String Instruments
String instruments can be learnt from a very early age. Violins are made down to 1/16th size so that the tiniest fingers can play them. Cellos go down to 1/4 size and even double basses can be found in 1/2 size versions - even these will require a certain amount of physical strength just to carry so it's best to leave this instrument until the age of about 11.
We teach:
Violin from year 1 at school upwards
Cello from year 4 upwards Double Bass from year 7 upwards
Violins are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $25 per month + insurance (3 month minimum rental)
Cellos are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $225 per 6 months + insurance
Accordion
The accordion is played by compressing or expanding bellows whilst pressing buttons or keys, causing valves (pallets) to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel, (reeds) that vibrate to produce sound inside the body.
The instrument is sometimes considered a one-man-band as it needs no accompanying instrument. The performer normally plays the melody on buttons or keys on the right-hand manual, and the accompaniment, consisting of bass and pre-set chord buttons, on the left-hand manual.
We teach:
Accordion from year 7 at school upwards
Theory & Composition
The Language of Music
We teach:
Theory and Composition from year 2 at school upwards
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Woodwind Instruments
Many children will have the opportunity to learn recorder at school which offers a great basis for learning to read music and development of breath control. Other woodwind instruments can be started at year 4 when the child has most of their adult teeth. This allows them to correctly position their lips and teeth around the mouthpiece.
We teach:
Recorder from year 2 at school upwards
Clarinet from year 4 upwards
Flute from year 4 upwards
Saxophone from year 4 upwards
Flutes and clarinets are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $30 per month + insurance (3 month minimum rental)
Saxophones are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $50 per month + insurance (3 month minimum rental)
Brass Instruments
Brass instruments can be started at year 4 like the woodwind family and playing the recorder before then will be beneficial.
We teach:
Trumpet from year 4 at school upwards
Cornet from year 3 upwards
Tenor horn from year 3 upwards
Cornets and trumpets are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $30 per month + insurance (3 month minimum rental)
Singing/Voice
The human voice is the fundamental musical instrument. Singing is the most natural and spontaneous mode of musical expression. Being almost always linked to a text, it can express thought as well as emotion. As in other instruments, the sound of the voice is the result of amplified vibrations. The vibrations of the vocal cords resonate in the cavities of both the chest (in the lower register) and the head (in the upper register). The singer automatically adjusts the shapes and sizes of these cavities to produce the required notes. A good voice becomes a singer when combined with accurate rhythm, a good sense of pitch and enunciation.
We teach:
Singing/Voice from year 1 at school upwards
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Guitar, Bass Guitar & Ukulele
There are various types of guitars your child might like to learn. Classical or Spanish Guitars have gut strings and are played with the fingers. Electric guitars need to be plugged in and also require an amplifier. Check with your teacher which style they teach and make sure you child has the right type and size of guitar. Guitars come in 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 sizes.
If your child is in year 2 and wants to learn guitar but is too young to start, consider ukulele. With four strings, a smaller body and neck, this is an easier instrument for small hands to find their way around with the added benefit that techniques learnt can be transferred easily to guitar in year 3 or 4.
The bass guitar is played primarily with the fingers or thumb (by plucking, slapping, popping, tapping, or thumping), or by using a pick. Similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, it has a longer neck and scale length, and four, five, or six strings. The four-string bass is the most common and is usually tuned to pitches one octave lower than the four lower strings of a guitar.
We teach:
Ukulele from year 2 at school upwards
Guitar from year 3 upwards
Bass Guitar from year 6 upwards
Nylon string guitars are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $57 per 3 months + insurance
Electric guitars are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $145 per 3 months + insurance
Bass guitars are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $175 per 3 months + insurance
More on Ukulele
In 1879 Portuguese sailors introduced their machete de braca, a cross between a guitar and a mandolin, into Hawaii, where it was transformed into the ukulele, a word meaning 'jumping flea'. For about 30 years the instrument remained relatively unknown outside the islands; its introduction to American popular music came in 1915 at the San Francisco Panama Pacific Exposition where a group of Hawaiian performers enthralled the crowds with their music and in doing so created a new musical vogue. The instrument reached a peak of popularity in the 1930's and 40s in Britain mainly due to the music-hall artist George Formby. Ukulele today is again enjoying huge popularity and the New Zealand Ukulele Festival which features the world's biggest ukulele orchestra made up of over 2200 youth, has become an eagerly awaited annual event on the Auckland calendar. |
Piano
Piano can be started at 5 years of age if the hands are big enough.
We teach:
Piano from year 1 at school upwards
Percussion
Drumming can be started at an early age, drum kit at year 4. Many orchestral percussionists who play tuned percussion such as the xylophone will have started on the piano.
We teach:
Rhythm and Drumming from year 3 upwards at school
Drum kit from year 4 upwards
Drum kits are available for Lewis Eady Music School students to rent from $175 per 3 months + insurance
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