One of the things that people most often ask for help with in music is how to use instruments with children, so here are a few ideas:
- Don't be afraid to actually choose the instruments that you give the children to play, particularly inside, where quieter types of instrument such as shakers, scrapers, and small tambourines may be best.
- Leave the louder instruments for outside, though even there, quieter instruments are the better option for adult-led sessions. Alternatively, modify how they are played. Drums are much quieter if played with hands rather than beaters.
- Don't forget about 'pretend' instruments. They can be very effective, as children love to strum along on pretend guitars, made from bats, and a beater makes a very good pretend microphone.
A set of short dowel sticks or budget claves works extremely well for all kinds of rhythm work because:
- each child can have two and play them as hard as they like, which is satisfying for children and the noise is never too great to drown out any singing
- you can concentrate on making rhythms, rather than having to deal with problems that can arise from sharing the more desirable looking instruments and trying to get a sound from the trickier ones
- they can act as beaters that can be used on any object that makes a noise. Finding objects that make different sounds is great fun, and children love to create their own 'drum kit' using blocks, containers from the sand tray and so on.
You can buy lengths of dowel from any DIY store. Simply cut them into pieces about 11cm long and sand down the ends. The children will enjoy helping with the sanding, too.
Musician Steve Grocott works as an artist in residence in early years settings and provides music training for non-specialist practitioners. For more information on Steve's work and the training he provides, visit Steve Grocott's Pages at www.dronesmusic.net.