Mr. B recommends
Worth your time.
The music I listen to and love, plus where to go when your child wants more: a choir to join, an instrument to rent, and concerts made for young listeners.
Mr. B recommends
The music I listen to and love, plus where to go when your child wants more: a choir to join, an instrument to rent, and concerts made for young listeners.
What's playing in my car, my kitchen, and my headphones. Every one of these is worth listening to as a family.
A Ceremony of Carols, written for treble choir and harp. I sang it as a boy, and I still go back to it every year around this time. Start with "This Little Babe."
I've spent years learning from this voice. Start with "Fly Me to the Moon" with the Count Basie Orchestra.
Singing with other children is one of the best things a young musician can do. These youth choirs are all within reach of Bothell, and most of them hold placements or auditions every year.
Choirs for young singers at several levels, plus early childhood music classes. New singers start with a voice placement.
Northwest Boychoir takes boys from age 5, and Vocalpoint! Seattle is for girls 12 to 18. Singers come from all over Puget Sound.
Choirs for singers in grades 1 to 12, with levels from first-time singers up to touring choirs.
It's our closest county-wide youth chorus. They sing with groups like the Everett Chorale and sign up new singers every season.
Rent before you buy. Children change their minds, and if a rented instrument goes back after six months, that's still a win. Whatever you end up with, get a stand and a case that actually closes.
A good place to order a recorder for 4th grade. Their student models are cheap and they play in tune.
4th grade recordersA local music store with band and orchestra rentals and school rental packages. It's a good spot for a first violin, flute or trumpet.
Rentals and lessonsA national chain with family rental plans, plus free returns and exchanges if the instrument isn't the right fit.
RentalsSeeing it beats hearing it, every time, and it doesn't have to be in a concert hall. A busker, a church choir, a high school marching band at a football game. What sticks with children is watching a person do it right in front of them.
Tiny Tots concerts for the youngest listeners and family concerts for elementary ages, at family prices.
A live orchestra and dancers on the same night. The Nutcracker every December is a lot of children's first big night out.
What I want most is a child who keeps music in their life and carries it with them long after elementary school.
That pays off outside of music, too. Researchers at Northwestern University found that adults who took music lessons as children still respond to sound more sharply years later, even after they'd stopped playing (Skoe and Kraus, 2012).
