Re: [Harp-L] harmonica web resources

[David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

fjm, this might help:
http://www.harmonica4kids.com/tips.html
This is more for folks in general... not necessarily answering fjm's question, which I did above.


So, I just let them experiment. My kids are both 8 now. I really have to hold myself back and not force teaching on them. My daughter, 10 months older than her brother, is learning songs on a chromatic, Blue Danube Waltz, or part of it, and a 12-bar boogie. She is just now starting to blossom on harmonica. I think my son is about to.

Me, I'm more for leaving kids that age alone and offering help when they ask for it. I started with my kids when they were toddlers. Even when they were three or four, there were instruments laying around they could play around with. I was fortunate they didn't break anything, I fully expected them to, but they had pretty much full access to my instruments. They also never had junk instruments, I wanted the harmonicas, for instance, to be well-tuned so they could train their ears. 
I got them Triolas when they were about five and they were playing songs on that immediately, it was a big help for their learning. My daughter played stuff more by the color-coded book, while my son did more by ear stuff. The triola is bascially a simple melodica, so you can play more than one note at a time. He's been experimenting and finding fifths, chords, double stops, all kinds of things. 
There was this one incredible moment on chromatic, David was probably six at the time. he plays a C4 and a C7 and says "Dad, those are the same note." I did not teach him that and I'm still amazed that he grasped that concept... one obviously sounds much higher than the other, but they are the same.

I believe that if you push kids to play, one of three things will happen, this is even worse if you push them to play YOUR music.
1) They do exactly what you say and when they grow up they won't be any good.
2) They do exactly what you say and they will abandon music later in life. 
3) They will rebel and play nothing. 

So, the hands-off method has worked so far, I think. They've got a good musicial foundation. My daughter is starting to ask for lessons and when she asks, she gets one. 


Dave
_____________________
www.elkriverharmonicas.com 

----- Original Message ----
From: fjm <bad_hat@xxxxxxxx>
To: h-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 10:32:22 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] harmonica web resources

I'm looking for anything that might be useful in helping a precocious 6 year old learn harmonica.  He's already playing trumpet and doing well with that.  The harmonica is proving vexing.  I'm not looking for advice on how to teach this.  Not within my skill set.  Thanks, fjm
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