Difference between revisions of "Bad Xylophone"

Revision as of 21:05, 23 June 2020

How can it be this difficult to buy a Xylophone for the twins?

As a musical family, it seems important to give our little darlinks a head start in the world of music, so I thought a nice colourful Xylophone would be a good introduction to the western musical scale.

I've now tried three Xylophones from a variety of vendors (including ELC).

The first was bought from an Amazon seller, who claimed to be passionate about pre-school education. Although the instrument looked nicely made, the actual notes made were cacophonous at best. Two of the keys seemed to be nearly juxtaposed (although that would wrongly imply that they were in-tune but out of sequence). The result was a toy that could potentially put a child off music for life.

The second Xylophone was bought from a market stall in Ukraine, so I wasn't expecting the most accurate tonality. It was better than the educational tool, but the ends of the beaters fell off within minutes (huge choking hazard) and the tuning was nowhere near good enough to educate and thrill the children.

The third time, I decided not to waste any more money without a hands-on trial, so I visited Early Learning Centre. They had a lovely looking Xylophone toy, but although I tried every instrument in the shop, I didn't find one that was properly in-tune (with itself, let alone any other instrument). I would have thought that ELC would have higher quality produce than an Ukrainian market stall, but in this case - it seems not.

I'm beginning to think that my standards are too high and that I should be researching professional instrument vendors rather than toy shops. I really hadn't anticipated investing in a Patrick Moore style career for either of the twins, so I'm not sure where to go next. If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it!

Update 2020

At last I found a decent quality glokenspiel from [1]. I've also purchased a Bodhran (Celtic drum) from them and both items have been of excellent quality.

I probably should have searched for a Glockenspiel instead of a Xylophone, I might have had better luck in the first place!