So right now in my time of life taking a break from managing a large piano studio, I’ve been working on developing a ton of new charts, systems, and ideas for teaching young children the skills needed to enter piano lessons. Things like attention span, daily habits, and of course time spent listening to and playing with or encouraging the love of music.
How young is too young?
I get asked the question all the time, “When should I start my child in piano? When is the perfect age to enroll them in music lessons? How young is too young?” And my answer…well…start them NOW. Whatever now is for you. First, it’s NEVER too late to begin. I’ve taught beginner piano students in high school and as an adult taking lessons alongside their children and empty-nesters. But second, it’s never too early to begin!
I’ve taught one-on-one piano lessons with kindergarteners, I’ve taught group music classes with as young as 6-18 months, and I’ve successfully seen my own 5 month old recognize and emotionally respond to a familiar tune (It was “Lullaby” and it was heard on a video and he had just woken up from a nap and he started crying as soon as he heard it because he thought it meant it was time to go back to sleep since that was the tune to his mobile I played every nap and bed time!!!). While pregnant with both of my children I played music and listened to music often (good, healthy music, you know!) and so far they have both shown much musical interest as a 1 and almost 3 year old! My son asks to play the organ (yes, we have one in a our house!) almost every day and when I start singing in the car my daughter smiles really big and starts clapping and waving her hands every time!
All that to say, it’s never too late and it’s never too early…the age to start is before they are born…in the womb! Now, as you can already imagine every stage looks different.
0-6 months: Music Listening
From before birth to about 6 months when they are starting to sit up and be able to hold things and clench their fist, you’ll be doing most of the work. Think of it like a funnel. You’ll be starting at the bottom of the funnel where they have little say and little control and you hold the reins. You choose the music they listen to, you choose how often they listen, you choose how much interaction they will get with music and instrument exploration.
I love to recommend playing music for children. The way I did it was by compiling a list of music (CDs, playlists, stations, videos, etc) of everything I wanted to expose them to and then creating a plan of how I was going to get through everything in whatever amount of time I wanted. So I decided to take a 5 day approach and leave the weekends as bonus. Every day I chose a new category or genre of music and you can duplicate as often as you want. I chose a 2 week rotation so that every day for two weeks we would listen to something new, but then repeat that cycle twice in a month. For the 5th week (depending on the month) I just cycle back to Week 1 again as needed.
Check out this chart I made for July 2021 and try out my own template for yourself! Of course you can theme a month to a season, so I guess I could have themed patriotic music, or you can just add that in as extra. Now the idea here is that you cross off each day that you listen to that music on. You can listen to additional music as well (PLEASE DO!) but at least you’re making a plan and sticking to it in exposing your children to the music YOU want them to learn and hear growing up. If you try my idea or have a suggestion, let me know in the comments below!
Prepare for piano lessons by listening to music every day
So “When should I start my child in piano lessons?” Start them as early as you can at home by exposing them to music! Get them interested in music, get them loving music, expose them to good music, intelligent music, uplifting music, and repeat the music often so they become familiar with it!
We’ll look more into what else you can do with a baby for Music Time at home, but that’s it for today! Enjoy!
