when should my child take private lessons?

• Posted by Ute Braun October 18, 2010 - Filed in Activities - 3,523 views

  Another parent in my kindergarten class asked me today, when should I start my child on private lessons. With older children 4 and up this seems to be the most asked question I get and also a main reason for parents to not continue classes. They think they need to start them on private lessons very early.

  Here is my response to the parents and I also always give them our flyer "When to take private lessons" that you can get on music box with more detailed information on what we recommend.

   

   At Music Rhapsosdy we believe to teach children how to read and write music before putting them on a private instrument like piano or guitar. Generally they seem to not want to practice when they are 4/5/6 years old and quit by the time they are 7 or 8. In the Rhythm Readers class we introduce the reading and writing of rhythms and in the melody makers class we introduce reading and writing on the actual music staff. In addition we work with phrasing, form, musical concepts (loud/soft; fast/slow; short/long), music vocabulary, pitch matching, and lot's of movement to have them experience and feel the different aspects of music while learning to read and write and play many different pitched and unpitched percussion instruments. My general experience is that they do really well starting a private instrument that way once they are 7 or 8 years old because they understand the form and phrases of music so much better. Being in a group environment makes it fun for them and they have friends to make music with. Once they have private lessons, they have to practice on their own and it is harder to share the experience with friends. I have a great flyer with some more information that I would love to give to you in class.