hello. it wasn't until i was 11 that i started having piano lessons and later had singing lessons. i am now 20 and am going to study singing at music college in sept.
i would recommend children starting piano lessons as early as possible BUT only if they show an interest in it! My parents never pushed me into music and for that i am grateful as i found it in my own time. but i do wish now that i had started piano earlier as i still battle with it now!
definately encourage them early if they have an aptitude for it but dont push them too hard, let them enjoy..

QUOTE (strawberrysinger @ May 21 2004, 12:16 PM)

hello. it wasn't until i was 11 that i started having piano lessons and later had singing lessons. i am now 20 and am going to study singing at music college in sept.

Which music college are you going to? (if you don't mind me asking!) I'm auditioning for them myself this autumn.

I think all kids should start some sort of music early. It's much easier to learn rhythm and reading music at a young age and it's something you never forget.

I went on an Introduction to Music course on Saturday mornings at the Harpenden Musicale when I was 5 and I loved it. We learnt rhythm, singing, reading music and recorder and did a big concert for our friends at the end.

Music was always part of life as my mum is musical so there was a piano around to fiddle with, and loads of music to listen to. She could also help with practicing if I got stuck.

After that I started piano at 6, violin at 8, flute at 11 and bassoon at 14. I've also taught myself clarinet, saxophone and viola and even a little bit of trumpet and french horn in that time. My parents never forced me to do music, although they never let me give anything up unless I was sure. As it happens, the only instrument I ever gave up was the piano at 15 after much protest and now I regret it.

So yes! I'd say start your child on something. But do be careful - there are certain instruments that aren't suitable for small children because they simply aren't developed enough yet (lungs, teeth, muscles, vocal folds etc). The introduction to music courses like the one I did are excellent for a good rounded start in the music world.

With two older children in the house (Tuba, Flute, Piano, ...), our 2-year-old toddler is immersed in it. She happily sits at the piano and sings nursery rhymes to her own random accompaniment, insists on having "her" music book on the stand, and she knows that the black dots and lines are what you play.

She has recently started the (free!) toddler classes at the Aylesbury Music Centre. These are encouraging listening, answering rhythm forms, pitch and other general skills, some singing and dance, plus the use of tuned and un-tuned percussion.

I plan to get her playing simple one handed tunes, but I expect that within a year she will be beyond my abilities as an amateur parental music teacher.

There is a lot a motivated parent can do to help prepare for formal lessons, but there is very little guidance on what to do. How about an ABRSM guidebook??!!

QUOTE (MUSICSTAR @ Apr 15 2004, 07:10 PM)

[COLOR=purple]four really is far too young, unlesss ur childs some kind of genius. I mean can u really expect a child of four to sit and practise for hours each day? they would miss out on their childhood.

No you wouldn't expect the child to sit down and practice for hours each day. They would probably only start on about 10 minutes a day if that. A parent can't force the child to learn, but if the child shows interest of his or her own accord, I say let them learn.

It has to be taken into account as has been said before that children this age don't have much of an attention span.

I started piano when I was 5 and am sitting my Grade 8 this year at 17. In that time, I picked up the guitar at 7, the saxophone at 10 and the flute at 14, all of which I practice regularly and enjoy playing. I also currently teach some piano and saxophone.

I think it depends on the child's interest in music in general

My little girl started the violin last year when she was 4, and has always practised for 10 mins daily initially but that has gone up to 20 - 30 now. In the early days I helped alot as she makes a very nice tone out of the violin but does not have a great, natural sense of rhythm although it is getting better.

The advantage of the early start and the initial help with practise is she does now know how to practise and does it well, she spent 15 minutes on Twinkle, Twinkle this morning, just playing the section 'little star, how I wonder' which crosses the A to D string and needs quick finger changes, eventually she got it right and smooth and the look on her face would melt any heart.

This has been the real advantage of starting young.

Is 4 too young? It depends on the child.

