In the springtime and summer parents typically register their students for the next school year. If you are one of the lucky parents who have a child or children who choose to sign up for the beginning band, this post is for you! Picking out what instrument to play is a decision that a child should put thought, consideration, and hands-on experience into making!
We recommend that first, a beginning band student should listen to the sounds and music each instrument makes! Some questions to ask your student are:
- What musical instrument sound do you most enjoy?
- What music do you want to play?
- Do you like low deep tones or high light tones?
These questions, or questions like these, will help your band student make an informed decision. If the student is thoughtful and intentional in their decision making, they will feel more ownership for their musical instrument and they will be more likely to stick with it!
It is also important for you and the student to know if they are physically compatible with certain musical instruments. Some are more physically demanding than others, and they will need to know if they are capable of forming embouchures required by each instrument. That is why the next step is so important for the potential success of the student and their band experience.
The second step is to allow the student to try the instruments for themselves! At MusiCare we offer a free beginning band student orientation! We ask your student questions like those listed above. We will also make sure the musical instrument fits them! Is the musical instrument the right size for the student? Will it match the student’s physical strength? Does it open the door to other instruments?
We will help your student to start from the very beginning of their band experience with correct instrument assembly habits, and a correct embouchure (how the mouth is held to make a sound on each instrument). Sometimes when a student tries the musical instrument they had their heart set on, they find they don’t like playing it! It is so important for a student to try to play the different kinds of musical instruments before making a decision.
We found a wonderful video produced by the United States Army Field band, this is an excellent demonstration video that is designed for beginning band students to listen to! If you have a student who is registered for band next school year, this would be a wonderful video for them to watch before they decide on an instrument to play.
Once your student has viewed the video, please bring them into MusiCare and we can help them through a one on one instrument orientation where they will get to handle and even play the instruments they are trying to choose between. This is such a positive experience for our customers, we are having third ”generation” band students coming in for their musical instrument orientation.
When your student has decided what instrument they would like to play you can choose an instrument that will work for your student from our wide selection of affordable student-level musical instruments. We also offer family-friendly payment options. We want to help you and your student start their new school year off with an excellent instrument that they feel ownership and responsibility for!
Please, give us a call when you are ready to schedule your student’s individual orientation at 208-524-4302, feel free to look through some of the musical instruments we have available in the store on this page .
