Or should allowance be made for the smallness of their hands and they be allowed to start out on subscale instruments? Pros and cons?
I think we already make too many accommodations to childhood.
I can’t wait until the Dudeling is two so I can buy him a sousaphone.
They do make instruments in smaller sizes for children. Apparently there are also smaller sizes for small-sized adults, in particular with violins. I don’t see any reason why this would be disadvantageous. If you’re too small for the standard-sized instrument, I can see a whole bunch of bad habits developing to accommodate simply being able to hold the instrument. (Parts of the Violin and Their Function)
I imagine that there will be a bit of adjustment time needed as you grow and get a new size, but I can’t imagine that it’s all that significant. Apparently (and I can’t find the cite), there are some piano manufacturers that are making the keys a bit less wide than is the standard to make it possible for more people to reach the interval of a tenth (C to the next E, for example). According to one of these manufacturers, the reduced width has essentially no effect at all on people’s ability to play. Somewhat akin to thinking that something’s off, but not being able to tell what it is.
No amount of skill or determination will let someone child or adult use something as easily (or possibly at all) that is simply too big or small for them. We don’t require kids to run around in adult sized clothes after all. If you can afford it I see no logical reason not to get kids (or as said, small adults) instruments scaled to their hands.
Yes, a 10 year old child should be made to play a contrabass clarinet that is twice his size :rolleyes:
Seriously, what’s the difference and who cares? It’s more important that the child learns to play an instrument than what size it is.
Dumb debate.
Why is this a debate? They already do this, and have for centuries.
I learned to play clarinet on my fathers clarinet, full sized adult one when I was in 4th grade.
I think it all depends on how young we are talking - 4 year old really needs a mini instrument, 10 year old not so much.
I was unaware of this; my impression was that on things like the piano you were expected to do you best and grow into it, and that some purists insisted that that was the way it ought to be.
In the greater scheme of things, the piano is a relatively recent instrument, and yeah, you were expect to make do.
But for a lot of other instruments, such as the violin family, graduated sizes have been standard for centuries. You can’t learn to play if you can’t physically manage the instrument.
Whenever possible the child should be provided with an instrument appropriate to their size.
The standard stringed instruments all come in smaller sizes. There are curved flutes for kids. I don’t know what else.
I think that changing out pianos as a child grows would be prohibitively expensive for most parents. Plus, since you can’t take the piano with you, the piano teacher would have to have an array of smaller pianos, and the kid wouldn’t be able to play anywhere else.
Only one anecdote, but when my daughter, at age 4, wanted to learn piano (well, keyboard), I asked her teacher if I should get her a smaller sized keyboard instead of our full sized one. He said no, it’s wasn’t recommended, because she’d have to relearn the spacing when she grew, and it was considered easier to start out with the full size so her muscles would learn the proper spacing. When I pointed out that the spacing would change as her hands grew regardless, he shrugged and just said that’s how it’s always been done.
Piano, I think, may be a special case. They’re expensive to make and buy, and small ones sound plinky and discordant and so piano manufacturers only recently started making child sized ones (that still sound weird).
As I started on a half-size violin and eventually grew (barely) into a full-size, I can tell you that it would have been physically impossible for me to play the bigger version, which would have defeated the purpose.
I also played piano and don’t remember having any special problems with it. I could always reach the keys!
Some would consider me a “deficient” piano player because, due to my hand size, I can’t span more than a ninth (nine keys). However, for most casual piano music that is more than sufficient, and there are well accepted methods for modifying music containing intervals greater than one’s hand can span. (I have to do this when playing some ragtime tunes, as my hands are clearly physically smaller than Scott Joplin’s were - but they’re pretty minor changes the average person isn’t going to hear). With piano, as you normally play multiple keys simultaneously, technique can compensate for small hands and result in comparable harmonies. Some musical genres even encourage modification (such as improv jazz).
This is in contrast to, say, a violin where you just simply have to be able to place your fingers at the correct spot or the notes won’t come out properly at all, even if you’re improvising. For that, you have to modify the instrument as technique simply can’t be altered.
Moved to Cafe Society from Great Debates.
What’s the reasoned argument against using child-sized instruments? Seems obviously sensible to use instruments suitable to the size of the person playing, if possible - but I’m not a music teacher.
It certainly worked for Schroeder.
FWIW, my 10 year old daughter just moved from a 3/4 size violin to a full size. We rent, and the rental company does free size upgrades. Took her about 10 minutes to adjust to the new fiddle.
I used a curved headjoint for my first couple years of playing flute because my arms weren’t long enough (and I still need one for alto flute). Not sure why anyone would have a problem with that.
Instruments like guitars and bases come in a variety of sizes anyway. Since some adults prefer smaller ones anyway, I don’t think anybody would have an issue with a child learning on a small instrument. Anything that encourages a beginner to play is probably a good thing.