Tips to Buy Quality Musical Instruments for Kids

Perhaps the surest way to take the joy out of practicing is to start off with a cheap and poorly crafted musical instrument. Generally, without a fair amount of research and experience, it’s hard to know if a good deal is really a good deal when it comes to low priced musical instruments.

Poorly crafted instruments don’t just sound bad, they’re actually incredibly difficult to play. Children don’t know any better than to blame themselves for an instrument’s shortcomings. Who knows how many adults think they’re a musical failure because they couldn’t get a good sound from their cheap band instrument as a kid.

That being said, parents don’t want to invest a fortune in a child’s new violin only to find out in a year that the kids would rather play the guitar. Kids need the freedom to explore music and find their niche. Parents can only afford to let this happen if an instrument’s price is right.

Ideally, if parents want to buy a used or inexpensive instrument, they should bring along someone who can test the instrument out and give an opinion on its quality and condition. There are good deals out there, but there’s a lot of junk as well. Renting is another option for parents who want to expose their kids to quality instruments at a reasonable price.

Practice seems to be the biggest point of contention when it comes to parents introducing their kids to music. How long should kids practice? How many times a week?

Of course, without practice, a child’s musical ability won’t go far. On the other hand, if practice is forced it isn’t likely a child will come away with a lasting love for that instrument.

Parents should consider their long-term goals for introducing children to music. If they want their kids to experience the fun and creativity of playing, develop a lifelong hobby, make friends with the same interests, explore musical styles and genres, and grow as a person, then practice needs to be primarily self motivated.

When parents resort to nagging and punishments to wring a practice out of each day, something needs to change. If kids aren’t drawn at all to practice either they would rather invest their time in another creative outlet, aren’t enjoying the instrument or style of music they are practicing, or aren’t receiving good instruction. Parents will want to discover the problem and address it before kids are left with a permanently sour taste for music.