Birthday gift, 4 year old, musical?

[busymama7]

I have a boy about to turn 4. He is pretty musically inclined. Kinda blows me away with what he can do. Things like figuring out a major scale on the piano after hearing his siblings singing the solfa scale. I can't afford lessons right now for him and don't want to get him toy instruments that will just get annoying. He's pretty enamored by drums when he sees them. But again I don't want child sized toy drums. I was hoping someone would have some ideas for me.

 

ETA: he sings all day long any thing he's ever heard including his 16 year old brothers very complex piano songs. He sings the melody line of them. He's number 8 and all play something and are in choir and the 16 year old plans a music major and I've still never seen anything quite like this. He loves music. We do listen to classical music and sing together daily.

Edited October 31, 2016 by busymama7

[Jaybee]

Do you think he would enjoy an ocarina? Or a ukulele? My parents bought me a ukulele for my 6th birthday. I didn't learn how to play it correctly, but I had a lot of fun with it nonetheless. A tiny-sized violin. Or maybe a drum practice pad. No guarantee that any of these would not be annoying, but they are good ways for kids to experiment.

[Dmmetler]

ECED music specialist who has spent most of my adult career teaching preschoolers :)

 

 

If you decide to go the drums route. Remo Sound Shapes are real drum heads, but in a frame, so they're much quieter than most hand drums. They're largely sold for school use for teachers that need to travel between rooms/schools, and they are very durable. Many percussion manufacturers (Remo, Yamaha, Cosmic Percussion, Latin Perucssion) have school lines that are real drums, only smaller. They cost more than toys, but last forever (seriously, I have had a kid use a floor tom as a step stool, and the thing didn't break.

 

If you want pitched percussion, Sonor and Suzuki Music both have affordable lines of Orff instruments. Sonor is more durable than Suzuki, but It's not going to be an issue at home (we're talking that you might need to replace a xylophone in 10 years with Suzuki in a school setting vs 20 or 30 for Sonor). Xylophones are less irritating to adult ears than glockenspiels and metallophones, and in general, the larger the better.

 

If you want a piano method, Music For Little Mozarts is very gentle, and is easy to do at home for the first couple of levels. There are kits that include the books, cd, magnetic board for games, and a stuffed animal that would be a nice gift.

 

Recorder is another option, but can be difficult to teach at age 4 due to motor skills. Suzuki recorder tapes a lot of the holes to start to make it easier to develop the control, un taping them as notes are mastered. I prefer to start at about age 6.

[Nan in Mass]

Xylophone. It is sort of like a piano and drum combined. Show him how to play chords or a drone and sing along, or create a repetative pattern and then sing over top. When he is a bit older, you can do a sopranino recorder (littler) with the Sweet Pipes instruction book. Mine did that when he was 5. Soon he'll be able to sing rounds, too.

 

Nan

Edited November 1, 2016 by Nan in Mass

[HollyDay]

Cajon?

Boomwhackers?

[AndyJoy]

Xylophone. It is sort of like a piano and drum combined. Show him how to play chords or a drone and sing along, or create a repetative pattern and then sing over top. When he is a bit older, you can do a sopranino recorder (littler) with the Sweet Pipes instruction book. Mine did that when he was 5. Soon he'll be able to sing rounds, too.

 

Nan

I was going to say glockenspiel. We have this one and the sound is very pleasant even when non-musical kids bang on it ;).

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lyons-25-Note-Xylophone-Glockenspiel-Case/dp/B001VO7FPC

[displace]

I would say ukulele if you want a real instrument.

[Dmmetler]

Xylophone. It is sort of like a piano and drum combined. Show him how to play chords or a drone and sing along, or create a repetative pattern and then sing over top. When he is a bit older, you can do a sopranino recorder (littler) with the Sweet Pipes instruction book. Mine did that when he was 5. Soon he'll be able to sing rounds, too.

 

Nan

If you do sopranino, make sure you have the right book-the fingerings are different than on Soprano (they're the same as Alto), so if you teach using the wrong book, your DC will not be able to play in a mixed ensemble without relearning all fingerings.

[Farrar]

What about children's handbells? My kids really enjoyed those at that age. But I have zero music expertise... we just liked the quality of them and the fact that they represented real notes but were color coded.

[Nan in Mass]

If you do sopranino, make sure you have the right book-the fingerings are different than on Soprano (they're the same as Alto), so if you teach using the wrong book, your DC will not be able to play in a mixed ensemble without relearning all fingerings.

We pretended the sopranino was a soprano and switched them up in size to a soprano recorder when their hands were big enough. I played the alto, pretending it was a soprano, when We wanted to play together. Sweetpipes has both soprano and alto beginner books, though, so you could do either. I chose soprano because that was roughly the equivalent of the D pennywhistle fingerings, the key lots of friends play folk music in, making it easy to switch instruments later. That and I figured my little "men" would eventually want to be playing my tenor recorder. I chose Sweetpipes because they use mostly medieval and baroque pieces with some folk mixed in rather than pop music or musicals. No made up songs just to teach. That made it easier for me, the "teacher" to listen to.

 

Nan

Edited November 1, 2016 by Nan in Mass

[Dmmetler]

Children's handbells work, too. I have five sets. Hobby Lobby usually has decent ones around Christmas that are a good value with the 40% coupon. The only thing about handbells (and boomwhackers, which are also a good choice) is that it's hard to play melodies by yourself. They work better in larger groups. I really like boomwhackers for active kids because there is a lot of musical and physics exploration that can happen, yet they aren't really loud and pretty much impossible for kids to damage or hurt each other with.

[FaithManor]

I think he'd love a two octave xylophone/bell set if you can find one that fits your budget.

[Nan in Mass]

I was going to say glockenspiel. We have this one and the sound is very pleasant even when non-musical kids bang on it ;).

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lyons-25-Note-Xylophone-Glockenspiel-Case/dp/B001VO7FPC

My youngest had one like this when he was little. He loved it. Not as nice sounding as an Orff instrument, but he loved it. I had Orff instruments in elementary school and am spoiled. : )

 

Nan

[busymama7]

My youngest had one like this when he was little. He loved it. Not as nice sounding as an Orff instrument, but he loved it. I had Orff instruments in elementary school and am spoiled. : )

 

Nan

I'm leaning towards this due to the price. The orff ones I've found are over $200 and that isn't in the budget right now.

[busymama7]

I think he'd love a two octave xylophone/bell set if you can find one that fits your budget.

Yes I think so too. I am confused at the difference between a xylophone and a glockenspiel. I would love a wood instrument over the metal but I'm not seeing one that is the price range I was hoping for (under $50 for sure).

[Nan in Mass]

I looked for a cheap real xylophone (wood) for my children, too, and did eventually find one for less than $200, but it was still expensive. Glockenspiels are metal "xylophones", nice German ones, in my experience. Childrens toys are called xlophones but aren't really. : ) the one you are looking at will sound tinnier than a real metal glockenspiel, but my youngest spent many happy hours picking out tunes by ear, following play-by-number music, and making up his own songs.

 

Nan

[Trilliumlady]

What about a melody harp aka auto harp? Check them on amazon. My boy loved his, could play songs right away with accompanying song note pack and it sounds nice😀

[marbel]

This is a zombie thread.  I think the birthday has already passed.  :-)

[Janeway]

I love the good quality recorder with some good books to learn from. Also, a good quality recorder is still under $10. You just don't want any ole recorder from Walmart or Target.