Percussion

We have said it many times: music has many benefits for children. Playing an instrument or listening to music helps concentration, improves learning skills, stimulates neuronal connections in the brain, develops memory and coordination and reinforces self-esteem. In addition, children who grow up surrounded by music are more creative and sociable!

Of all the possible instruments, those of percussion are the most feared by parents due to the "noise" they produce in the hands of the smallest, intense and uncontrolled. However, playing these types of instruments at home is much better for them than many imagine. We tell you why!

First, playing percussion instruments is a constant exercise of psychomotricity, since it is necessary to move the whole body, in addition to the hands and arms, to hit the instruments and create sounds. Consequently, it improves the mental and corporal coordination of the children. Secondly, it helps the expression and inhibits the aggressive impulses, since any state of rage, anxiety or euphoria is channeled through the movement that is generated during the practice of the instrument. In addition, like any other family of musical instruments, percussion stimulates creativity, increases concentration, improves reflections, strengthens perseverance and discipline and enriches social skills.

With all this list of benefits, it is possible that our perception of the percussion instruments changes and it is a little easier to hold the decibels, right?

Drums

They are the first to fall into the hands of children: easy to play and very intuitive instruments.

Xylophones

Another of the favorite percussion instruments for any age. When they are intended for children, they usually include not only different notes on each piece of metal or wood, but also colors to memorize and identify them more easily.

Tambourines

Tambourines stimulate manual skills and dexterity, in addition to eye-hand coordination. For this reason, they are a perfect percussion instrument to promote music in children.

Bells

The musical bells can be one of the funniest children's musical instruments. These are the simplest, and with them you can make several different musical activities for children to learn and have fun, such as games of imitation, for example.

Maracas

Maracas are a very fun percussion instrument for children that, in addition, you can create yourself in a simple way. They are composed of a hollow spherical part that is held by a handle that crosses or is attached to it. Inside, it is filled with small elements such as small stones, seeds, pieces of glass, small pieces of metal, rice, etc., so as to be able to produce sound by hitting them against the inner wall of the sphere.

Cymbals

Cymbals is a percussion musical instrument, which is formed by two circular metal concave discs. Their centers are pierced for, in case of the plates shocked, to be able to pass a strap of leather or of skin, that serves like handles or clamps, and fixed by its back part. It is one of the first children's musical instruments that can be found in schools.

Guitar

Has three strings and reaches the market with the promise that its owners can learn to play the guitar in 10 lessons. Loog Guitar exists in a mini version for children, or in acoustic or electric format for adults, and it will revolutionize the learning system of this instrument.

If you are one of those thousands of frustrated guitarists; If you aspire to share the passion for that instrument with your young son ... fulfilling your musical dream is just around the corner. It is not just one of the thousands of courses "learn guitar in 10 lessons", nor are we referring to any last generation App - although there are some.

We talk about the Loog Guitar, one of the novelties launched from Kickstarter, the platform that through crowdfunding campaigns (micro-patronage) provides artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers and other creators with the resources and support necessary to make their ideas reality.

The Loog Guitar is not magic. The key to its success, say its promoters, is that it has three strings instead of six, and that facilitates learning. It was designed by the Uruguayan entrepreneur Rafael Atijas and what started as a thesis project has become a business with a future: Loog guitars are sold today in more than 40 countries. They can be purchased in stores, such as the MoMA Desing Store, on Amazon, or, ordered directly from the Loog Guitars website.

Most traditional guitar methods concentrate first on the scales and do not get into the chords at the beginning. And it is logical that this is so, because playing chords on a six-string guitar can be very complicated for children and beginners. The problem is that chords are needed to play songs, so spending the first month only doing scales and fingering exercises can be a bit daunting for beginners.

Loog guitars allow you to play songs from the first day. Since they only have three strings, it is easier for children to form chords and understand what they are playing. And since the Loog uses the same first three strings and tuning of a six-string guitar, everything learned in a Loog can be applied later on a conventional guitar.

The transition flows naturally. In the same way, you can buy books or search the internet for the chords of your favorite songs and use those same chord tabs, made for six-string guitars, but to play on the Loog. Just pay attention to the position of the fingers on the first three strings and ignore the others. It's that easy.

Teachers love Loog Guitar

David Mills is a music teacher who decided to use singing, rhythm and composition as a vehicle to teach the basics of music to young children. He began using ukuleles with three strings. Then he discovered the Loog guitars that, according to him, have much better spacing and string length than the ukuleles. "The colored dots in the Loog guitars have been extremely useful when it comes to creating diagrams for chords and scales," he said.

