When a child considers an instrument, parents and adults must play a key role

Letting children choose their own musical instruments without any adult guidance is a bit like letting them choose their own foods: they’ll get what they want, but not necessarily what’s best for their continued growth. That’s where parents and guardians come in.

And that’s the subject of the season’s first CSO for Kids concerts, Which Instrument Should I Play?, on Nov. 15, with Justin Roberts as host and conductor Andrew Grams leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Working with experts, parents and guardians can help steer their musically inclined (or at least intrigued) children toward instruments that are suitable physically, sonically and environmentally. Which is to say appropriate for a specific living environment, not low-emission.

“The first and most important thing is that the kid has to like the sound, because they’re going to be hearing that sound all the time,” says Gabby Rosenblum, who has for 29 years taught general music, chorus and band to elementary students in the Oak Park school district. Then again, Rosenblum adds, just because a child likes how a saxophone sounds doesn’t automatically mean it’s the right instrument for them — or their family. “If I live in an apartment, maybe picking the saxophone is not going to be the best. Or if you have a baby at home who’s napping a lot, maybe I need to pick a quieter instrument over a louder one.”

It’s also important to stress that instrument choices can be changed, due to interests and circumstances. Just because they’re playing a clarinet early on doesn’t mean they can’t at some point switch to, say, the trombone. “This one instrument doesn’t mean that’s the instrument you are tied to for the rest of your life,” Rosenblum says. “This is your gateway, your entryway into the world of instrumental music.”

While Rosenblum discounts physical size (of child or instrument) as a limiting factor, George Quinlan says physical limits can play a role. His nearly 70-year-old Quinlan & Fabish Music Company — which specializes in band and orchestra instruments, rentals, repairs and supplies — serves music programs, students and educators in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. “We cannot be in such a hurry that we overlook a kid who has a problem with their fingers and recommend a woodwind instrument,” he says in example. “Each instrument has different requirements. For instance, some lip shapes make it more challenging to play the flute.”

By partnering with Quinlin & Fabish, "the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has provided generations of children the opportunity to toot a flute, pluck a cello string, buzz a trumpet or strike a drum and ask the question, Which Instrument Should I Play?," said Katy Clusen, associate director of CSO for Kids. “It goes without saying that children come away from hearing the magnificent sounds of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra inspired to play an instrument and join an ensemble.”

The initial selection process for an instrument is crucial. When Rosenblum and her colleagues demonstrate instruments for their kids, they “emphasize that any instrument can play any style of music. It’s all about possibility and potential.”

It’s also about the right amount of choice, Quinlan says. “Too few choices risk missing the best match. Too many choices is overwhelming. “That’s why we like to break it down into groups,” he says. “Try two, three or four instruments, and then have someone guide them toward their best choice.”

At the beginning and end of each academic year, he and a seasonal staff composed mostly of retired orchestra and band leaders visit hundreds of schools to stage instrument “petting zoos” where kids can handle and sample the wares. Quinlan has long worked with CSO for Kids to host similar events. “Once the kids learn all the instruments and how they sound and how they work, that’s step one.” 

Besides the sound and feel, he adds, children also have to like how their chosen instrument looks. “They’ve got to carry it around, so peer pressure enters into it — what their friends are playing.”

But no matter how much a child likes the sound, feel or look of an instrument, they’ll be less apt to play it — and therefore less apt to stay interested — if parents fail to provide a practice-conducive setting. It need not be complicated, Rosenblum says, and accessibility is key. “Maybe a little corner where your music stand is set up and your music sits there, and it’s easy to just pull out your instrument.”

Above all, she says, be encouraging but honest.

“It’s not going to be a pretty sound to start with, so you have to be very realistic with them: ‘You’re going to sound like a dying elephant, and that’s OK. Because if you practice, you’re going to be so much better.’”