At what age can I start my child with music lessons? Or the sister question is: How young do you take beginning music students? Could very well be the most frequently asked question we get from parents inquiring about music lessons at our school.
Of course, the answer to this depends on each parents’ goals or expectations. At two years old your child will probably not sit through a formal lesson on a particular musical instrument. If that is what the expectation is from a parent then there is definitely an age to start their child according to that child’s particular needs and developmental timeline.
In this article we lay out the general idea of how we introduce music lessons to the youngest members of our community, from infant on up.
Music Lessons For Children Under 3 Years Old
Under 3 years old we hold a lot of musical games and activities with parents involved to lead by example. A lot of group singing with hand and body motions. We also have toy musical instruments lying around for the little ones to explore and play with. Parents might be able to see what their little one is drawn to during this free play time. If parents are able to see what their child is most drawn to in their musical explorations, they can help nurture that thing further. Perhaps getting them their own light-up piano for the home!
As in all ages, but especially from 3 years old and under, we encourage parents to always make music a point in their every day lives. This could be with singing, listening to the radio, or if a parent plays a musical instrument. Being conscience of making music an intentional thing is key here. “We’re going to music class today!”, “Ooo let’s dance to this song on the radio!”, “Let’s sing this song together, right now!” “Should we sing a song before bedtime tonight”. A lot of it is about making music a special thing that stands out from our day to day living.
Music Lessons For Children Ages 4 & 5
At age 4, children are able to start to grasp musical concepts. They are able to identify music notation at an elementary level and to start to learn to count rhythms.
We have a group class for ages 4 and 5 where they have their own music workbooks that come with stickers, coloring pages and all kinds of educational activities. We still use games at this level
and group-lead learning. We also introduce the piano and some basic notes.
We see this class as a prep class for when they are ready to sit through their own private lessons with an instructor. At some point while they are 5 years old, the instructor for the group will single out the child that is ready for private lessons and that child will transition, or “graduate”, out of the group and into private music lessons.
Music Lessons at 5 Years Old
As mentioned above, at our school, at some point during the 5-year-old phase, a child will transition into a more formal setting for their music education. If they have been exposed to these younger musical opportunities then they start out leaps and bounds ahead of other 5-year-olds who come in starting from zero.
At What Age Can I Start My Child With Music Lessons?
Really, the answer to this question is any age! It really depends on parents’ expectations or goals for their own child’s musical development. This is just the general idea of how we bring up our youngest students into their musical and individual development but there’s also nothing wrong with starting a child later in life either. All ages, child and adult, can start their musical development at any point in life!