My 3 year old child seems to be musically gifted. When should I start her on formal music lessons?
Depends first on the lessons. Who is teaching? What instrument? What is the teacher comfortable with, relationship-wise? What is the teacher's experience with young children? Is the approach an aural one, suited to preschoolers, or a note-reading one, more suited for older kids who have the intellectual skills to deal with halves, quarters, eighths, doubling and adding half, etc. and are developmentally able to cope with a visual stream of focus at the same time as kinesthetic and aural ones.
Depends next on the child. Is she capable of focusing intensely on quiet activities for several minutes (ten at least) at a time? Does she have enough language skill to communicate effectively about focused tasks with someone new? Is she psychologically ready for a teaching-learning relationship with an adult from outside the family? Is she full of desire to begin musical study? (If the latter condition is not there, parents can modify the child's environment to create desire... attending concerts, observing others' lessons, listening to recorded music, watching a friend play, meeting other children who are learning, watching the parent learn the instrument, etc..)
Depends next on the parent. If your child is going to take music lessons under the age of
6 or 8, you will need to be involved as an equal partner in the endeavour, doing more than
taking her to lessons and reminding her to practice. If you are willing to take on this role,
it's possible to start quite young. You will need to create meaningful enjoyable structure,
create desire by providing a motivating environment, understand exactly why and how the thumb
needs to be subtly adjusted, learn why a proper D-natural will resonate in a particular way,
basically learn every step along with your child and provide leadership six days a week in the
role of practice coach (don't worry: no prior musical skill required, just a commitment to
learning yourself).
Posted by Ensmom3, 12-22-2000
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...Finding the right teacher is very important. Some of the best musicians make the lousiest teachers. And even a great teacher may not be able to teach a 3 year old. So it has to be a teacher experienced with young children, with a good reputation. Probably a Suzuki teacher would be best at this age. If you do decide to go with formal lessons, be prepared to possibly be on a waiting list for a really good one, and be persistent about calling back every couple months to check if anything has opened up.
Modeling is important. If your child sees you
or your spouse enjoying music, she will probably take a greater interest. We always play a
kids song tape [in the van] wherever we go. And we usually play the same one for several
months at a time... simple folksongs and nursery songs, like Old MacDonald and Hot Cross Buns.
You might be surprised to hear her picking them out on the keyboard someday!
Posted by Melody_mom, 12-23-2000
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