinet Archive - Posting 000385.txt from 1999/04

From: SkweekyDon@-----.com
Subj: [kl] 8-year old wants to play the flute
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1999 22:13:40 -0400

Hi! I'm a clarinetist--I used to be subscribed to this list as
DHmorgan@-----.com but I set up an account just for clarinet stuff:
SkweekyDon@-----.

I went to the music store Easter Weekend and showed my eight-year old nephew
all the wood winds they'd let me play. After we got home he told his father
he wants to learn to play the 'flute or the piccolo'!

Anyway, when I taught piano I said that a kid is ready to start when he/she
wants to start. What counts is the desire to play, not some abstract average
date for the introduction of musical education. But even a three-year old
can extend a finger and hit a piano key--and gain tremendous satisfaction
from it. Seeing him try to make a sound on a flute--and not succeed--made me
wonder--is it ever too early to start a woodwind? He's in second grade--I
started piano at that age, but I didn't start playing sax until Fifth.

What's the conventional wisdom?

Thanks in advance.

Don

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org