How Early Can I Start Music Lessons ?

How Early Can I Start Music Lessons for my son or daughter?
As a music teacher at the New Jersey School of Music in Cherry Hill, I hear this question quite often.  I usually answer with a series of other questions. Yea, I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s not as easy as just choosing an arbitrary age at which to start every child on every instrument.

There are several factors at play in deciding when to start a young one in formal music studies.  Different instruments are best started at different ages.  In addition, specific issues with individual children should be considered. One thing that everyone is in agreement with is that music exposure and study has a very positive effect on the growth and development of young children.  It has been shown that young children who have benefited from early musical training obtain higher than average scores in math and reading and form a valuable foundation for continued learning in these and other subjects. So then, when and how do we best start our children on this musical path?

First let me say that it is never too early to expose your child to the enjoyment of music.  In fact if you would like your child to be involved with music lessons from an early age there is no better time to start than day one.  Sing with them, dance with them, make up songs together and have a great time with music as part of your daily life.  This will help generate future interest in music and help create the frame work for a life time appreciation of music. As they get older expose your children to live performance as well. Take them to local neighborhood performances as well as concerts and theatre performances.  Those who come to know music in this way, quite often have an interest in music that lasts their entire life. All of these things help your child create a smooth and enjoyable path into formal music lessons.

Now as far as formal music lessons are concerned it should be noted that the time to start is not a one size fits all kind of thing.  There are several factors to consider when deciding when to start music lessons and what instrument to start on.  Every child is different but the answers to a few simple questions will give you the information that you need to make a well informed decision.
1) What kind of interest is your son or daughter showing toward the idea of music lessons? Do they keep bringing the subject up on their own, asking for lessons?  Do they spend a lot of time singing their favorite songs or making up their own songs?  Do they pretend to have little concerts in the house? Or can they take it or leave it?  Is music something that they do not seem to be interested in or even notice at all? If they are showing some kind of a sustained interest in music then it is a safe bet that they are ready to take on some sort of formal music instruction.
2) What is their attention span like? I think that the attention span is one of the most important aspects in determining readiness to study music. Does your son or daughter have the ability to focus on a subject continually for a 20 to 30 minute period?  One rule of thumb is that the child should be able to focus and concentrate for a period of time equal to the length of the lesson.  In most cases for beginners this will be a half hour.  For some of the younger children some teachers may offer a 20 minute lesson. Teachers who are used to teaching small children do a good job at keeping things exciting and moving along in the lessons.  Don’t be afraid to ask your child’s perspective teacher how they structure their lessons for the younger children.
3) How involved in the music lessons do you as a parent want to be? Developing good practice skills takes time and developing the self discipline necessary to sustain independent practice is something that comes with maturity and practice. It is not something that you can expect out of a 3 or even 5 year old (though there are exceptions).  Still, you can expect that the younger the child is the more time the parent will need to spend working with them to help reinforce the lessons and develop good learning and practice skills. The up side of this is that it can be a really wonderful thing.  It can provide a fabulous opportunity for parents to interact with their children all the while having a great time together with music.  If however, for one reason or another, you are not able to spend regularly scheduled time working with your child on music lessons there is still nothing wrong with having them start music lessons at an early age, they can still get a great deal out of music lessons, you will just have to adjust your expectations accordingly. In other words their formal progress at these early ages is somewhat proportional to the amount of time that an adult has to work with them on a daily basis.
4) What instrument do they wish to play, or do you wish to start them on? The instrument itself will have something to do with how early you can start your child with music lessons. The piano and violin have the distinction of being the instruments that can be started at the earliest ages. The piano is laid out very clearly, does not take great strength, you don’t have to hold it up or have a big breath to be able to play it. The violin comes in fractional sizes for small hands and is light enough for little ones to hold. For this reason piano or violin lessons are some of the first lessons taught to small children. Instruments like the guitar and bass require more hand strength to play than the piano or violin.  Therefore it is generally accepted practice to wait until the perspective student is 7 or 8 years old to start on one of those instruments.  For similar reason regarding the breath and size, the horn instruments have a similar starting age. But again 7 or 8 years of age is not carved in stone. If you have a 5 or 6 year old with strong hands and a big desire to play then I would suggest finding a way to give it a try for a short trial period to see how it goes and then take it from there. Another consideration is that many instruments do not come in child sizes and are physically too much for a small child to handle. At about the age of 8 or 10, most children become big enough to begin playing most instruments. If you have been waiting to start your child on trumpet, clarinet, or trombone, for example, this would be a good time to start. It should also be noted that most school band and string programs begin at about this age as well.

So in brief, the age at which children are ready to start music lessons is based on several different factors: their Interest, their attention span, their general size/strength and your potential involvement. With an understanding of these things as applied to your child I’m sure you will be able to determine when it is best to begin music lessons. I wish you the best of luck and enjoyment in your musical journeys together.

New Jersey School of Music  1200 Haddonfield Rd. Cherry Hill, NJ. 08002 (856)910-0060