Is Melodica the latest contender in the classroom now?

[Mike $]

How sweet! I just had my little girl to accompany me, although she did have a keen appreciation of music.

You're so lucky, my cat gives me the evil eye every time I pick up my ukulele.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

Instead of the focus on the instruments, could there be a focus on what the children should be taught to learn the cultural and social value of music, as well as helping those children who want to be able to choose a life in the entertainment industries as they get older?

Melodica, Ukulele, Recorder, Percussion instruments, they all have an aspect of music appreciation and culture that can be used to help the children learn. Keyboards, wind and strings.

Obviously teachers have to battle with real physical issues like cost and safety from germs. So it is not easy we should be helping the teachers.

Also maybe if adults were not so critical or sensitive to the noise the children make while learning, it would be easier for the children and the teachers? How hard is it to smile and enjoy watching a child have some musical fun, even if the noise is not perfect? In most cases there is a noisy learning period for every human who starts to learn a musical instrument, children are not really able to get away and learn where they don't annoy others with the noise, and it can be unhealthy if they do, so why not start to cultivate an attitude of acceptance and try to enjoy the noise and share the excitement of learning for the children?

I believe that I see the point that you’re trying to make and it has some merit. On the other hand I really can’t envisage all but a small percentage of people being able to consider such a style of child care and then only some of them will actually want to. So many people live in stressful and cramped conditions that the sound generated by even good live music is often unwelcome, a disturbance.

Personally I wonder what music appreciation is. I remember music lessons at school being virtually all boring talk of past composers; I switched off and learnt nothing in the classroom but was fortunate to get exposure to some short practical music lessons and opportunities to play something. To me the joy of music is in making it.

I applaud what bbkobabe is doing above with his young folk (see his two recent posts), to my perspective he’s being pragmatic and getting things pretty much right, and I think that his pupils are being given valuable skills that they can carry forward into adult life.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

"Personally I wonder what music appreciation is. I remember music lessons at school being virtually all boring talk of past composers; I switched off and learnt nothing in the classroom but was fortunate to get exposure to some short practical music lessons and opportunities to play something. To me the joy of music is in making it."

Look up Freda Dinn, a music teacher from the 1950s who based much of her teaching on recorder lessons.

Find her books on music appreciation. In particular a book called: "The Observer's Book of Music".

From what little that I know of Freda Dinn she was an admirable person who did an awful lot of good for music education. As for recorders I think them a great way to introduce music to children, but maybe not an ideal one in a whole class learning environment. Of course, in music too, no one choice suits all and variety can be helpful.

 

[AZChris]

Patty brings up a point that sideways made me think of this. My first exposure to music proper was marching band in Jr High. I played trumpet, and we would clear the “saliva”, or spit via the little port on the first tube. We would just open the valve and clear it, and of course it would fall to the floor. SO, I wonder if that is still allowed, or in todays ultra germ aware world, must the kids use a cloth or some kind of cup for the spit?

I had that same thought during Covid especially. The band teachers at school always insisted "It's not spit, it's condensation." and kids dealt with it going into the carpet like always. Though I never bought that, there may be science that supports it.

 

[firesgt911]

I like the melodica. It sounds nice to me, and it's playable anywhere. This is my current melodica, a 2 1/2 octave Yamaha, in baby blue. The Hohner melodicas are nice too.

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I have the same melodica. As a harmonica player, I like the sound of it. It’s a great way, like a piano, to work out melodies on other instruments.