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How young is to young for music lessons?

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What age do you think is acceptable for a child to learn an instrument of their choice?
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8+
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Amethia Blue

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:32 am


A poll just cause I could and I'm curious to see what the Lounge thinks about this topic in general.

And my inspiration for the poll...

My 6 year old son is absolutely OBSSESSED with guitars. Almost any t-shirt we let him pick out has a guitar theme. (No skulls and nothing scary are my rules for his shirt picks.) He's even got a "plush" guitar in his room for decoration. He's into music in general and he tries to sing along with the songs on the radio once in a while. (I tend to sing in the car, not that my voice is all that good, but I try to match the song. xp ) But I'd say he's probably had this guitar addiction since he was about 5 though. Pretty uncommon for a child to keep an interest in something for that long, right? Well, he started asking me recently if he could have guitar lessons. I said no initially, thinking it'd be really expensive, that he'd not have the focus for it, ect. Well, he kept asking. Sucker that I am, I finally caved... Come to find out most places only do one lesson a week for half an hour, anywhere from $15 to $20 per lesson. Guitar and case would cost less than $150 (like $130 range more than likely.) Only problem? No one wants to teach a 6 year old to play. So, with the help of my sister-in-law (turns out she knows someone that works in a music shop so we're getting a discount!) my son is getting a guitar. He's a lefty so I'll have to do some digging probably but I'm going to find out the proper way he should be placing his fingers and holding the pick and see what goes from there. Maybe if he can at least demonstrate some of the basics in that respect, someone will teach a 6 year old to play the guitar. I'm not expecting him to be a guitar prodigy or anything but this really something he wants... and he's very focused when it's something he wants! blaugh
PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:49 am


My one year old is obsessed with piano and she usually doesnt care for much but she plays every note then goes back and picks her favorites and then goes TA DA... And for a one year old she is pretty good so I was gonna buy her a toy piano and then at like 4 see if she still wanted to do it.. So I guess it really depends on the attention span of the child.

Captain~Fleatch

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MsRoseLovingJo
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:28 am


I know my cousin started Suzuki lessons for her violin at age 3 - it was a real struggle for my aunt most of the time - but she still plays all these years later. I wonder if you could get a reference from your school district about teachers for your child and which methods the middle school and high school teachers prefer - it would get them a head start in later years if there is to be music classes on their educational schedules.
PostPosted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:20 am


Like most school districts nationwide, the funding here is tight. (I think I read in one of my recent parenting magazines that something like 44% of districts nationwide are laying off staff for the '09 -'10 school year, some of which will be teachers.) There is a music program here but barely and only because it's a small town and we have some very generous businesses that contribute to school fundraisers and projects. As far as I know, individual instruments in general aren't really taught here until almost middle school. (6th grade maybe? Might be as soon as 4th, I don't know for sure though.) Before that it's all mostly choir and your basic music principles. If he wants to learn any kind of instrument at all, I'm pretty sure I'll have to find a private instructor for him and guitar isn't an instrument the school puts into their music programs in any case. I work for the local public access cable station here so I see most of the school concerts and events that we broadcast and it's usually your typical strings, drums, horns, ect. If he decides he wants to learn a more "tradional" instrument, that's fine with me too. Guitar just seems to be "the thing" for him so that's the way we're headed. I did find a local guy that does guitar lessons in a studio of a music shop here in town but he said his youngest student was 8 and he seemed really hesitant to take my son on. Considering I've left a few meassages for him asking him to call me back so we can set up a trial lesson and he has yet to return any of my calls, I'm taking that as a no from this instructor. I did find someone else that would teach him but there'd be travel time of almost an hour involved and the lesson is only for 30 minutes, once a week. Almost 2 hours for total travel time for a 30 minute lesson that'll cost me $20 just doesn't seem logical. So, I'll see if I can teach him the basics with the help of some books and youtube and keep my eye out for another instructor. (But I will make a note to try to talk to his music teacher at the elementary school in the fall. All the grades have the same teacher so it should be the same one he had last year and she was great.)

Amethia Blue

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MsRoseLovingJo
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:58 am


I know we always had a Jazz Band as part of the band and they often had guitar in the group. I just thought maybe the teachers could help you decide which methods to teach from and help you find a qualified one-on- one teacher. Sometimes they can connect you with someone who doesn't teach full time but is a really good artist and teacher on a particular instrument. Sometimes just getting your foot in the door is enough. I always heard a child should know their alphabet first as that is a good way of seeing if they are ready to learn the notes and have the patience to learn patterns that are in every song. Let us know if you find something. Good luck.
PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:28 am


Patience is something my daughter lacks at the moment! good thing i have a few years to see if she is still interested in piano...

Captain~Fleatch

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:16 pm


it think it depends on the child
PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:52 am


My son now actually has a guitar (his aunt presented it to him this weekend) and so far I've just been getting him used to holding it and picking the strings without worrying about chords and scales yet. I did finally find a chord book on amazon for lefties and it's got pictures of how the fingers should be placed as well as the chart for each chord in the book. "Southpaws" have to reverse the "normal" (ie- right-handed) finger positions mentally otherwise so I wanted him to be able to at least see what the basic chords should look like for him and then turn those into scale exercises eventually. We'll start simple and see how fast he picks this up. 3nodding

Amethia Blue

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MsRoseLovingJo
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:20 am


Sounds great! I hope it works well and it sounds like you have done the research to help him to succeed!
PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:00 am


My husband played clarinet so when my and if my daughter wants to play an instrument he can teach her to at least read notes biggrin !

And he got a guitar thats wonderful! And starting slow is good O:

Captain~Fleatch

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MsRoseLovingJo
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:09 am


any real frustrations yet?
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:27 am


MsRoseLovingJo
any real frustrations yet?


Provided his little sister leaves him alone, no. blaugh Distracting her is easy but it's a non-stop job when the guitar is out... she wants to touch it so badly! xd

Amethia Blue

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