We are a very musical, non-musical family. Confused? I don’t blame you! We all love music, very much. In fact, other than my family, music is my biggest passion in life. But we cannot play a darn thing (not well, anyway), not even a triangle!
There is, however, the sound of recorded music always playing throughout the house, be it through the CD player/stereo, iTunes on the laptop, or vinyl spinning around the turntable. And should you ever be stopped next to our family car at a red light, you will most likely discover us singing along to something, all smiles!
This past Christmas, we gave our daughter three new musical instruments, bringing her total collection to five. She already had a little red ukulele and a wooden tongue drum and on December 25th, received a real full sized tambourine and a toy trumpet. But what has turned out to be the finest music related item we bought her was a last-second pick up, an after-thought really – just something else to put in her stocking. It was only $6 and is the early favorite out of the gate: a real harmonica.
If I didn’t before, I now believe that a harmonica is the finest instrument for a young child to start out playing. It is small, easy to hold (and store away – always a concern in our little home) and it sounds lovely (to my ears at least!) What is funny about her liking this instrument, in particular, is that the harmonica sound was one of her least favorites as a very young girl. In fact, while in labor she immediately and violently began to kick when I turned off a smooth-as-silk Norah Jones disc in favor of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks”. It was the harmonica sound early on in that record that, I believe, she was objecting to so vehemently. Her distaste of the harmonica did not end in the womb, oh no. Shortly after her birth she would turn sour whenever a Bob Dylan harmonica solo would take center stage. And now, she is wandering the house playing the thing like a little pro. The times they are a-changin’!
If you are looking to invite music into your house in the form of a kid’s instrument, consider a harmonica. I picked up the Bluesband brand, which came with a nice little box for storage, but any inexpensive model is going to be a welcome treat.
Meet the Orchestra – First Instruments