Musical instruments provide children with an ideal way to explore various objects while developing fine motor skills, expanding musical knowledge, and expanding creativity.
Origins of instruments vary worldwide depending on four factors: available materials, technological skill, mythical and symbolic meaning preoccupations and trade and migration patterns.
Guitar
A guitar is one of the most beloved musical instruments among both children and adults alike, making learning to draw a guitar an excellent way to pass time while developing artistic talent and strengthening motor skills. For children looking for something fun and challenging to do while staying active or expanding their artistic horizons.
A guitar can be constructed from various materials such as wood or plastic. There are two primary categories of guitars – acoustic and electric. Acoustic models may feature single or multiple strings while electric versions generally consist of six strings.
To draw a guitar, start by drawing a small circle on paper. Draw a pear-shaped structure around it to represent its body; or draw an elongated rectangle-shaped structure beneath it for its bridge.
Once your illustration is complete, you can start filling in its shapes with color. This step requires three distinct hues – white, black and dark gray will suffice.
Once the pickguard is filled in, outline its sides with fine lines to give your guitar more three-dimensionality and add volume and tone dials along its bottom area.
To complete this step, you will require a fine detail brush and some black paint. With your thin brush, draw 21 small lines representing fretlines on the neck using thin paint strokes.
Once the base coat has dried, use any leftover paint to complete painting the pickguard and body horn side walls of your guitar as well as bridge, whammy bar and output jack.
Your guitar’s truss rod should also be painted. This flexible rod runs down the inside of its neck to help compensate for changes in tension of strings, usually at or under its headstock; some models provide access through its sound hole.
Furthermore, many guitars feature onboard controls for volume or tone adjustments; typically these can be found as knobs or buttons on the face of the instrument, though some electronic signal processing units also exist. Some models even come equipped with capotasto caps which attach onto fretboards with spring tension, enabling players to alter open strings by changing pitch.
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument composed of graduated bars of graduated length that form an ascending musical scale. These bars are generally supported by belts made of straw or felt and struck using two wooden hammers in order to produce sound.
Xylophones have long been an instrument used in orchestral music and jazz alike. You’ll often find them being featured in works by composers such as Ferdinand Kauer, Paul Wranitzky and Camille Saint-Saens.
These games can be enjoyed using mallets made of rubber, wood or plastic – often called mallets – for striking the bars and producing different sounds ranging from sharp and loud to soft and quiet.
Some percussionists prefer using various mallets when playing the xylophone, as this can produce more complex sounds and aid learning of this instrument. This approach may prove extremely useful.
Position is essential when playing the xylophone, as this can have a dramatic effect on how your body carries sound. Aim for feet shoulder width apart with arms at sides. This will improve balance while producing better sounds from your instrument.
As you play, try to maintain a relaxed grip of your hands – this will enable you to strike the xylophone more powerfully, which in turn leads to improved sound.
Understanding the pitch of a xylophone is also essential, since this transposing instrument usually produces notes which appear one octave higher in its written score than they actually sound.
The xylophone can be played in various ways, with the most popular method being tremolo with two mallets per hand. This technique allows players to learn both its various pitches as well as chords more efficiently.
The xylophone was one of the earliest instruments introduced into European orchestral music. It first made its debut in Camille Saint-Saens’ 1874 composition “Danse Macabre,” and has become widely utilized.
Harmonica
If you’re unfamiliar with harmonicas, they are 10-hole diatonic instruments with vibrating reeds (similar to guitar strings) that vibrate when air passes through them and produce sound used in blues, country and rock music. Playing one well requires knowledge of its structure, tuning as well as proper breath control and embouchure techniques.
If the reeds are out of tune, they can distort and cause notes to sound muted or flat. This often happens because of improper embouchure – or sucking air through the harmonica in an insufficiently constrictive way.
Beginners often struggle with harmonica playing as their notes cannot bend properly due to issues in their mouth cavity and tongue positioning preventing a proper airflow through their harmonicas.
Beginners may start out by learning how to embouchure correctly – this involves placing lips, tongue and mouth to harmonica in an organized fashion – often known as an embouchure.
Remembering there are two major embouchures on a harmonica is important; each offers unique advantages when playing; players should use both when possible.
Draw bending is the most frequently employed bending technique. While blow bending may require practice and dedication to master, draw bending is an intuitive technique which takes some time to perfect. As your knowledge and abilities grow in regards to bending notes, begin with draw bending first before progressing on to blow bending as soon as you feel ready.
Blow bending is similar to draw bending but requires slightly more effort as it requires altering your mouth structure and repositioning of your tongue. As with draw bending, experimentation is important when blow bending in order to find which positions or mouth shapes work best for you.
As well as drawing, your harmonica allows you to bend its reeds by altering its resonant space within its cavity. This can be accomplished by moving your tongue, opening and closing your embouchure, or changing lips position on reeds.
Bottle Top Castanets
Castanets are versatile percussion instruments found throughout different traditions and cultures worldwide. Although traditionally made of hardwood, modern versions can also be made out of plastic material.
Castanets are two percussion instruments played by clicking or hitting together, most notably in flamenco music; they may also feature in other forms of music.
Castanets provide children with an introduction to rhythm. Montessori centers and playschools often utilize castanets to help kids learn songs by echoing them with castanet sounds, helping them mimic its sound while echoing its lyrics with castanet sounds. Castanets can also help develop fine motor skills which will enable children to use scissors or write.
If you want to create your own bottle top castanet, start by flattening several metal bottle tops using a hammer and placing them inside of two of the ends of a piece of cardboard. Keep two metal bottle tops handy per castanet; otherwise you may run out.
Once the glue has set, you can decorate your castanets however you please – with paints, stickers and even glitter! Best of all? Doing this craft requires items you probably already own at home; making this project effortless and cost-effective!
This activity is ideal for spring, Easter, or any time of the year! Kids can sing the Bunny Hop song or create their own movement that clicks the castanets.
Castanets help children work their small muscles, while hopping and moving their feet helps develop gross motor skills. Both activities help children build balance and coordination that will serve them throughout their lives.