Is It Too Soon to Start Music Lessons?

There is no definitive age that makes a student better a learning music. A common question asked by parents is “What age is best to start music lessons?” That question can be answered with another question: “What are your goals and expectations for your child through learning music?”

Is the goal to learn a skill? Is the goal for them to perform? Are we wanting to develop hand eye coordination, or motor skills? Are we simply wanting them to develop a liking to something that doesn’t involve a phone or computer screen? There are numerous reasons to get involved in music lessons, determining what your goal is for your child ultimately decides what age they should start. Here are two common age groups to give you a better understanding of what to expect, common limitations, as well as the overall benefit of their music lesson.

AGE 2-5

WHAT TO EXPECT

This is the earliest age range that our music school has enrolled for private lessons or summer camps. The Primary goal at this age range is to have the student associate joy and positive feelings towards music. There are some musical foundations that can be covered, but all in all this age range is going to be focused more on music games, establishing good habits and very basic motor functions.

LIMITATIONS

There are obvious physical limitations at this age, considering some students may be smaller than the instrument they intend on playing. We normally suggest drums or piano for children of this age. It doesn’t take much physically achieve the intended note on a piano (pressing on a key) or play a drum (hitting the drum with a drumstick) Students at this age commonly have shorter attention spans. Typically speaking, this is a high-energy low retention sorta scenario. We do not recommend longer than a 30 minute lesson. For this age group, it’s common for students to take frequent breaks during these lessons. Noticeable progress will be gradual, patience is strongly encouraged for this young of a student.

BENEFIT

As stated before, the key to successful lessons at this age group is keeping it a low pressure, high energy and super fun experience. The last thing we want to do is bog the student down with strict rules and technique. This age group is living proof that it’s not too early to try!

AGE 6-10 (ELEMENTARY)

WHAT TO EXPECT

This is our most popular demographic for new students that sees the most progress in their music lessons. At this age, students are more ready to understand patterns, memorize material and are generally more receptive to learning a new ideas. This age group is generally more physically equipped to handle the dexterity and basic hand strength required to play most instruments. there’s a lot more opportunity for long term musical progress in this demographic.

LIMITATIONS

Keep in mind this is still a young demographic that desires a high-energy, upbeat lesson with lots of positive reinforcement to assure that the student is progressing. It’s not uncommon for teachers to offer small prizes to incentivize this age group of students. This age group is likely to have attention lapses and it’s easy for the lesson to deviate from original lesson plan. For students of smaller stature, they may benefit from a smaller instrument such as a ukulele or 3/4 sized guitar. The easier their instrument is to play, the more likely the student is going to enjoy playing their instrument.

BENEFIT

In my professional opinion, elementary students starting music lessons have the best chance to see long term progress and success. It’s a great time to start building good technical habits and introducing young students to music they’ve likely never heard before. By this age, most students have a favorite song or at least have been exposed to a good amount of music to draw reference to what they’re playing. Every instructor at The Musicians Woodshed can attest to how often we’ve taught songs like “Old Town Road”, “Let It Go” and basically anything by Taylor Swift or Imagine Dragons.

In my 8 years of experience working as a teacher and a manager for a music school, I’ve witnessed students as young as 2 memorize words to songs (despite not knowing how to read), play simple melodies on a guitar, and even play a beat on a full drum kit. These cases are fairly rare, but there’s no harm in signing up for a Trial Lesson to see how receptive your child is to learning music. Every student and parent has their own limitations, goals and expectations. As long as the student, teacher and parent are all on the same page as far setting expectations and goals you’re nearly guaranteed an amazing music learning experience.