What kind and brand of instruments are you using?

[Julie Palmieri]

What kind and brand of instruments are you using in your groups with children of this developmental level?

[Lydia Westle]

I’m curious to hear others responses to this, as I’m always interested in what others are using. As of right now, we order most of our instruments from West Music and have a lot of Nino Percussion / Remo Instruments. We can’t use anything that is wood unless it has a special lacquer on it, as an Infection, Prevention & Control policy at my work in regards to cleaning. I frequently use the baby ocean drums, baby rain sticks, shakers that have handles kids can grasp, drums, baby tambourines, etc. In terms of facilitating, I typically use my voice / guitar, however, watching the videos inspired me to do more with just voice or voice / a drum.

I actually haven’t used scarves in my groups at work (just independently when I’ve done music at birthday parties etc) for infection control. However, our dance / movement therapist does and watching the videos this week inspired me to ask her how she cleans them in the hospital setting between patients, as I’d like to start incorporating!

[Camryn Gallagher]

We have a selection of instruments available at my facility that have been there since before my time at the company, but I believe we also order through West Music! Remo drums specifically are what I tend to gravitate towards because they offer such a wide variety of sounds. My personal favorite is the gathering drum. We also have large egg shakers, and shakers with handles and various color beads inside. For melodic instruments, I love using rainbow handbells. It’s fun to watch children explore them independently, but also provides a great opportunity for caregivers to model how to play them. We also give children a chance to strum the guitar along with us at this age.

[Maura Nicholson]

For this age group I always have egg shakers, scarves, and a variety of drums along with my guitar. My drums are all Remo. I also have a cabasa, and a few other percussion instruments but I would like to add finger symbols and I’d like to look into using the handbells as Camryn mentioned as those can be used by many at once. Interested to see what else has worked well for others!

[Lydia Westle]

I surprisingly am not currently using the gathering drum – would like to try it!

[Camryn Gallagher]

This might make other musicians cringe a bit, but… When you flip the drum over and let children sit in it, suddenly it’s a spaceship! 🙂

[Elmira Abasova]

Most of my instruments are simple, they are from Amazon or similar places. I use an Orangewood guitar as a cheap alternative to baby Taylor, and a Meinl steel drum. The rest of the instruments are not branded. I use hand drums, scarves, claves, egg shakers, and a parachute. I also use my phone as a speaker to play animal sounds and show pictures. I also want to try a gathering drum, and I am looking for ways to deliver it to Ukraine.

[MacKenzie Lyons]

Mostly all of our instruments are from West Music and we use Remo drums. We use plastic maracas as well as some maracas that have a loop handle for little kids. We use frame drums that are a variety of sizes (usually bigger ones for younger kids) as well as scarves. For some classes we leave a bucket of miscellaneous percussion instruments in the middle of the circle for them to explore at the beginning of class including a plastic rainstick, plastic castanets, hand bells, lollipop drums, hard plastic mallets and smaller drums.

[Courtney McDonald]

My instruments and props are a mix of what was already at the facility and my own personal. I generally order from West Music and most percussion are Remo. I have found that most of the things that I order from Amazon are of a cheaper quality. For instance, the small shakers have almost no weight to them and it is hard to hear their sound.

[Amy Calderon]

Yes, amazon is definitely a cheaper quality. I got some chiquitas and the sound is jarring for me compared to LPs.

[Olivia Todd]

Our music therapy center has an assortment of instruments from West Music and Remo. We use scarves, maracas with various adaptive handles, frame drums of all sizes, and lollipop drums. In the NICU I use just my voice and occasionally guitar. In preschool classrooms I often use egg shakers, scarves, an ocean drum, guitar, and voice.

[Daniel DeLucia]

At the main office where we host Sprouting Melodies classes, there is a variety of instruments that I would use if I was hosting a Sprouting Melodies class such as scarves, egg shakers, Remo frame drums, maracas, etc. Similar to Olivia, when I work within the NICU however, I usually use a nylon string guitar, occasionally some small percussion instruments, and my voice.

[Kate Jihye Choi]

The budget for musical instruments is limited at my work, so I mostly use my instruments. All my percussive instruments, such as egg shakers, fruit shakers, hand drums, and claves, are from Remo. I tried various brands of percussive instruments from Amazon, but Remo was the best for me. As I’m a pianist, I use a portable digital piano from Yamaha. It can run on batteries so I can use it even without electricity. My guitar is also from Yahama, and my Ukulele is from Kala.

[Amy Calderon]

In the hospital I currently use a lot of Remo products. We also have a ton of LP shakers. I recently bought some chiquitas from Ayaoch. I found them to be a bit loud, but my babies seemed ok with it. But I think I might switch to LP chiquitas if I can find some. I had a hard time finding any when I initially searched. We try to use things that are easy to clean.

[Billie Junget]

At RMTS, I am primarily playing Remo drums and auxiliary percussion. They are easy to clean and maintain! We also use scarves and other materials ordered from West music. The guitar I use is a Mini Martin and it’s great for class because it’s light and compact and gives me more flexibility for moving about the room!

[Mark Dunford]

I use mostly use Remo frame drums and Meinl shakers. We also have colorful plastic maracas, scarfs, afuche’s and ocean drums.

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