Instrumental Interlude

We have talked at length, during the preceding chapters, about the primacy of the body and the voice in music education. We saw in Chapter One how children learn the roots of musicality not principally by playing things, but by moving, by singing, and by imagining – all activities which proceed from the centre rather than the extremities. Therefore, our music classes should emphasise these things above all else. 

And yet, children love to play instruments. So how do we allow them to do so in such as way as to support, not interfere with, the development of musicality?

One thing which we must not allow is the indiscriminate use of lots of noisy untuned hand-held percussion instruments. First of all, such instruments do not help children to sing in tune. Quite the opposite: such instruments are often so loud that they effectively drown out the voice, encouraging shouting instead of singing. Secondly, such instruments are hard to manipulate: trying to play them, for very young children, encourages a great deal of tension in the body, and a non-centredness as children struggle to control them. 

Many of the most commonly-used tuned “classroom percussion” instruments have their problems too. Their sounds are often short and clunky: not beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, and not sufficiently long-lasting to provide any support for the voice. They often play an octave or two higher than where the children’s voices lie, and so are hard to pitch to. Their small beaters and small keys make them difficult to control, again encouraging tension. Their lack of resonance, and the lack of rebound from their small beaters mean that their sounds have little or no meaningful after-sound (metacrusis). 

So, my principles, when designing and sourcing instruments for use in my school are: 

(1) Children should only be given instruments to play something only after they have developed a firm grasp of that song through singing and movement. Only then will their instrumental playing be in tune and in time. (I very rarely give my students instruments to play much before the age of four or five.) 

(2) Children should be given instruments which are quiet enough to accompany their singing without drowning them out or causing them to shout – thereby supporting the primacy of the singing voice as the principal means to their musical education. 

(3) Children should be given instruments which are, where possible, made of natural materials, look beautiful, and produce rich, long-lasting, resonant sounds which support their voices and inspire and uplift their spirit. 

(4) Children should use instruments which exemplify and support the fundamental elements of the music they are learning: in my case, Western diatonic/pentatonic melody, chordal harmony, bass, and rhythm. Instruments for children are not just noise-makers! If we use them, it should be to impart real skills. 

(5) Children should be given instruments either 

(a) whose moving or resonating parts are large and solid enough that children can use them easily, preserving their natural freedom and flexibility of body movement, without encouraging physical tension; 

or 

(b) which “disappear”, so that children forget they are there, and therefore their body movement and singing are not affected by their presence. 

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Here are some of my favourite “beautiful instruments for children”:

kendhang

These drums fit into category 5(a) above. They have a rich resonant timbre, and because they stand so tall and have such large heads, they encourage a delightful freedom of movement, especially in very young children (from age 2 upwards). 

ghungru

These ankle bells, on the other hand, are an example of 5(b) above: a “disappearing” instrument, perfect instrument for teaching rhythm through body movement.

shaker eggs

Another example of a “disappearing” instrument. Notice how the child’s freedom of movement is completely unimpeded by the instruments she is holding.

slentho: soft bass metallophone

This is the ideal instrument to provide a gentle bass-line for a children’s ensemble. My sample has three keys, tuned to D, G and A (in the octave below middle C) – so as to provide simple bass-lines in the keys of D major or minor.  The notes on this instrument, while quiet, are rich and resonant, and take a long time to die away. Therefore, players will need to learn to damp each note whenever a new note is played. This can initially be practised with a partner, before learning to both play and damp simultaneously. 

saron: treble metallophone

This is the ideal instrument for playing melodies. My sample has five spaces for keys, and all keys are removable. My sample has a number of extra keys, allowing me to select either the D major pentachord (D, E, F#, G and A – in the first octave above middle C), the D minor pentachord (D, E, F, G and A), a D-pentatonic scale (D, E, F#, A and B), or any subsets of the above. The notes on this instrument take a long time to die away – just as with the slentho above. 

kantele

This is the ideal instrument to provide gentle three-chord chordal accompaniments to songs or instrumental tunes, and to begin your students’ education in tonal harmony. My instruments have five strings each, tuned to D, E, F#, G and A (in the first octave above middle C), producing the D major pentachord. By stopping the 2^nd and 4^th strings with one hand and running one’s other hand across the strings, one produces a tonic triad. By stopping the 1^st and 3^rd strings, one produces a sort of dominant seventh chord. And by stopping the 3^rd and 5^th strings, one produces a sort of subdominant (with added sixth). My instruments can easily be re-tuned to produce the D minor pentachord (D, E, F, G and A), or a D-pentatonic scale (D, E, F#, A and B).

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© 2025 Nikhil Dally
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