Teaching Musical Instruments
When each child reaches K or 1st (depending on the child and what all is going on), we begin slightly formal musical instruction with a lap harp. Lap harps work well for early music instruction because each string makes one note, so the child doesn't have to try to make the instrument produce the right sound, and the song sheets lie under the strings and show the child where to pluck. I've used three different lap harps, one for children, one for adults, and another one for children that I just bought. This last is by far my favorite for this type of instruction: Hape Early Melodies Happy Harp . During our lap harp phase, I expect to work on rhythm, music reading (just learning to read the different types of notes), and hearing the scale. I tune the instrument myself and sit with the child during each lesson and most practices. After a year or two of lap harp, each child has moved to a recorder. I never have bought a recorder because I was gi...