Choosing an instrument for your child to learn and my unusual suggestion

I imagine many of the parents out there on tFB have considered how best to get their child to pick up an instrument, and perhaps being of the guitar minded you may not be as strict with forcing them to play an instrument until their little fingers bleed and the trauma has set them on the path for a good dose of analysis in adult life.
The two main issues are these:

Which instrument?
Lessons or self-taught?

I grew up in a house with lots of LPs and musicals but no instruments. So I got my own by constantly pawning and working after school: harmonica, guitar, electric guitar, trumpet, flute, clarinet, drums, piano and finally organ. No lessons and I still can't read music (more about that later). Honestly, I wish someone half decent could've given me some instruction, but back then I doubt I would've found a chicago blues teacher out in the sticks of Hertfordshire.
Now that it's my turn to offer help to my children, I have chosen the soft approach, or the SRV approach. Instruments sit around the house. Music is on as much as the family permits. If they want to play, they can. If I see a smidgeon of interest, I'll support them.

My girlfriend got in the way and took my 8 year old to drum lessons. 3 months later and lockdown put a stop to that. He hasn't really mentioned it since.
Then it struck me: what if there was an app that provided 'video game' elements to learning an instrument? A quick look and I settled on Simply Piano. After a day, my son phoned me to let me know he'd completed all of the first lesson and was reading Ode to Joy sheet music. I'm doing it too and can also say that I'm just as good as he is (reading, that is). I can see this working for my boys as I've kept video games to an absolute minimum. After Monument Valley, this is their first real 'as much time as you like' dip into video games, where the joystick is a keyboard. After all, it's all about training, repetition, and movement. Really, within 5 minutes he had the headphones on playing the piano with his hand fist pumping the air like a DJ..., which got me thinking:

Which instrument?

Parents tend to be behind the times when it comes to instruction. Back when I was a kid, an instrument was orchestral: strings, brass, wind.
Today, parents are happy to send their children to 'rock school': guitar, bass, keyboard, drums.
Basically, children are always having to play music their parents listened to as teens. Watching my 8 year old air pump like a DJ suggested that I should consider an instrument capable of today's more popular music. Yes, the piano remains valid as a synth or controller. Plugged into Garage Band, the boys have had a laugh playing all the synths, especially the rhythmic ones. I really hope they will keep it up. Hell, maybe one day they''' get into the guitar; heaven knows I have enough amps.

So here's my suggestion, an instrument I'm not familiar with but could it be good for kids or turn out to be tooooo complicated:

Maschine Mk3.
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/maschine/production-systems/maschine/whats-new-in-mk3/


It's a groove box (yep, I don't know that is either) and sampler with two screens and lots of colourful buttons that needs to be connected to a computer to work. There is now a standalone version, the Maschine+, so no need to be locked to a desk/laptop. A little expensive at the moment as it just came out and some people are defending the price of the Mk3 and the benefit of working with a computer.

I'd really appreciate all of your suggestions. And I think I might finally learn how to read music on the piano with Simply.
0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
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