Trumpets

Trumpets are an original and fun way to introduce the little ones into the world of music. Before deciding on a child trumpet, think that in most cases you will not get realistic sound. Do not expect a plastic trumpet to sound like Miles Davis sounded. It is a toy instrument that, although it can be very funny, can be strident too.

There are some trumpets decorated with fun colors that will catch your eye. There are even some with cartoon characters too. Usually, this type of trumpets for children are made of plastic or wood, and may not even have pistons. This is especially interesting for the little ones.

Most models of toy trumpets for small children include a piston so they can produce sounds or imitate real trumpeters.

If your son or daughter is already a little older and has an age of 5 years or more, there are some trumpets for children that tend to have a more realistic design, similar to trumpets for adults, and also their sound is more similar to normal trumpets.

Although most of them are made of plastic, they usually have a silver finish, which gives them more realism. These trumpets usually have 3 or 4 pistons, which gives them variety in the sound and they will be able to experiment more with the music.

There are some musical instruments similar to the trumpet for children that you can also evaluate when choosing a wind instrument for your child. If the children's trumpet does not convince you, there are saxophones for children. You can also choose a children's clarinet.

Both are interesting options especially for older children, since most of these instruments have more notes and require a greater ability to produce sounds.

Why buy a trumpet for children?

It will give your little one the possibility of developing his musical sense and having a good time discovering the exciting world of music.

Here are some reasons why you should consider buying a child trumpet:

It improves the sense of rhythm

It will develop his imagination, being able to create endless melodies

He will develop his hearing and his attention

He will learn playing

He will have fun discovering music

It helps him to control his breathing better and, especially the older ones, will work their respiratory capacity

Some tips if you are thinking of buying a toy trumpet for children

To buy a trumpet for children we recommend, first of all, select a musical instrument that is appropriate to your child's age. It seems obvious advice, but it is important to take it into account and that you should not overlook it. If you buy something too simple for your child´s age he will be bored soon, and if you buy something too real it could be frustrating.

On the other hand, keep in mind that your daughter or son will want to enjoy the new baby trumpet to the fullest, which means that there is likely to be a little more noise in your house.

We recommend teaching him, from the beginning, what it means to have a musical instrument. And, sometimes, it can be annoying for neighbors or for the rest of the family that is at home. A good idea is to make a practice schedule in which he can play the trumpet.

Xylophone

There are numerous toys with which we can teach the smallest infinity of qualities. Among them, wooden musical toys are usually perfect for them to learn new skills.

The xylophone is a percussion instrument that is composed of a set of resonant bars of different lengths. A sound is achieved thanks to the pounding of the bars with two spherical point sticks. The xylophone is played by striking the plates with sticks, hammers or drumsticks, as if it were a drum. That's why it's a percussion instrument. This usually seems quite funny and entertaining.

This instrument requires great skill and speed. The good thing is that it helps to develop many skills among the little ones, that is why it is very good to use them in the classes.

Like many other musical instruments, the xylophone has a great variety of benefits. In addition, the little ones love to play with it due to the need for energy, sound and beautiful colors.

Like many other musical instruments, letting our children play and be entertained with this toy will stimulate the rhythmic sense. We can enhance it if, in addition, we play another instrument or simply teach them a song.

The xylophone requires agility and dexterity. If we let you use this toy, you will realize that the faster you go, the better it will sound. So your son or daughter will try to go as fast as possible to get the maximum sound. This will make it able to make more agile movements.

It is also wonderful to stimulate eye-hand coordination. This way he manages to be able to improve the relationship of his hands with his eyes. You will see the key you want to hit and your hands will go direct.

It also allows them to discharge energy, something really important at an early age. Thus, they will be more tired afterwards and will rest better.

We can use the xylophone as a reinforcement for the recognition of colors.

If we let the little ones play with wooden musical toys, we will discover that it has incredible benefits.

How to play the xylophone?

Learning the basic rules of playing the xylophone gives you the skills you need to start learning songs and composing your own music. Each vertical block in the xylophone produces a different note when you play with a drumstick that classifies the xylophone as a tuned percussion instrument. Understanding the design of the xylophone, how to hold the drumsticks, how to play the individual notes on scales and how to play chords is all you need to know to start learning songs with the xylophone.

The sticks have a circular ball on one end. This tip is used to hit the notes on the xylophone. Hold the stick so that the opposite tip rests in the center of the bottom of your palm. Hold the stick a little higher than your thumb and your index finger. It should go to the side of your index finger and should rest on the long surface of your thumb. Avoid tightening it, as this increases the tension unnecessarily.