Teaching very young children

[8parktoollover]

My 6 year old brother wanted to play trombone so I got out the pbone and taught him the basics: posture, breathing, buzzing (which took a bit of time for him to play consistently. I then tried to explain hi how to adjust the embochure to change notes which he didn't quite get. I then Had him play a low b flat and told him to just practice consistently playing that note. Now I'm not a professional teacher and a lot of people say that very young children shouldn't learn brass. So what are you'r reccomendations for how I should progress. Should I go the alto route and buy him the pbone mini or should I stick to tenor. I guess at the end of day were just doing this for fun and there is very little chance that he will stick with it and become serious but he might! So I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are.

[BGuttman]

I see two problems:

1. His arms are probably too short to reach past 4th position on a tenor (but this will change with time). The reason altos were used in Sweden was because of the limited reach of young children. But I'd hesitate to spend any money if he's not planning to continue. Besides, the reports on the pBone mini have not been good.

2. He has not yet grown adult teeth. There may be problems playing when the baby teeth fall out and before the adult teeth grow in. That said, I started playing trombone in 5th grade (age 10) and playing trombone appeared to improve the tooth spacing.

If all he wants to do is honk on it a bit, just let him work on the pBone. It's pretty bullet proof, and pretty cheap to replace if he manages to trash it.

[Doug Elliott]

My attitude is NEVER let a beginner start on low Bb, although I know all the books do.

It's not at all difficult for most people to buzz a middle Bb. Start there. If you start on low Bb, everything else seems high.

When I started I couldn't reach past 5th... I don't see that as a problem. Except using the spit valve is a bit difficult.

[BGuttman]

I think he should be playing F or middle Bb as well.

Part of the problem may be the small mouth. I was started on a 12C and it felt like a bathtub when I was 10. I wonder how the pBone mouthpiece feels to your brother. You might want to see if you can find a REAL small mouthpiece (like a Bach 22) at this stage.

[harrisonreed]

6 year olds would be better off learning the piano. A 6 year old skull is still developing and probably doesn't need a metal mouthpiece smashed into it for extended periods of time.

[Doug Elliott]

That's the "prevailing wisdom" but plenty of brass players have started even younger than that and became successful.

https://www.trumpetguild.org/2014-12-24 ... uth2015mar

https://www.thetrumpetblog.com/8yr-old- ... ana-brass/

[WilliamLang]

i find that for younger that 6 (depending on height) starting young kids on a plastic alto trombone can be lots of fun. the key is to go at their learning speed and consider a good half hour lesson to be one where they get 2-3 sounds out (control will come later)

[Gary]

Also, unless he is uncommonly attached to trombone pedagogy, at that young, it would be more fun and interesting to throw a lot of easy tunes vs. exercises his way.

[Doug Elliott]

All the more reason for not starting on low Bb.

[Redthunder]

A 6 year old is fine learning virtually any instrument he or she is interested in, as long as they are given a good opportunity to actually learn it, and they actually want to do so (telling them no is a great way to lose their interest in music, period). Yes, there are physical limitations but a child that young is so malleable that there's nothing that is too difficult to overcome later.

As Doug said, don't insist on starting on Low B-flat.

That said, it's not important to start on any SPECIFIC note first (though middle B-flat is a great target note in my experience). I find that many students will have one note that they can repeatedly when they first pick up the instrument, and I've even had students play a high F (below high b-flat) as their first note. Instead of trying to "correct" the starting note (which almost never works), I just work on expanding their range from wherever they start through slurs. Whatever the first note happens to be, whether it is middle B flat, middle F, low Bb, or any other note, get them slurring in either direction ASAP. It's almost impossible to describe how to do it in a way that will mean anything to a child. They just need to experiment with it (and you need to experiment with the language you use in order to elicit different results). Once they understand what it feels like, get them to reinforce it by having them do it many times.

Beyond the trombone, no matter what you do, you need to get them listening, singing and moving to music. Do this more than anything else. It's irrelevant whether they stick with the trombone or become serious. If you want to be an effective teacher, you'll develop the musician first and the instrument(s) will follow.

[Gary]

One day my Mus. Ed. class visited a middle school band. We kept hearing low notes blasted and couldn't figure it out. So we went around behind the bone section.

We heard where the low notes were coming from and it was a small Japanese-American kid who could hardly reach a check-out counter much less low trombone positions.

So on the next low-note passage, we took a close look and saw that he had taken his slippers off and would throw his slide out and catch it with his curved bare foot. LOL. Ingenious!