Start with Violin or Piano?

[Tamsyn]

Sonya is right, there is a lot of real science behind the Nova program.  Also worthy of note is that, in the video, they also show that juggling helps the brain grow, and that, essentially, any project worth pursuing will make the brain grow in one way or another.

Lois has a good point too, it doesn't have to be violin or piano.  Certainly playing any instrument can be beneficial.  One often over-looked is the recorder.  There's nothing baby-ish about it, there is some very beautiful, challenging music written for the recorder.  Do yourself a favor, and don't get your child a recorder from the dollar store.  I'm not even going to go into what a disservice it is to kids to give them an instrument like that, which will never produce a beautiful sound.  I had a cheapo recorder as a kid, and I thought I wasn't good at the recorder because I didn't know enough to blame my instrument.  Yamaha and Angel are especially good brands, and are very affordable.  Learning the recorder is a great instrument to learn before the clarinet, flute, or other woodwind instrument because the fingering is similar, but the student doesn't have to worry as much about embouchere.  Just blow!  Well, they do need to learn about tonging correctly.  When going from one note to the next, the student shouldn't separate the note with separate puffs of air, instead they should "tongue" them.  It's kind of like saying "t,t,t,t,t," into the instrument.  Anyway, the recorder is a good instrument to start with, especially for the family on a low budget, or little space.  I have an Angel and a Yamaha recorder, and it's sturdy enough to have survived our percussion box, where my little kids have abused it in a myriad of ways. 
They both still play wonderfully.

Another instrument to consider is mallet percussion, like a glockenspiel.

[Wolfwind]

Tamsyn, can you recommend any materials for teaching the recorder to toddlers?  I know Soft Mozart for piano and Suzuki for violin, but ever since she could grab things my two-year-old has loved wind instruments.  I think of the recorder as the best introduction, since it's what we all had to learn in elementary school, but I haven't had time to research a toddler recorder education method and I don't remember how to play at all. Does anyone know of any resources?

[Tamsyn]

Good question!  I, um, have only given them exposure to the instrument so far.  They get to play with it at will, and because it's handy I play fun sometimes, but that is all we have done so far.  I'm going to ponder this over the next few days.  You would think I could get past this "they're too young to learn such and such" mentality, but I find myself in having to get over that hurdle with every new subject.

Off of the top of my head, the book they had us use when I took my Orff training class was "Tutoring Tooters" by Shirley McRae.  (http://www.amazon.com/Tutoring-Tooters-Shirley-W-McRae/dp/0934017131).  I like this book because it was written for elementary school teachers who need to teach this stuff, but haven't necessarily had training.  The music is fun to play.  There is a unique aspect of the binding that makes the book stand up on its own.  It's spiral bound, and the back cover has a thick cardboard fold-out thingy.  That feature was cool.  In retrospect, I'm kicking myself now for selling it, but a college student does what she has to do to survive.   

I know that "Hot Cross Buns" is to recorder what "Twinkle Twinkle" is to violin, starting on "B".

The other thing I'm thinking would be helpful is to make Bit cards for the fingering of each note.  Golly yes, I'm going to do that!

[Korrale4kq]

Not quite a recorder, but I know that the homeschooling co-op Classical Conversations has a tin whistle program for the little ones. Maybe out could find some resources by doing a search for that.

[Wolfwind]

Doing a google search, this forum came up: http://www.abrsm.org/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t44473.html.  Some folks there reccommended an ocarina because a toddler's small fingers could seal the holes easier.  We own a 5-hole ocarina!  Daddy has offered to try and teach her a song, since I don't know how to play.  We'll see how that goes!

Korrale, she loves Daddy's tin whistle! I'll check out Classical Conversations.  Thanks!

[karmie]

My youngest is doing both Piano and Violin. Both Suzuki Method. He started piano at 2.9years old and violin at 3yrs 2mths. I find the approach very suitable for the very young. WE already have a piano in the house, altho' we did buy those tiny violins for him. We started with the 1/32.  I'd probably have him learn at least one more string instrument - maybe next year, but that's because we already have this instrument in the house.

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