Your child's first music lesson: When should it happen?

Posted on 19 October 2015

This is definitely something that parents contemplate and worry about. If you want your child to learn to play an instrument you will be thinking about the right time for music lessons. The answer to this question is not easy and it is not the same for every child. There are a lot of factors to consider before you should enroll your child in a formal music class.

Music lessons don't always have to be the formal class settings that we think they are. Babies in the womb and infants can have music lessons when parents play music or sing to them. This is already a time when they are learning about music. This is why it is also important to expose your kids to music from the womb or at an early age as possible.

Another form of music lessons is when a child starts to participate in singing and dancing activities at home or at a nursery class. The teacher will not get mad if they don't sing the song the proper way but the goal is to have them participate in their own way. These music sessions are all about having fun with a group and having fun with music.

The 3rd type of music lessons is the formal one. This is when kids have an actual music teacher and they follow a schedule. There is a progression in terms of what kind of music lessons children should be attending. But the fact remains that children will be ready at different times. Children who show natural musical aptitude and love for music will be ready before others.

Parents should also consider the maturity or capability of their child to take instruction. Formal music lessons means that the student has to sit still, concentrate, listen, practice, and practice some more. This requires a certain level of maturity and growth on a child's part and kids will develop this at different ages.

Perhaps the most important thing to think about is the reason behind the music lessons. Many parents may be pushing their kids to take music lessons for their own reasons. There is such a thing as parental peer pressure and it happens a lot in the music lesson setting. Responding to peer pressure is rarely a good thing and parents need to be careful.

In most cases, the main reason behind music lessons should be because the child wants to do it. That initial desire and commitment is very important. Many children stop playing an instrument when they get older because they were forced into it and once they had the choice they stopped. If a child wants learn and do the hard work and have fun then please let them do it.

On the other side of the argument, some parents will need to step in and give their child a push. Not all children who were forced to play an instrument keep on hating it. Some grow to love it. Some even become more mature and learn important life skills because of it. But there is a very delicate line and balance to this and the parent will have to determine what to do.

Victor Wooten, an award winning musician, talks about how he learned to play music in his family.

We never really gave an answer as to when you should enroll your child in music lessons. But hopefully these ideas can give you a better understanding of the perfect time. We hope this helped and we hope that you and your child continue to enjoy great music together.