Should I Encourage my Child to Learn an Instrument?

For children, learning to play an instrument is a right of passage. Your own memories of struggling with a screeching violin may have coloured your opinions slightly but there are many good reasons for you to encourage your child to learn an instrument.

 Music and learning music has been proven via extensive research to improve cognitive function and emotional development in children. Not only that, but people who play an instrument are thought to be less prone to depression and anxiety.

Now, those things alone surely make the pastime a tempting one!

Which instrument is best for a child?

Nobody can answer this except your child! All children have a natural love of music – babies will move to the sound of music without being shown how and given a box full of shakers and bells, most babies will go to town on them immediately.

Creating a din is part of the pleasure of a child’s early experiences with musical instruments and you should, if possible, encourage toddlers to do so.

As your child grows, they may show more interest in one instrument than another. If this is the case, that should be your first sign as to which instrument they should learn first.

Note, the use of the word first – because all children have the capacity to learn more than one instrument!

Many music classes offer trials. Allow your child to try out a few different things so that they can choose their favourite.

Schools often offer a variety of music lessons, like this private school in Kingston Upon Thames which offers music as a specialist subject in addition to lunchtime clubs for various music-related activities such as choir and orchestra.

Consider the practicalities of their lessons. For instance, if your child is going to be traveling home on a bus or train after school with their instrument, then a double bass might not be the best choice!

How many music lessons does my child need?

As many as you can pay for or organise. Most children will do well with one lesson per week as long as they practice.

Helping children to regularly practice is vital. Without practice, they won’t develop and so lessons are rather pointless.

Younger children only need to practice for about ten minutes per day. As long as they stick to that, then they should improve at a steady pace.

Older, more advanced children will need to devote an hour a day for practice, especially if they are being graded.

The most important thing to remember though is that fun should be a big part of music lessons.

If your child is very reluctant, consider letting them change instruments – but make it clear they will be starting from scratch!

K Elizabeth xoxox

*Collaborative Post