Teaching young children

[juddville]

My five year old has decided he's ready to learn to play mandolin. His right hand is doing great (for two ten minute sessions) isolating strings nice up and down strum. I'm looking for ideas about getting the left hand going since his little digits make the mandolin look like a baritone guitar.

thanks -

[Andrew Faltesek]

I'd suggest keeping it fun, let him strum away while you do some simple fingering. Let him also strum without your fretting, and he will soon want to change the sounds himself to emulate what you play. Is he pretty composed, or wild?
My brother's two children ages 5 & 10 were both very interested in playing my mando and guitar, but they were mostly having fun, wild loud strumming and singing, bouncing around...but they were very careful for the most part and followed instructions on where to pluck and not dip too deep or scratch the top.
You could try tuning down a bit to lessen the string tension. If he can hold it himself for fretting, he can slide around on the E string and strum. You may need to let him focus on one hand's task until he gains a bit of experience with each, you strum and he frets. Nonsense songs or scat along with the notes, and lot's of praise and laughter.

[Gutbucket]

Try recording him, too. Kids always think that's cool.

[gnelson651]

Get him an inexpensive Ukelehe such as a beginner uke (http://www.instrumentalsavings.com/Beginner-Ukuleles-s/774.htm) for about $20. Then he has his own instrument, its small enough for him to play and he can fret it to make music. The alternative is to get a el cheapo mandolin from eBay and remove one course of strings so it is a 4-string mandolin.

[CollingsPicker]

If he or she really wants it, he or she will get it with some encouragement!
Also what got me going is pickin with any body I could find.

[harwilli55]

Of course you have to keep it fun, but it can also be structured so that learning takes place. That learning will have to be consistent with expectations for a child that age. Many children take piano,violin, and other musical instrument lessons at that age. There's a ton of material written for them....if nothing else...browse through some of those to get an idea of what to teach. Talk to some piano(violin) teachers that teach young'uns that age about their approach.

Children learn when adults take their interests seriously, but resist when pushed too hard and the expectations are too high which take the fun out of it. There is a fine balance to strike, but it has been done for centuries. I have found that when working with children, I often learn more from them, than I teach( and that is the priceless joy of teaching).

I say go for it; teaching , playing , loving, warmth, celebration, encouragement, and structure give children the tools for a lifetime of musical enjoyment.

Harlan

[mythicfish]

Get an inexpensive instrument, prop it up in a corner, and tell him not to play it.

[lgc]

Tell them that they either have to read the collected words of Karl Marx or play mando-The choice will be clear but either way they'll resent you.

[Joel Spaulding]

"Get an inexpensive instrument, prop it up in a corner, and tell him not to play it."
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[floyd26]

curt....you know kids well

[PJ Doland]

My 16-month old son is obsessed with my Breedlove KF. He even manages to pull the case up onto the sofa so I'll take it out.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4033387/dash-mandolin.jpg

It's funny how big it looks in his hands, kind of like a guitarrón mexicano.

He prefers the Wegen picks, by the way.

[Charlieshafer]

OK, here's another way to go about it, though you may think it's strange. We've used it quite a bit for little guys, and it works great. Start them with a cheap ebay-ish violin. No bow, hold it like a mandolin and strum. No fret buzz, though intonation may be a little off, to say the least. Small size, no real string tension, and most importantly, it's tuned the same way. Use a very soft pick, just because the strings are more delicate. They can even use their thumbs to strum if the want. Sure, it's quieter, but you'll thank me for that later.

[bmac]

I would suggest that the mandolin is too much for a very young player as a first stringed instrument. When I began playing mandolin (as an adult) the pain involved in devoping tough callouses was very difficult to endure. For a very young person I think the Ukelele could introduce him/her to the stringed instrument with a minimum of pain and allows the gradual devopment of tough fretting finger tips so that the eventual move to a steel stringed instrument can be made in relelative comfort. On the other hand if he/she insists on a mando, then go for it.

[Jon Hall]

I began teaching my daughter to play the mandolin when she was 6. Because she wasn't strong enough to press down a pair of strings I removed one string from each pair. She played a 4 string mando for a year and a half until she developed enough strength. When I eventually strung it with 8 strings she was able to make the chords.

[Flyfisher]

My seven year old daughter has been playing for two years. Her little fingers are not strong enough to fret consistantly. She used two finger chords. I don't worry at this point about the fretted string sounds. We just work on hand position and strumming.

She learns the chords. She knows how to watch the guitar player to find her chords. All of this is good. She is guaranteed to have the two open strings.

We have great fun playing any number of I, IV, V songs in G and D.

[JonZ]

OK, here's another way to go about it, though you may think it's strange. We've used it quite a bit for little guys, and it works great. Start them with a cheap ebay-ish violin. No bow, hold it like a mandolin and strum. No fret buzz, though intonation may be a little off, to say the least. Small size, no real string tension, and most importantly, it's tuned the same way. Use a very soft pick, just because the strings are more delicate. They can even use their thumbs to strum if the want. Sure, it's quieter, but you'll thank me for that later.

There is something to be said for starting with the violin and then switching to or adding mandolin later. They make fiddles down to 1/16 size. The kid learns to read notes, finger positions, etc. Teachers are easier to find. The switch to mandolin later is pretty easy.

Of course, the kid may not want to play fiddle...

[Steve L]

My 16-month old son is obsessed with my Breedlove KF. He even manages to pull the case up onto the sofa so I'll take it out.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4033387/dash-mandolin.jpg

It's funny how big it looks in his hands, kind of like a guitarrón mexicano.

He prefers the Wegen picks, by the way.


God, what a great picture. He looks like a pro already!