What's the best way to start introducing music to your kids?
My daughter is 2 and seems to be very interested in all things musical. Since neither my husband or I is musical, I'm not sure how to start "teaching" her music.
5 Answers
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From what I understand, little kids need joy in music more than talent in music. So, even if you can't carry a tune, or feel like you can't keep a beat, trying to do so is important. Sing little songs, or sing along to cd's. Encourage dancing to music, drawing to music, clapping, drumming, telling stories to music... Think of music as a holistic emotional experience, and create opportunities for the child to explore these experiences. It's probably also just as well to do it a little bit every day as opportunities arise, as it is to go to a class. Although classes can be quite fun.
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We take both our kids to Music Together classes, and have been for over a year now.
They're really fun classes, and I appreciate that the music is both accessible to our kids and not "sickly sweet" for our adult tastes. Keep in mind that it will almost certainly take your child many months of going to class to actually begin to sing the songs or participate, but once the ball get's rolling, they really seem to have a lot of fun at it. Our son really loves putting on the Music Together CD's at home or in the car, and can sing many of the songs.
In class, you'll see that they hand out a bunch of instruments to the kids, (mostly rhythm instruments) and you could easily go get some of these online. A nice "lollipop drum", tambourine, wood blocks, etc can go a long way. Our son has a set of bells that he really loves, as well as a toy piano and xylophone. He's still just "banging" but he thinks he's playing music, and will often times put on a little performance for us of banging on instrument(s) and singing along. It's pretty cute. :)
With respect to correctly playing an instrument, I'm not sure at what age this could start. Our son (2 1/2 years) loves to play around on a full size piano, but he doesn't have the dexterity or attention span for real lessons, but I suspect that at 3 or 3 1/2 years, you might actually be able to start something more formal if you want him to know how to play...
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Check out used music stores. Locally, there's Rasputin in Campbell and in Mountain View or Book Buyers in Mountain View. They should have a children's music section and you can find copies of Sesame Street, Raffi, The Wiggles and so on for 1/2 off or more. The CDs are often in pretty good condition too. You can also borrow CDs from the library.
If kid music isn't your style, I would suggest playing classical music.
Lastly, pots and pans work too.
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I recently discovered the artist Dan Zanes. It's more like "kid-friendly" music than "kid's music". I really like the couple of albums that we have so far. You can find many of his MP3s in the Amazon MP3 store.
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THere are little musical instruments you can get for your kid from an early age. Our baby got little maracas when she was six months old, and still likes them a lot. She got a xylophone when she was one, and is very delighted by that as well. The next instrument-toy in line is the ukulele... so small and has nice sound, too. (this is mainly because she won't let mommy's violin be, and it is hoped that the ukulele will be enough of a distraction, despite not having a bow)
Being an Old School Grandmother ( but only in some ways :) ! ) I would recommend including some good traditional folk music and " World" music. This kind of music has wide appeal to both kids and adults. 60's style singers like Pete Seeger and Peter Paul and Mary have some great kids songs ( and even some albums). " Puff the Magic Dragon" falls into this category, if you are not opposed to that song. World music is wonderful as well, and compilations can be found that are quite kid friendly.
- Suzanne, Apr 13, 2010