What age did you start your kids out in piano lessons? Did it work out well, or do you wish you would have started them earlier/later?
did you take them to a teacher or did a teacher come to you?
I remember taking lessons when I was 8, but I only took them for a couple years, and I really don't remember much about them. I want to put my kids in music lessons, eventually, and kind of want to see how old most kids are when they start.
Thanks everyone for the input! My oldest is only 4. I was starting to think that next year she might enjoy the piano. I personally don't play well, or much. I tinker and play around, which my daughter finds amusing, but my mother plays. She has heard my Mom play and thinks it is FANTASTIC and wants to do it too. I'll see who gives lessons here locally and see what ages they are willing to teach, and go from there.
we started at 8, but I wish we would have at 6. i waited until my d wanted to and would commit to practice. she LOVES it and is writing her own music. the one regret is taking GROUP lessons. She learned nothing, though she had fun playing group games.
Both my daughters started at age 5. I thought it was the perfect age. They were still young enough that they did not mind the repetition and they also didn't mind playing "baby" songs. Of course when practicing they still have to do things repeatedly but now they are at a level that it sounds really good. (They do hate practicing scales but they understand the importance of it)
Our piano teacher comes to our home.
(FYI... My youngest is almost 10 yo and I still sit with her while she practices. Her teacher thinks she is quite talented (she is good:))but I know it is the dedication we have towards practice that makes her so good and not any raw talent.
We started our oldest two at ages 6 and 8. They are both still taking lessons (it's been two and a half years now), and for the most part they are doing well (not spectacular, but that's because their consistency with practicing comes and goes). We started off going to the teacher's house for lessons, now she comes to ours.
Our daughter started at 7, in 2nd grade. She took lessons through school... they had a teacher come in one day a week, and pull the students one at a time out of class to take the lesson (private school, private tuition for the piano additionally, but they allowed her to do this during school hours, so it was win-win for everybody). She did that for a year. Then we switched schools and ended up having to find a new teacher, b/c she could not longer have her lesson during school hours.
We found another teacher after about 4 months, but she had a much different style and our daughter seemed to slow down on how much she was progressing. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a better fit schedule-wise, and we stuck with her for about 2 years, before she had to move due to health issues.
We have not found a new replacement, and right now my daughter's schedule doesn't really allow for lessons anyway. But she plays the organ at church (FOR the church services, not just playing around for fun) almost every Sunday. She would like to get back into lessons again, but trying to find the time to get it done is a challenge.
I didn't start my daughter in piano until she asked for it. She begged me for piano lessons when she was about nine. She started playing with the local recorder society at twelve. They were rehearsing in the same church building where I was taking a class, she heard them, and asked them to teach her to play, and they happily obliged. She started asking for voice lessons at fifteen. Had she never expressed any interest, I would not have given her music lessons.
Age 3. We have a preschool program and then a kindergarten one, and then for age 7 private lessons. Coming to the house is too expensive. It's a chore as he hates practicing and so do I! But he is getting good and gets proud when he masters a song.
My 5-year-old wants to practice all the time but I can't get her to lessons due to the schedule. She can do it at 7. In the meantime she practices with me.
My kids take Piano.
They are 6 and 10.
THEY wanted to take Piano, and love it.
My son started at 5 years old, and my daughter was 9.
It works out well.
And we have a piano at home.
The Teacher they have, does start kids younger, if they are ready.
She is really good, with young children. She knows about child development and is not just a piano, teacher.
Personally, I took piano when I was a child. But I had to.
I HATED HATED it.
It was not the musical instrument for me.
After about 2 years, my parents let me quit.
I just hated it.
But later took up another instrument. And enjoyed that.
The child, NEEDS to, want to learn the instrument.
Otherwise, it will not be enjoyable... and they may end up hating music.
when they can read (cat in the hat type books), then they're ready IF they want to do it. if they don't want to do it, don't bother - life will be one, long struggle.
my son - he was 7. he sort of wanted to do it. I sweetened the deal with promising drum lessons after 2 years which is what he really wanted. he is now very grateful I made him take an instrument that truly teaches music before he could do anything else.
my daughter - 5 because she was begging for them. our teacher was concerned about her attention span - not a problem because it was something she wanted and both my kids could focus for an hour or more at that age - but many kids can't and that's okay too if the teacher works with it.
Seven or eight is a good age. They're hands are bigger and stronger. It's hard for their little hands if they are younger than 7. They are also more capable of really learning to read music and put what is in their head into their hands.
I do not recommend Suzuki piano. Suzuki cello and violin, yes. Suzuki piano, no.
If your children are younger, you might try to get a Kindermusik class for them. That's a great precurser for private lessons.
Dawn
My daughter takes piano lessons at a university in their preparatory program. Normally, they accept beginning students between the ages of 5 and 8, because over long years of experience, this age window is what they've found to be optimal. They willingly accepted my daughter late - she was 9 when we started. She had fine motor delays that made starting sooner impossible - it would have been too frustrating.
They do recommend that children be capable of sitting still and focusing for the 15 minutes a day beginners need to spend practicing before they start. I would add that it is important for the child to have sufficient motor control. If the child can write letters and numbers adequately and without struggle (not neatly, but at least legibly), he or she would probably be able to enjoy playing a piano.
I do think that perhaps the most important criterion should be whether or not your child wants to learn to play. There are sneaky ways to encourage this. Start taking your children to live performances whenever possible. Explore across genres - classical, symphonic, jazz, even country and pop. Always point out the piano/keyboard player, and talk up how cool you think it is that that person can play. If you have friends or relatives whose kids play, get them to sit down with your child and noodle around on the keys a bit, and maybe even teach your child an easy piece or two. And YOU should play for them, even if it's just "Twinkle Twinkle." It has been many years since I've practiced enough to be any good, but my kids still love it when I play. My daughter's piano book has some duets, and we play them together. I learn my part right along with her, and she gets to see me needing to practice, making mistakes, working out the tough stuff, and having fun playing with her.
I put my oldest in when she was 4 1/2, and my son who is almost 5 is starting now. My oldest has been taking for over 2 years and is very good for a six-year-old. It has been so great for her to feel the accomplishment and she likes playing little concerts. After one year, I allowed her to add violin (which she had been requesting) and she loves that too. She has performed in nursing homes etc, and we may busk for fun this spring at an art walk night in front of a friend's gallery (she's been begging :)
For me it was a choice to start her young enough where she was excited at the suggestion, rather than older when she might resist or be impatient at being at a beginning level. I had to practice with her though, and of course some days are a struggle. I always keep tabs on if she seems to be hating it and ask if she wants to take a break from it, but so far, she still loves her lessons.
If you start that young, it helps if you play, so you can guide daily practice. I took lessons when I was older for several years, and my parents didn't play. I never got terribly good, so I thought I'd give my kids more of an advantage. I figured starting young, she'd like it because she'd be ahead later...but if she no longer liked later it she could quit. But she's be less likely to quit something she's good at, or even if she did quit, at least she would have the foundation. Now her two younger sibs can't wait to start because they have been watching her practice for so long :)
For us it was a great age to start. I didn't wait for her to ask....because...heck I didn't wait for her to ask to start anything else either, I just let her try :)
