What is the right age to begin piano lessons?

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

As parents, we wish to give our children every opportunity to succeed in all that life has to offer including such things as music and art. Many parents wish to start their children off with piano lessons as soon as possible believing this can help them become the next Beethoven. However, like with everything else in life if there is no interest, the child will never be one with the piano and will only play robotically to please his or her parents.

The best time to begin piano lessons is when your child shows an interest in learning to play and when he or she is old enough to understand the meaning of commitment. I do not believe that many two years old will be ready to sit down at a piano and learn the basic beginner skills it takes to start playing the piano.

Children learn at different stages and levels as you well know. You may have two children and one began walking at 7 months while the other did not walk until 11 months. The same goes with the piano. One of your children may love their toy piano and play it from sun up to sun down, while the other one would rather do something totally different and never touch the piano. In this case, the child that is playing the toy piano may be ready for piano lessons. The idea here is to get to know your own child. If they love the piano and are automatically drawn to play when they see one, then they would be an excellent candidate for beginner piano lessons.

Once your child starts piano lessons, never force the issue. If they decide they no longer want to take lessons, allow them to stop. Forcing piano lessons on a child is a sure fire way to get them to reject the lessons and like stated above they will only be performing robotically to please you. They will not be enjoying the experience.