Yesterday the mother of my seven year old violin pupil told me she wanted her to start vocal lessons and asked if I knew any teachers. I said I would look into it for when I next saw them but now I'm wondering what the advisability is for lessons at this age. The mum had said her daughter had done an audition at school and been accepted to sing which is why she wants the lessons. Apparently she loves performing - which I have noticed in her lessons! - but she is very lively and quite easily distracted. Can anyone give me any advice on this?

Thanks

I do start from age 7 with the kids I teach singing to but they are in Year 3 so heading for 8 in that academic year. I teach really basic stuff and explore a wide range of songs as well as usually doing Prep Test in the first year and sometimes AB Grade 1 as well. The parents expect exams to be taken and I like the structure - it's harder to teach sight singing than sight reading I find (I also teach violin) but it is not impossible even if the kids don't play other instruments or read music before they start with me.

Lively and easily distracted?? Pretty normal really! At least there is lots of scope for varying the activity within a lesson with singing too - warm-ups, breathing exercises, songs, rhythm work, pitch reading, more songs, practising how to say the words...easy to fill a 30 minute lesson!

Ok, thanks for the reassurance. I'll have a look and see what I can find about singing teachers in my area. They're away for a couple of months so I should have time...

I'd consider it teaching good vocal habits and getting them to have fun with music more than anything else - it's not worth doing serious technique at that age, but they can be given a real passion for singing songs.

I don't see a problem with it as long as the teacher knows what they're doing.