Buying A Quality Glock

Jennie expressed interest in acquiring a glockenspiel and I thought others of you might be interested in one as well. It's an excellent instrument to teach your children the basics of reading and making music, if you get the right one.

Most of the instruments you'll find at a regular store are toys. Some of them make a nice sound, but they are offer only 8 notes for making music (not very much fun!)

Take a look at this glockenspiel offered by a great company called Musicians Friend. It's about $80 here (which is an excellent price!) and it provides plenty of room for making music. Also, it has not just the basic diatonic scale (C D E F G A B) but also the sharps (Chromatic scale: C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B)in a second row, much like you would see on a piano. This allows a child to learn all about reading music and also makes it easy to play along with other instruments in the future, no matter what key they may be in. (**NOTE: In their description, they say it has a complete pentatonic scale. This refers to the second row of blackbars. They alone make up a pentatonic scale, but all the bars together are a chromatic scale.)




This particular instrument also comes in a carrying case that makes it easy to pack up and put out of the way when you aren't using it. It doesn't appear, however, to come with mallets, so you'll need to pick up a set or two.

If you have some room, though, and you want a really cool resonance and a bit of a deeper sound, try this alto glock. It has the same configuration of bars (two rows, chromatic) as the first recommendation, but the base is wood and provides a beautiful, mellow sound. It costs about $100.00 here, again an excellent price, including a set of mallets!





Both of these instruments are large enough for playing duets! Pick up an extra set of mallets and let your children have fun in pairs. Also, more advanced playing will require that one player use three or four mallets at a time, so getting an extra set of them is a good idea no matter how many children (or adults!) will be playing.

The skills learned on this instrument can easily translate to most other instruments, including piano!

I am unable to find a good method book for learning the glockenspiel, but you can use any piano method starter to learn how to read music. The arrangement of the keys on a piano are the same as on these glocks, so it translates well.

Good luck!