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Teaching Music With No Background
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I have no real music training. I had learned to play a few simple songs on piano and guitar when I was in high school because my friends played them. I loved playing guitar but that lasted just a couple of years, and I only could play a few songs from memory. I know very little about music theory also and feel that I am learning it along side with him.
My son really wants to learn banjo, fiddle or guitar. He loves folk music and wants to be like Pa in the Little House books and play the fiddle. He looks up to the boys on The Waltons (we watch an episode each weekend) and wants to play banjo like them. His pleas to let him learn music has resulted in our learning the staffs and notes together. I think he might be learning some of it quicker than I am.
I don’t think we can afford real music lessons at this time, nor could we afford a high quality instrument. Should I ingnore his requests to learn music because I can not afford a good teacher? Would it do any harm to use a low quality instrument from Craigslist or eBay?
Could I teach myself on a small child’s version and then teach him and let him practice? Are there good free resources for learning for music and folk instruments online? Or books most library’s would have?
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I always say to jump on a child’s interests while they are interested!
The Lord has provided free beginner lessons on both the guitar and the violin or my children through other homeschool moms. My son continued to teach himself through youtube videos and he still plays today and loves his guitars. My daughter did not carry on with the violin but she learned a lot and was able to apply that knowledge to learning how to plan other instruments. She now plays the piano, after 2 years of formal lessons, and is teaching herself how to play the ukulele.
You might think about starting on a fairly simple instrument that is popular so that you can find a variety of free teaching resources online. The guitar, keyboard and ukulele are all good choices for this. I have never looked at banjo resources so I would do some research to see what’s out there and how difficult the banjo is to learn as a first instrument.
My son wanted instruments instead of toys almost from the start. He started out with cheap instruments, and beginner cds with books. He learned a lot on his own. Be careful with used guitars because they may have broken parts you can’t see plainly. Maybe he can save his birthday money, etc. and get a beginner instrument. Guitar may be good.
I dont have much to add, except that many famous musicians taught themselves so dont let lack of formal lessons deter you from letting your son “play around” with an instrument. We also are on a budget with no extra for music lessons. My kids have enjoyed a series by Progressive. My daughter is doing Beginner keyboard for Children. They have many different instruments and the books with CD are inexpensive. I would definately let him start while he is enthusiastic, God will provide formal lessons at the right time. My dear friend has a daughter who wants to be a ballerina. The family has a tight budget so her first years were spent training with a young girl at church on the cheap. She continued with lessons from teens or moms out of their garages or home. God has big plans for this girl though and in spite of budget constraints she is now in a very respected studio being accepted to multiple ballet intensives at very big name Acadamys. She is just 14 but on her way to becoming a Prima Ballerina. And the Lord has always provided scholarships or anonymous donations for her training. I know that story isnt exactly on topic, but I love to tell it.
Thank you ladies for y inspirational feedback. I guess I am now on the hunt for an inexpensive fiddle, banjo or guitar! Although surprisingly I have found banjos to be the most pricey. Has anyone used an inexpensive violin or guitar form Amazon or eBay for a young kid? I am afraid those type of mass produced, inexpensive instruments would be more of a prop or toy than actually capable of being used to learn how to play. Blessings.
An inexpensive guitar can be a great beginner instrument but a cheap fiddle/violin is virtually worthless. The instrument makes all the difference on a violin.
A ukulele is another great option. They are quite popular right now, small, inexpensive and easier to learn to play because they only have four strings.
I agree with the previous post about the ukulele. It’s super easy to learn. My DD’s ages 8 & 11 recently started Alfred’s Kid’s Ukulele Course dvd’s and really enjoy them 🙂
We are blessed to have a few great fine arts co ops around us. Nine years ago, we started with a local smaller one and it was a great foundation. When our second oldest showed much desire and talent to make music her profession, we switched to a more advanced fine arts program three years ago. Best decision ever. We do monthly payment plans and we budget it in with our tax refund money each year. We’ve gotten most of our starter instruments from Mendini off eBay. Violins, guitars, cello, flutes. Eukelele’s from Amazon. Mendini has great prices on beginner instruments.
And I would also add that the dd who is going to college for music in the fall is self taught for piano and eukelele. Lessons for violin, cello and flute (main instrument). Being self taught, kids can gonfar but if you begin to see that this may be his true passion in life, keep in mind that sometimes without an instructor, you can develop incorrect posture, hand position, etc that gets harder to correct the longer you’ve ingrained it. For example…my daughter had more of a band teacher rather than a solid flute teacher so no one corrected a lip position in our earlier co op. So for the last three years, she has been working hard to correct it before college.
How old is your son?
Our girls have taken formal piano lessons for about 6 years, but when money got tight we had to take a break and have since been using homeschool piano. They offer beginner through advanced lessons. It’s very affordable and they are both advancing beautifully!
Thank you to all of you lovely gals who have replied to my post. I have a fiddle on the way from the Mendini page on Amazon and was surprised by the good reviews for the price! I hope I can save some money up for occasional lessons. I am a bit apprehensive after reading on other sites how you have to have a violin instructor or it will create long term posture problems with playing. My son is more interested in fiddle than violin, and it is to my understanding that the bow and fiddle position are fairly different. I hope I did not make a mistake getting a fiddle instead of a guitar. But for his age I am glad I can at least give him a chance to explore a musical instrument, even if lessons have to wait a bit.
Here is a quick update on our fiddling around. We found a great website on bluegrass fiddle basics. So far we have learned to set up the fiddle, tune it, break stings, replace strings, hold the bow (for fiddling not violin), hold the fiddle. This has been two weeks of three too four lessons a week and so far he is loving every minute of it. I think this week we might learn how to play some chords (is that what there called I fiddle). Either way we are enjoying what we are learning and he will sit down and pay attention to the same video clip over and over and ‘practice’ the skill for a half hour at a time. This is a new accomplishment for my sons attention span!
LittleFire,
It sounds like things are going great!! I’m interested in checking out the video that you’re using. Would you mind sharing?
We are using this weasier and it is awesome! https://bluegrassdaddy.com/free-fiddle-lessons/
It is understandable and we can go at a slow pace repeating one short lesson several times to ensure I understand before letting my son move on. I got a bluegrass fiddle DVD from library that is interesting but too fast paced for us to follow and work with.
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