Teaching Elementary Aged Children Music

What To Do if Your Child Has the Signs of Musical Talent?

If your child has 3 or more of these signs, you probably have noticed that they are more sensitive to music than other children. They are usually very interested in any music playing in the car, and want to hear one favorite song many times before moving on to another. When you hear them singing around the house, they often seem to get the same song "stuck in their head", and will sing the same part of a song again and again, until the next song grabs their attention.

Many of them can remember all of the words to a song, and name which song it is after only hearing a few seconds of it... before anyone else even notices the song is playing in the background. Music may seem to affect their moods, and you may notice that even if they are in a bad mood, hearing their favorite song can get them back to smiling again.

If you have only one musical child, it's pretty obvious that this child is different from the others. He/she may gravitate towards any instrument in a room, and immediately try to figure out how to make a "tune" with it. However, since musical talent is genetic, it's highly likely that if one child is musical, there will be more musical children in the family. Parents can start to think that all children have these qualities, and not see them for the unique traits they are.

Look at our web page entitled: 7 Signs of Musical Talent and count how many of the signs your child exhibits. Use that number to calculate the degree of musical talent your child has here:

5-7 of the Signs: Your child is highly musically gifted, and may have the gift of Absolute Pitch. These students are highly sensitive and precious, and need to have a teacher who has and understands how to teach Absolute Pitch. This child also needs to have exactly the right teacher for their personality type and learning style. It is highly likely that someone in the household is already musical, but if not, it is really important that you create a musical family, if possible. Taking lessons with your child is highly recommended. A child with this degree of musical talent should absolutely love music lessons! Lessons should start as early in life as possible, but even though it is preferable to start lessons during the pre-school years, we have taken many students at this age and trained them to hear "in color" (Absolute Pitch).

3-4 Signs: Your child is musically gifted. The younger your child gets into lessons, the better. You should consider taking lessons with your child, as musical children come from musical families. The closer the teacher is matched to your child, the more easily and quickly your child will learn. It's simply a matter of how much time it will take for your child to learn a particular set of skills/songs. With a perfectly matched teacher, a student will be set to learn at the fastest pace, with a lot of enjoyment.

2-3 Signs: Your child has musical gifts, and he/she needs to be exposed to a lot of music before the age of 10. Family music lessons, where a parent and a child take lessons together, is a great choice for some students. Focus on lots of listening activities at home. Music lessons will really broaden the horizons of this child, and can enrich their lives.

0-1 Signs: This student would still love music lessons with the right teacher, but we need to go really slow and give them space to learn at their own pace. With some good listening, and a lot of encouragement, this student can increase their musical awareness at any age.

There are ways to develop this talent and Please click on this link for information on how this is done: Testing

What IF your Child is Talented?

Every year that you wait, is a year that could be used to get your child the knowledge their brains can most easily assimilate as a child. A child's mind is uniquely capable of learning music to the highest levels, and they are able to play "right-brained" naturally, which makes them that much better at learning all subjects.

For music students, college is now. If you are saving for your child to go to college after high school, this money will be useless if your child would have been good at music. This is because a student who wants to get into a good music program MUST have studied music for years in order to even be considered for a music scholarship. If your child is talented, the money you are saving for college needs to be spent on private lessons, extra coaching, and music summer camps when they are still in elementary, secondary, and high school. Although we can not guarantee that your child will get a scholarship in the future, we can say, without question, that if you wait until your child is in junior high or college to start music training, it will be very difficult, if not impossible for them to compete with a student who has been playing since kindergarten. They will lose out because the training simply did not start early enough to give them a chance.

What Instrument Should My Child Play?

Usually, a child will ask to play a specific instrument because they have heard someone else either play it, or talk about it in a favorable way. If a child expresses a direct interest in a specific instrument, we do our best to accommodate that choice. However, there are some instruments that are better fundamental instruments for young children because of their design and ease of use by smaller people. Also, if a student may have the propensity for Perfect Absolute Pitch, (test results over 6 points), learning on an absolute pitch instrument is better. An absolute pitch instrument is one stays in tune, and doesn't require frequent re-tuning, such as: Piano, accordion, harp, etc. Violin and other string instruments can be great instruments for a child who has studied piano, and is showing the signs of PAP. This is because good pitch discrimination is required to play strings even at the beginning stages.

Personality Types and Instrument Choice

To get good at some instruments, there are personality traits that are very helpful.

Sensory Learners (S type, very detail oriented):

Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, French Horn, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet

has to have a very detail oriented personality. Highly creative students tend to do better on piano or guitar. Students that are really good at math, and have a lot of kinetic energy, tend to do very well on drums or harp. When a student specifically asks to play a band instrument like trumpet, or saxophone, we feel it is best to let them play that instrument, if possible. We have a band program specifically designed for these students to succeed, no matter what the personality type.

Instrument Quality

As a rule, it is best to buy the best instrument you can afford at any age or ability level. A good instrument makes learning at any level so much easier, because in addition to learning all of the skills it takes to play, the student isn't also battling an inferior instrument that has action problems, or is out of tune.

Instruments, however, don't have to be pretty, and they aren't necessarily expensive. For a piano student, getting a real piano... older is fine, as long as all of the keys work and it can be tuned up to pitch. For other instruments, ask the seller if you can take the instrument in to a music store and have it assessed for quality and functionality before you buy it. There are many wonderful used instruments available on Craig's List. This is a way to find high quality, low priced instruments for your child to play.

If your child needs to start lessons, please read the link to the right about testing, and contact us to schedule an appointment. We would be honored to work with your talented child!