Child Music Instrument

When Will My Child Be Ready To Learn An Instrument?

'Child music instrument' is often a logical sequence of thinking: children involved, learning and loving music, then what instrument should they learn?

When thinking about introducing children to an instrument, it is good to think in the longer term, so that children maintain their interest and don’t give up, just when they are coming to an age when they could fully experience pitched instruments. There are 4 points to consider:

• Children need well developed fine motor skills, or independent functioning of their fingers to enable them to begin playing an instrument with ease. This is evident in such things as colouring in, writing, and cutting out.
• Children need an understanding of basic music concepts, such as distinguishing between high and low sounds, rhythm, beat, dynamics, tempo.
• Children need to have a level of maturity needed for everyday practice.
• Children need to be reading fluently at school, so that they have the necessary visual discrimination, tracking and visual memory skills for the complex task of reading music. The exception is the Suzuki method where children are trained by ear.

D Bridges, Music young children and you, 1994, p 126).
J Logan Jingle Jive
M Cooper, former Do-re-mi Coordinator NSW, handout