For the past year or so, my 5 year old daughter been asking if she could have singing lessons.
I wasn’t going to think about singing lesson for her until she’s about 8 or 9 but recently by chance, a well respected music critique (with many years of experience, he has also directed several music conservatories) heard my daughter sing.
He commented that she has a rare gifted of having perfect pitch, she can also sing a song totally in tune with no instrument to accompany her, and her musicality is far beyond her age ( she was singing Phantom of the Opera at the time), a talent he has seldom seen in his lifetime and he said we must take her talent very seriously.

I am a non-musical mum and I don’t really know how to nurture her talent. Would having lesson at her age damage her voice? If you were a teacher, would you make an exception to take on a young student if she was really gifted? Any advice would be much appreciated.

How proud but confused you must be right now bobo.

I will leave this one to the vocal experts here. You don't mention whether or not the gentleman critique is a singer himself with an educated knowledge of tiny voices. I imagine your daughter could undergo training - on a gentle scale. There's a world of music out there if she is too young for now. Just let the wee pet sing away until it's 'safe' to go any further.

What do you think folks?

I agree - let's ask the voice experts.
My little girl was also a wonderful singer from a very early age. I was advised by a singing teacher friend not to do anything 'formal' until she reached secondary age, as voices need to mature before you can work on them properly. That doesn't mean do nothing - mine sang in several choirs from about 7, and did other music, and you just couldn't stop her singing!!! I considered a cathedral choir school from 9, but decided on a different route. At 11 she started singing lessons, and now (14/15) is showing serious promise and getting formal training. On the way she learnt flute and piano.
I am a piano teacher, not a voice specialist. I suspected she was special from an early age, so it was difficult to put her interests before mine in wanting to get her talents recognised - but now she is with a specialist teacher who I trust to do the right thing at the right time.
If you are not sure what to do, please talk to a voice specialist. Hopefully someone here will be able to advise.

Personally, I don't take singing students until they are 11/12. As I always say to parents, this is just my view, and is a reflection on where I feel my skills lie as a teacher. That said, I am aware of teachers taking students much younger than this.

David

I'll leave the singing experts to advise on this one too.

Earlier today I was shopping in a High Street store. There was a lady looking at the same clothes as me while her husband entertained a toddler who was in a buggy by whistling 'Old Macdonald had a farm'. He stopped whistling at 'e i e i o' and the child in the buggy sang it perfectly in tune and continued singing a bit more on his own in tune. This child can't have been more than 3 - I was amazed. I don't think I've ever heard a child so young sing so perfectly in tune before!

I normally don't take on students who are younger than 12/13, apart from very few exemptions, and that is for a reason. As already said, voices have to mature, and (too) early voicetraining can do much harm if not done properly. I normally recommend even to wait until someone is 15 or 16, but you can certainly start carefully (!) at a slightly younger age. Anything else does not (from the strictly vocal point of view, not general musicianship of course) really make sense anyway, since the child's voice will go through mutation, and after that, you can start all over again.
I know that some people take on children, but in my opinion the approach to teaching and building up a child's voice is completely different. For this reason, I would not recommend to give such a young child into the hands of a singing teacher who does not have a special qualification in teaching the very young ones. I don't, and that is why I don't do it, it would be irresponsible.

What you CAN do is to encourage the child to sing in a playful way, and build up their overall musicianship, but formal voicetraining:

But that's just my opinion ...

I try not to take them until at least 10. That's mostly because of the attention span. But I have to remember I started when I was 8.
I see no harm in teaching someone of a younger age if they are gifted, PROVIDED that no attempt is made to develop the voice. You can get them into good habits of posture, breathing, singing in tune, play rhythm games and start some theory. The festivals have classes for this age group, so why not? As long as the songs are suitable for the age and the voice is treated with kid gloves. I would personally make an exception for someone like this, and just have fun.

I'm not sure it's that unusual for young children to be able to sing in tune. Some years ago my youngest son (then aged about 18 months) was sitting on my lap in church listening to the hymns. He suddenly chimed in very loudly and perfectly in tune on the "Amen", much to my astonishment. He has always been able to sing in tune and I havehigh hopes for his future musical abilities. At 6 he has a good grasp of basic music theory and can read all the notes on the grand stave, but has the concentration of a grasshopper and couldn't possibly cope with individual lessons yet. He has until recently attended an excellent Kodaly based pre-instrumental music class.

I think 5 is very young for any kind of individual tuition, but there will always be exceptions to any rule. Perhaps you should seek advice from a local teacher who specialises in teaching children. Surely no harm in taking your daughter for a consultation lesson.

I am not a singing teacher but I would agree wholeheartedly with all the other advice - there is no need to start formal singing training until later but there is so much else that your daughter can be doing to develop musically until then.

I don't know what part of the country you are in but some Kodály musicianship training would be just the ticket. If you find a good, experienced teacher then I think she would thoroughly enjoy the classes and would learn a lot.

Also try to find a choir that she can sing in. If her school does not have one then try to find a good local children's choir (sometimes music services run them) or a good church choir. A previous poster mentioned cathedral choirs - a lot now have excellent girls' choirs and I know several people who have gone down this route with great success.

There ARE singing teachers who specialize in young singers - a friend of mine is one - but everything is taken very gently and mainly focuses on developing good habits of posture, breathing, diction and so on.

Very best of luck - if I can help at all in the Kodály direction then please just let me know.

As a teacher of pre-school music, I come across quite a lot of children who can sing perfectly in tune at age 2 or 3, although, of course, the majority are happy to join in with an enthusiastic monotone!

However, although I often comment to the parent or nursery staff about a child with good singing, I always emphasise how important it is to leave the voice to mature - I'm not a voice expert though.

As someone else has said, there are lots of other enjoyable musical things to be doing while a child matures a bit, and then more formal voice training can happen later if it's still wanted. I'm sure the original poster of this thread wouldn't want it, but I can think of nothing worse than a child 'forced' to become a starlet early on. The ability to sing well won't be lost, and a child who wants to sing will be impossible to silence!