Klarinet Archive - Posting 000696.txt from 2003/08
From: "Christy Erickson" <perickso@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] perfect age
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 00:21:09 -0400
Martina, I have a student at the moment who is age 7 and going into =
third
grade this year. She can barely hold the clarinet properly, even with a
neck strap. Its all I can do to get her to not try to hold that =
clarinet
out in front of her like a trumpet. Each note she plays takes a great =
deal
of effort for her but the child does have lots of hot air! I did once =
have
another student the same age who did much better than this child but its
always a risk to take a younger child, since one cannot predict how they
will do. I would start a five year old with perhaps a recorder and =
maybe a
program like Kindermusik for young children that places more emphasis on
theory and rhythm activities that will lay a good foundation and help =
this
child enjoy music.
If this child is really interested in learning to play an =
instrument, I
would begin with piano but some kids have grave difficulties with their
technique at that age, since they can't always separate their tiny =
fingers
out enough to easily play one note at a time on the keyboard. The same
would probably be true on the clarinet. For a child this age, one must =
be
extremely careful to choose a teacher that has taught young children =
before,
is EXTREMELY patient and positive and is willing to place more emphasis =
on
musical activities that children that age can relate to and enjoy. (and
sometimes activities and conversations that have absolutely nothing to =
do
with music) There are rare children who do possess the fine and gross =
motor
skills and physical strength to play a musical instrument easily and =
fairly
well at that age but I believe strongly that children need to be allowed =
to
be children and that means having the ability to experiment and to learn
about a wide variety of things-clever children included. Children often
express a wish to do things they have seen others do or they have heard,
seen or read about and that experimentation and play in a wide variety =
of
activities is extremely important for children.
It just in my experience and my opinion, but usually when children =
this
age are brought to a teacher for music lessons, it's the wish of the =
parent
and not the child. The Mom of the child I have described above was just =
one
such parent. She went on and on about how her daughter had a "passion" =
for
the clarinet and had expressed a desire to play. I warned her about the
problems of physical size and motor development that children need in =
order
to play a wind instrument, the fact that the other kids in school would =
not
be beginning to play wind instruments until 5th grade and that when and =
if
she joined fifth grade band, this child would be bored out of her skull =
with
the music. =20
I agreed to take this child against my better instinct-probably only
because the Mom was so pushy and insistent. This girl has had six =
lessons
this summer and can barely play "Merrily We Roll Along Using Three =
Notes."
I think the Mom now can see why I recommended waiting but she now has an
investment made in a musical instrument and I have a feeling she is
continuing her daughter only to "save face" after trying to convince me =
she
had a "child prodigy" on her hands and she can now see the difficulties =
this
child encounters attempting to play an instrument she is not really big
enough physically to play very well. To top it all off, the clarinet =
was a
compromise since the girl really wanted to learn saxophone but was =
simply to
small yet for that instrument.=20
Incidentally, I'll have to agree that this child IS quite bright, =
really
does love the clarinet and produces a very good tone on the instrument =
but
she really would have been better off starting on something smaller or =
on
the piano due to her small size. We don't live in an area in which it =
would
have been easy to rent an Eb clarinet. In fact, our nearest local music
store would not even rent an instrument to these people. They said they
don't rent instruments to children that young because the children are =
too
hard on the instruments. The Mom went to a town 35 miles away that was =
only
too happy to rent her a clarinet for her daughter.
My own daughter started with Kindermusik classes at the age of 4 =
and
loved it. Today, her rhythm skills are very good, although her counting
leaves much to be desired. However, she really has developed a very =
good
sense of tempos and beats. =20
Christy Erickson
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