Image Credit: Pixabay
Playing a musical instrument is known to be linked to improved learning abilities, development of the brain and enhanced social skills. For kids in particular, playing musical instruments has been shown to be essential to their all-round growth and development.
There are numerous musical instruments ranging from percussion instruments (e.g. drums), wind instruments (e.g. flute/recorder), string instruments (e.g. guitar) to electronic instruments. Whether the desire of the parent is for the child to become a music genius or to just have music as a pastime, here are some great musical instruments for children;
-
Keyboard/Piano
The keyboard or piano is the most popular musical instrument for kids. Learning to play the piano usually forms the basis of the child’s ability to understand music. Therefore, it serves as a great starting point for the children to comprehend the different musical notes and keys and their progression. The fact that the keyboard is also durable makes it an excellent choice for children to play with as they subtly learn the fundamentals of music.
-
Guitar
The guitar is the second most popular musical instrument for kids to learn after the piano. In a way, the guitar may seem a little bit more exciting to children than the piano as it helps children learn and appreciate manual dexterity. The portability and ease of carrying the guitar around also makes it appealing.
-
Bass Guitar
The bass guitar is quite often under-appreciated as a musical instrument probably because the bass guitar player is often in the background. However, the bass guitar is the instrument that gives songs the groove they require. The bass guitar gives songs a certain form of depth that would make the song plain without it. Unlike the guitar that has six strings, the bass guitar has four strings, which makes it more manageable and easier to understand for children. An essential knowledge that children gain from playing the bass guitar is how to work in the background and keep everything together without calling for praise or adulation.
-
Drums
Kids naturally want to beat surfaces to create sounds. However, many parents do not like the noise that comes from beating surfaces. For kids, the drums are so much fun and they learn rhythm when they play the drums. The rhythm that playing the drums teaches is the foundation of music around which every other music concept is built. Various kinds of drums exist, and there are even customized drum sets for children. Some of the drum sets are electronic allowing kids to practice with their headphones and eliminating the usual noise that accompanies playing the drums.
-
Flute/Recorder
The recorder/flute is the simplest and easiest wind instrument that children can learn. It is portable and teaches the basic principle upon which wind instruments are based; breathing and positioning the fingers. When children master the way wind instruments work with the flute/recorder, then they can move on to more complex ones like the oboe.
-
Saxophone
The saxophone is also considered quite easy to learn. A reason it is a favored musical instrument is that it is versatile and used in different genres (rock, blues, jazz, classical).
