How do you teach your kid(s)?

[Tombolino]

Hi there

I have a 3 year old son. At my place, at his fingertips to play with I have a synthesizer, a plastic Sesame Street drum kit, a bass, and a full size acoustic guitar.

Wondering about your suggestions to, while I let him explore and play with the instruments as he wishes, what steps to educate him musically off and on instrument. Of course we often listen to music at home and in the car, kid and non kid music. Also wondering if I should spend the money on a baby guitar. I do have an old classical adult size but it always runs the risk of getting destroyed. His favorite thing so far is to bang on the plastic drums, and messing with the keys. Guitar seems harder, he may try to pluck the strings.

Thank you!

[MalcolmAmos]

At 3 he would probably like to play with the box the new smaller guitar came in. Really tough question. Ah... yes, the terrible threes, I do remember. Just let him be around you as you play your music.

His attention span right now is very short. Let him be around you and encourage any interest he may show.

IMO - don't push right now, just let it happen.

[fdeck]

Age 3 might be a bit young to do anything but bang around and be surrounded by music. By the time they are learning to read and write, I'd say that they are ready to learn an instrument. I know this is a bass forum, but I'd suggest giving violin or piano a whirl. You'll be able to find good teachers who are interested in teaching small kids, and for violin, instruments that are sized for small hands. To see if your son is interested, you could take him to a kids music recital. Seeing other kids having fun playing music is a great motivator.

[JoeWPgh]

Let him run wild until he gets frustrated or has questions

[two fingers]

I feel you! My 3 year old (girl) just LOVES music. But I'm picking my battles kind of. I'm trying to bring structure into her day-to-day life. The usual stuff like getting dressed, brushing her teeth, eating without making a mess, and generally conforming to how things are done around here go at the top of the list. With all that to work on, I try to just let her be a kid and go nuts with everything else. So when it comes to music, I'm like you. I have some stuff laying around she can bang on. And she really likes to watch and dance while a strum all 5 chords I know on guitar. She gets to bang on anything that can take it without getting damaged. And she has a toy keyboard she noodles on. But for the most part, her "playing music" lasts about 45 seconds and then some shiny object across the room (like a princess costume or a fairy doll) catches her eye and CONCERT OVER!

I've talked to parents who have there kids in violin lessons or piano before the mother heals from childbirth. It just seems too structured for my tastes. Your little guy is going to be in school in a couple of years. After that it's off to either more school or work for a few decades. He'll be following instructions for the rest of his life. For now just let him experiment on whatever and have his own brand of fun with it. This is the only time in his entire life he'll get to just play for the sake of playing. My favorite thing to do in the whole world is just sit and watch her interact with the world around her. It's fascinating. She just chooses from a long list of random thoughts in her pretty little head and plugs those thoughts into whatever she happens to be doing. I let her run with that randomness as often as possible. It will soon be tweeked by every teacher, administrator, rule, law, government regulation, boss, society's rules, politically correct crap, and authority figure you can imagine. For now, she gets to run with it. She gets to pick and choose where her adventure goes. We play in the rain. We splash in mud puddles. We get dirty. We eat sweets when we're not supposed to. She crawls into her mother's arms to go to sleep sometimes. We dance when we're not supposed to. We make too much noise in quiet places.

Thanks for posting on this. It gave me a chance to remember a lot of things I love about being Dad. Enjoy whatever path you take with yours.

Now, back to homework! CRAP!

[Tombolino]

I agree with yall, thanks!

[markbmbass]

Originally Posted by Tombolino

I agree with yall, thanks!

I have a similar dilemma. I really want my kids to be involved in music. I have a 7 year old son, but he just doesn't want to practice anything. I have tried letting him sit w/ one of my basses for 10 Minutes at a time, and other things.

Bottom line is though, I don't think forcing anything is gonna help. I don't want to sour his taste for music, so I figure I will just wait until he gets bitten by the bug. And I would be surprised if it does not happen eventually.

[Clark Dark]

you can get him/them a rhythm egg and ask him/them to accompany you while you practice.