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How about starting them on Eb alto horn? Nice small mouthpeice, cheap instrument if you pick up an old beater and the kid gets to learn how brass instruments work.

duckskiff wrote:kids were climbing all over me and the horn

Tell me about it... Can we get no time alone to practice??? Both my kids love to blat on my horn. They both get too excited to have them understand anything. I just try to explaining the puttering/buzzing in the MP and the rest is pure entertainment! Kids...

Exposure is probably the best factor and the rest will come in time!


Tim

Hello,
I have two low brass players a 12yoa Baritone player and a 13yoa Tuba player. Both girls I might ad! I started them at around 10, although I agree with the earlier post about early musical/instrument exposure. My problem with the tuba player was finding a decent horn they/she could handle. As we all know, it takes some lungs to fill a tuba and it take some strength/size to hold one up. I didn't want to frustrate her with the enormity of a "regular" horn. I found an old Caravelle 3/4ish size horn that fit my kid fine. Our local grammar school's music teacher was happy to HAVE a tuba player. This bolstered her confidence to stick with it. I suppose it depends on the kid.

Just my 2 cents,
Bonde
p.s. maybe we'll end up with a family serpent trio!

If they can hold it (or balance the horn with a tuba stand), they can play it.

I started a nine year old this fall.

I think it is very important to emphasize that just because they "have the right button down" that doesn't mean that they are playing the correct pitch.

All my tuba players play on a DEG stand. Beginners through high school.

My kids were able to buzz and play Bb on my tuba by the age of four. On the other hand, I have a beginner who can't get lower than F even with a full size Helleberg.

She has the desire to play the tuba, so I let her continue to try. Sometimes, desire will carry the player who has trouble playing through a difficult time.

Tom Mason

Imperial? There's a chance the horn weighs more than the student does!

My son is in third grade. He buzzes my tuba well. He buzzes the Bach CR300 cornet I bought for him well. A friend of mine who used to teach beginning band and is a brass man himself before he felt called to clergy took one look at him and said he had the best natural brass embouchure he's ever seen. Right now, he's only interested because I play and because he loves how valve and slide mechanisms work. But if his fire gets lit, I'm sure the world will be his oyster. He's limited only by his attention span and the physicality of holding the instrument, which both will improve with time.

knuxie wrote: When they quit eating boogers, let them play your horn!

Now there's a guideline I can live with.

When they quit eating boogers, let them play your horn!

For those, so inclined to research this aspect further, a relevant post about 2/3 of the way down the page on the following thread.

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