The Harmonious Child: Every Parent's Guide to Musical Instruments, Teachers, and Lessons

Children are musical by nature, whether tooting toy instruments, clapping their hands, or banging wooden blocks. Parents who want to nurture those healthy musical tendencies will delight in THE HARMONIOUS CHILD'¬?s practical, friendly, and knowledgeable advice. In this comprehensive guide, Stella Saperstein and Beth Luey walk you through the basics of finding the right instrument and instructor for your child, the ins and outs of music lessons, and successful ways to manage your child'¬?s practice time. They also discuss marching band, orchestra, and recitals-even the possibility of a musical career for your child. With a thorough list of resources and a glossary, this guide will help you encourage your child to channel that joyful ruckus into beautiful music. Provides a comprehensive look at music lessons and how parents can encourage their child'¬?s musical growth and maturity. Applicable to parents who wish to move their child beyond early music programs and into more advanced studies. Details musical instruments and their appropriateness to various age groups. Includes a chapter on "Do Music Lessons Make Children Smarter?" which discusses the practical and more intangible values of music.

STELLA SAPERSTEIN was trained at the Leningrad Conservatory in Russia as a concert pianist and college piano instructor and has taught piano for more than 30 years. She immigrated to the United States in 1979, and currently maintains a successful private piano studio in Phoenix, Arizona.
BETH LUEY teaches at Arizona State University, is the author of many books about writing and publishing, including Handbook for Academic Authors, and is an amateur pianist. Her daughter, Nora, studied piano with Stella Saperstein for 12 years and now attends Harvard.