Klarinet Archive - Posting 000435.txt from 1999/04

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] 8-year old wants to play the flute
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 21:02:00 -0400

on 4/6/99 10:01 PM, SkweekyDon@-----.com wrote:

>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?

Another avenue that no one has mentioned is Liz Goodwin's "Fife Book"
which comes with a real fife, which has been designed to allow easy
transfer to a "real" flute. This has been discussed at some length on a
few occasions ion the FLUTE list, complete with places to obtain the
book/fife. I've never seen it, or seen it in action. If you subscribe to
the FLUTE list, you could search their archives for the relevant
discussion, and maybe even privately email people who have used it and
liked it.

HTH

David

David Niethamer
Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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