I am minded to produce a leaflet/handout for parents of pupils starting at our (Prep) school with advice about selecting an instrument. Being all boys they tend to opt for drums before really thinking about it, although piano is more popular to be fair. Woodwind, brass and strings have but a token following. We are lucky in being able to offer everything (though no tubas or bassoons!) - they start aged 8.

All I wanted to know was has anybody got such a leaflet I can crib before I start from scratch.

I suppose, in an ideal world, one would wait until the pupils arrive at school, tell them what is available and point them in the right direction [that's how I did it at my last school]. For various reasons this isn't what I'm seeking to do yet. Obviously some pupils do wait until they have been here a term, grown, a bit, got a full set of front teeth etc. before starting an instrument; I want to address the really 'keen' ones and PARENTS!

Do PM if you prefer.

Thanks

At our school they do a year of "musical language", read music, learn rhythms for a whole academic year, two sessions a week. A few weeks into the course, older children start appearing in their class with their instrument and play for them and they get to handle and try that instrument that week. They are aged minimum 7 when they start.

At the end of the year, a surprisingly large majority have got their choices narrowed to one or two and its not all piano either...have known parents trying to dissuade their 8-year olds that the bassoon or the bass is Not a Good Idea. But teachers say that the children soon begin to have very strong feelings about the sounds they like and the ones they don't.

Hardly anyone switches later on, although of course some people do give up due to all sorts of reasons.

Maybe shorter sessions of something like this could be viable?

Hi
I'm not sure if you've seen the ABRSM's horribly named "Raising an amazing musician". despite the horrid title it does have information and pros and cons of picking an instrument i.e. cost, mobility, age it's best to start etc etc. Perhaps your local library has a copy that you could get ideas from.

Our local junior schools do a try-out day where the instrumental teachers bring in instruments and do a little talk, play some music and let the children have a go. I realize as a prep school, you are probably getting children in from all over, but you could always do an initial letter for newbies, and then arrange a try out day early on in the September term for any stragglers both new and old.

I don't know about leaflets, but I think there's a book called "The right instrument for your child" or something similar which you could perhaps recommend parents read.

There's also this site: http://www.paythepiper.co.uk/ which has explanations about most of the commonly learnt instruments.