Everyday my daughter tells me she wants to play the flute. She is only 3 and I was wondering what is a good age to get her started?
What is the youngest age that you know someone plays the flute? I think in classical I have heard 11 years old. What about Irish flute?
Right now I’m planning on haveing 5 minute lessons with her on the whistle when she turns 4 but I must admit it frightens me because I don’t want something to happen to that discourages her. Maybe starting her too young will. I think she tells me this because she knows it makes me happy. I always reply that we will start you on the whistle at 4 and that playing the flute takes allot of work and practice.
I started playing the flute when I was 9, which was pretty typical in the 60’s. My oldest son insisted on learning the violin when he was 6 - and he’s still playing, but I think it took him longer to understand things than if he had started later. But, I would never discourage a child from playing an instrument - and there’s nothing to stop her starting, stopping, and starting again later, if that’s how it goes.
Pamela (who started playing the piano at 42 and the flute again at 48 after a break from playing anything for 24 years!)
For transverse/side-blown flute, I’d wait a few more years until her arms get long enough to handle the reach. I don’t see why she can’t get started on whistle, though. If she shows ANY interest in piano, get her signed up-- it’s a most helpful grounding in all forms of music.
I think it’s great she wants to play and be like her daddy. Does it have to be hard work at this stage?
Piano? At 3 or 4? Ack!!! At that age your feet aren’t anywhere near the ground, most of the keys are out of reach, and you can only play probably 2 keys at a time with each hand…not much fun, at least that was my experience.
OTH, the whistle is perfect, get a high pitched key that fits her hands and teach her a little bit of a tune here and there when she’s in the mood. Why not start her now? As long as you keep it relaxed and fun, realizing her attention span will likely be short, what harm can it do?
It’s interesting that many folks enourage their kids to draw, paint, and be creative with other visual type media as soon as they are able, yet often parents don’t approach music the same way…I often wonder if this isn’t one of the reasons kids are so addicted to television and video games these days - They get used to intense, and mostly mindless, visual stimuli (through massive exposure) years before parents encourage musical creativity. Not surprising then that children are more apt to want to sit in front of the tube and veg, or play video games rather than learn to play an instrument, or god forbid, go outside and get some exercise by actually playing with (gasp!) other real people!
I say keep your daughter’s interest up by encouraging her to play. Forget about organized lessons for now, much better if Daddy just shows her a catchy little two bar phrase here and there, all the better of the phrases happen to make up a tune. Make a game out of it, there are lots of ways to do this. 3 years old isn’t to young to have fun learning a little music
Come to think of it, I wish I could be 3 years old again…
One reason to keep really young children from musical instruments is because their hearing is still developing. Often they are sensitive to high pitched noises. We’ve discussed hearing loss a few times and others have remarked how some kids cover theirs when listening to someone play a high pitched instrument… be it a flute, fife, whistle or other.
Tony, I will see how she reacts. I will try to make it fun. Can’t tell you how it warms my heart that she wants to learn.
Reason I’m bringing this up is partly because of an experience this morning.
I was listening to the Flute Obsession CD this morning while taking a shower. When I finished showering I dried off and had to open the door to turn off the fan (it’s on the outside for whatever reason). When I opened the door and turned the fan off my youngest daughter was trying to tell me something but I had to hurry and shut the door because my towel was falling. When I quickly shut the door in her face she immediately started crying and yelling at me. I heard my wife run up and she asked me to open the door. She told me that eariler when she had walked by the bathroom Cosette (youngest daughter)had heard the music and told her that when I got out she would tell me she wanted to play the flute. After my wife explained I felt horrible. I quickly adjusted my towl, opened the door and picked her up to console her and hear what she had to say. Well needless to say the ruckas had attracted my other kids and they were standing by as Cosette told me how she wanted to play the flute. After she told me this my darn towl fell again exposing me to my kids, I quickly turned Cosette around and used her for cover while I covered myself back-up.
Anyway I’m sharing this for two reasons.
What an impact that Flute Obsession cd has had.
You may not hear from me for a while because I’m certain that after my kids go to school I’ll be contacted by Social Services.
Edited for spelling
[ This Message was edited by: CraigMc on 2002-09-13 16:00 ]
Craig -
Just a few words based on my experience with my five year old daughter -
Let her play! She probably won’t be patient enough to to learn a tune. My daughter just wants to play “her way” which is to blow on the whistle and wiggle her fingers. Add instruction in little bits and pieces - make sure she has the correct hand on top, etc. The first tune she learns should be a simple song she can already sing.
Make sure your kids see you practicing and having fun. This way practicing looks like play instead of work. I hated HAVING to practice when I was young. My daughter will play the whistle, and now violin, any chance she gets because it’s fun - nobody is forcing her to practice.
Enjoy it! Making music with friends is great - making music with family is even better!!
On 2002-09-13 13:29, CraigMc wrote:
Everyday my daughter tells me she wants to play the flute. She is only 3 and I was wondering what is a good age to get her started?
What is the youngest age that you know someone plays the flute? I think in classical I have heard 11 years old.
According to what I read from teachers on the Boehm Flute list, 7 years old is typical, some needing curved heads to allow the arms to reach the keys. A few may start at 6 and rarely, 5. Some are excellent players by the time they reach the ripe old age of 11. I think Yamaha makes a small plastic fife available at stores like Sam Ash that’s only a few bucks. I think it’s too early for an Irish flute in F. The whistle suggestion makes the most sense, since there’s likely to be immediate successful feedback. Seamus Tansey started whistle at 4, with his father initially fingering it while Seamus blew into it. Laurence Nugent shows one of his baby twins trying that on the CD cover “two for two”.
My boy is almost 4, and i’m asking myself the same questions.
The boy will blow into it, but can’t be bothered covering the holes properly. He does wigggle his fingers but not to any effect.
Get a F whistle. The high G is just TOO nasty and the Eb is too close in size to the D make a difference.
A few more thoughs.
He does better with the piano.
There’s a strong linear, visual, correlation between the physical layout of the keys and the notes. i.e. keys to the right are higher, lower to the left. The farther to right the higher, etc. sounds obvious, but the flute and whistle do not give any of those cues, just the opposite actually with the 2 octaves.
Positive feedback. When you hit a key, you get that note, period. Definitely not so with flute and whistle.
