Is My Child Too Young To Play Drums? By Andrew Street

It’s the one instrument that captures the attention of most children, YES DRUMS!

If you are a parent you have probably been met with the question, ‘Can I have a drum kit?’ and this will be very well timed for Christmas. SCARY THOUGHT!

Already you’ll be thinking, ‘Where on earth do I start looking and how do I know what to buy?

As you read on I will show you how to go about finding the best deal and the most suited drum kit for your child. Your child is never too young to start any musical instrument including the drums so the earlier they start, the better. Just being apart of producing music enhances the child’s learning and develops allsorts of life skills.

What to look and ask for. For ages 3 to 7 years of age children’s/ junior drum kits under the brand names of Performance percussion, Peavey, Millennium, Libertydrums. Each can easily be found using the respective search names using Google. The junior 5 piece drum kits will cost around £110 - £125 which are aimed at the 3-7 year old range.

What’s expected with your drum kit

Each kit should consist of a snare drum, kick drum, 2 x tom toms, floor tom, hi hat, crash cymbal, stands, sticks and stool (drum throne). This is the basic standard make up of a functional kit fit for your child (based on a 5 piece)

A good junior drum kit is made of wood with a PVC coating and should come with solid chrome stands.

What will the neighbours think?

Don’t worry, as an extra accessory, silencer pads are bliss. They are widely available in most stores or online stores such as ebay. They are easily placed on top of each tom tom skin.

Online purchases

The 1st place to look is online, this will become evident later in this article. Firstly carry out a search on ebay and make a note of the ‘Brand new’ junior kits then go onto Google using the same search terms. Generally you will get a good deal from an online store and ebay, delivery of the kits are usually as one easily manageable box which is handy for storage until Christmas or birthdays etc.

Buying from an online store is easy and your consumer rights are generally better than from purchasing from a high street shop. For example, if you purchase an electrical item from a Dixons store and found out that you did not like your item when you got home, you will find that they will not let you return the item for a refund, ironically if you were to purchase the same item online from Dixons, you are now fully entitled to return your goods.

Offline purchasing

If you can, visit your local music store to find out what they are selling. If the shop is initially quite helpful this is good sign because there is a good chance you will have good after sales service in case of problems and they may even price match from prices you have previously checked online. Make sure to mention you are looking to purchase from other online stores at cheaper prices as this will give them incentive to give you a better deal.

More information and impartial advice on a junior drum kit can be found at www.libertydrums.co.uk