I've taught (piano) a just turned five year old and a 61/2 year old. The older was MUCH slower, her personality was much stronger, she was less disciplined at home, had more energy and progressed less. The younger child was calm, listened very well, watched with interest and picked things up at the same pace as a seven year old would. Age meant nothing. This may not be real subtle, but personality, and ... (this will probably not go down real well) intelligence has more to do with age. And by the way, there are seven different intelligences - music is only one of them.

The only way to really find out if your child at 4 will enjoy and benefit from lessons, is to have them! You always have the option to stop and start later.

QUOTE

The only way to really find out if your child at 4 will enjoy and benefit from lessons, is to have them! You always have the option to stop and start later.

Yes. It's exactly the point I make on my faq's sheet.
" How can I tell if my child is old enough to start lessons ?
By letting him or her have a go. "
We do a short introductory course designed to get the child playing, and at the same time establish readiness - or not, as the case may be.

I have had only two in the past few years who were not ready to take on a new activity; they were 8 and 6.

Maggie

QUOTE

BTW the recorder is much too hard for a 4 year old and they would probably find it very frustrating!

Well, just after my 5th birthday my mum bought me the standard Dometsch descant recorder in town as I wanted to be like all the other girls at school, of course! By the time we had got home I had learnt to read the music and play 4 or 5 tunes in the back of the taxi!!! Soon after I learnt violin around the age of 6 but I couldn't get on with it at all.

I just think it's up to the child (we're all different after all) and whether you can find an inspiring patient teacher.

As a teacher myself now, I have a pupil who is 4 learning the piano. After 4 months of lessons she is really picking things up, note reading, rhythms and even a few basic scales. I think at that age children are still babies and need a teacher who will make them feel safe, secure and encourage them no matter what pace they're learning at. If you get it wrong then you could be putting them off for life as they will remember music as being too much pressure, too hard, not fun etc.

Good luck on your decision

I had my first violin lesson at four years old but got very confused and gave up within a month... however when I was nine I took it up again at my mother's suggestion and found it much easier, I think, than I would have without that early experience.
I think, by all means try that young, even if you don't keep going until older.

I never had a music lesson until I was 11. Our school offered free school lessons for gifted pupils and we were all tested. I was not selected. I continued to whine at the staff until, two years later, I was finally handed a battered flute and permitted 20min of group lessons per week. I passed Grade 5 in a year and a half.

What ticks me off is not that I didn't get my flute at an earlier age - but that all the people who were given instruments over me (about thirty kids out of a year of 70) have given up. Every, single one. So, there's definately something wrong with that system! The primary school has started them earlier in recent years and have a much lower drop off rate (although, that wouldn't be hard!)

But four? That's young. I am really surprised at the suggestions of violin and piano as ideal child instruments - they are extremely difficult!! I recently sat grade 2 violin and grade 8 flute (gained a merit and a distinction respectively) and I swear, I had to work harder for the violin merit!

What worries me is the pressure grade-7-at-8 puts children under. It DOES put pressure on children - I was forced to leave my first teacher because I couldn't stand hearing her make plans about all the great things I would do and constantly nagging me to practise more. She would tell me I was selfish to not turn professional. I chose not to take music at GCE or AS and started school violin lessons instead but it would have been easy for a less tough person to be cowed. When I say "practise more," I was already doing one hour a day (I wasn't a lay-about). It would have been worse had I been younger. I do lots of local events/ competitions and I am constaly being told that I should go to a music school. I was once on work-experience during my holidays related to my eventual career plan and when I arrived, the employer, who had permitted me to come, asked why I was there, "Didn't I want to be a musican?" I find the guilt poured on me from all sides difficult to cope with at 16 - how could a younger child cope?

QUOTE (Trebleclef @ Nov 4 2003, 03:16 PM)

What is a good age for a child to start taking music lessons?  Is 4 too young?  And what instrument is best to start them off on?  Many thanks...

I'd like to suggest an interesting read:

"The Right Instrument for your Child" by Atarah ben Tovim and Douglas Boyd,
published by Gollancz.

The authors decided to write the book because of their interest in why some people started to learn instruments and gave up, and others continued.

They look at a wide range of instruments and suggest the mental, physical and emotional characteristics that match best with each one, to help parents to relate that to what they know of their children.