When should my child start an instrument?

As with most aspects of child rearing, everyone has their opinion on this point, and there are various different approaches. However, I believe it is often (never say always!) better to wait until the child is at least 7 before contemplating an instrument.

Here are my reasons:

• Fine motor skills: - Little children often have not developed the fine motor skills necessary to manipulate their instruments. In some cases, they are just physically too small to hold or play them properly. We know a little boy who has a saxophone that looks bigger than he is. He has to rest it on the case to play it. It doesn't look very comfy. I heard about another four year-old girl who desperately wanted to learn the recorder, but quickly became very frustrated because her little fingers wouldn't cooperate.
  

• The discipline of practice: - To stay with the lessons and practices over the long term requires a certain level of maturity.
  

• Musicianship: - Younger children are not likely to have the musicianship skills that can really help when learning an instrument. Unless they have good pitch, for example, they may not realise when they hit a wrong note.

Kodaly believed that the most important instruments for children are their voices and their bodies. They can happily develop their musicianship skills for many years through singing, moving, rhymes and games. It comes naturally to them. Voices and bodies are also portable, always available and inexpensive to use!

Once they learn to keep the beat and sing in tune, other musical concepts are introduced. After years of Do Re Mi classes, 7 year-olds are able to sight-read simple tunes on the stave. By this time they are ready to sail easily into learning an instrument. Because they are so familiar with musical notation and other musical concepts, they can concentrate more on learning how to operate the instrument they choose.

The first instruments we introduce to children in classes are percussion instruments, both tuned and un-tuned. These are satisfying for little children because they are able capable of playing them well.

Image: 'Vintage Postcard ~ Girl Playing Harp'
www.flickr.com/photos/7926983@N07/1161228939

When should a child start music?

It is never too early to begin music with a child. Zoltan Kodaly famously said that ideally, the child's musical education should begin at the time of their mother's birth!

Just as it is never too early, it is also never too late. A lot of people have been put off singing early in life by a thoughtless adult. Kodaly believed that singing is for everyone - not just a select few - and that everyone can be taught to sing.

When a child is very young, there is a window of opportunity for helping them to find their voice. Later they will become self-conscious and embarrassed, but little children, who have not yet learned to be ashamed of free expression, can be taught to sing out and sing in tune. This is a gift they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Parents often wonder when a child should begin playing a musical instrument. Do Re Mi teachers prefer to help children find their voice first, develop the skill of singing and learn about the different aspects of music. Then, when they are older (about 7) they are well equipped to start an instrument. Through their Do Re Mi classes, they already know how to read notes on the staff, and understand the elements of music. They can sing in tune, which helps them self-correct when they make a mistake on their instrument. And importantly, they have developed an appreciation and love of different kinds of music. By the time they are 7 or 8 they have usually developed the fine motor skills necessary to manipulate their instrument well, without the frustration often evident in younger students.