THE SITUATION:
For most students, you start playing instruments when you get into middle school and join the band. Inevitably, there is a less than ideal spread of instruments across the already small group so any music teacher at the beginning of the year goes through a period of persuasion mixed with a little begging to get enough people to transfer to a new instrument in order to allow them to successfully get through another Sousa masterpiece.
For me, I started sixth grade prepared and ready to go with trombone, automatically putting me above the transfers to my section and setting me up to be ahead of the curve from the very beginning. Here are 8 instruments that will help make you a more competitive musical participant from the start.