How young to start a Child picker......

[Flatpick]

I have a grandson who is 15 months old and is crazy about my instruments. I'll play for him and he will sit quietly until I am done then he will pull my pants leg till I play more, and sit until I'm done. Repeats this over and over. I believe he will be very teachable.

Anyone else see this in their children?
Flatpick

[TheNaivePicker]

I started playing mando at 10, guitar at 7 http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[dixiecreek]

my pastor's baby is fascinated by instruments. the other night we had church at the beach, and I was strummin my mando and little Jacob comes over and just grins and watches me (he's only like a year old)... his mom said he's entranced by instruments, she bought him a ukelele and he just loves holding it and trying to play it, and that she's gonna get him into music as soon as he's old enough. Sooo dang cool!!!

[Flatpick]

That's is cool dixiecreek. The scriptures do say to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Music has been my life and brought much comfort in times of troubles. I really want my grandson to have music in his life too.

In Music there is Harmony. In Harmony there is Peace.

Flatpick

[WaywardFiddler]

I'd say to start now on music training, but a freted instrument may not be the way to start because it takes too much finger strength. If you can find a Suzuki violin teacher in your area, you might go observe some lessons. If you find somebody you like, go for it. We have 2 year olds that come to the weekly group lesson, usually with pretend violins, and they play along with the "pre-twinkler" games. (Pre-twinkler is Suzuki-speak for doesn't yet play the Twinkle variations smoothly without stopping). About 3 plus-or-minus you can get going with a private lesson and a real violin. Violins are good ear training, easy action, and come in many sizes. There are also Suzuki method teachers for piano, guitar, flute, harp, cello. Some of these may be harder to find.

-dave

[keymandoguy]

Ricky Skaggs had his first on stage appearance at 7 years old. Dont know how young he was when he started? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Bob A]

My grandson too is interested in my instruments. He has been hearing mandolin music since he was born, 14 months ago. When he started dancing to celtic and Greek rebetiko I bought a baglama, which is a very small-bowled instrument, looking like a miniature bouzouki. It is small enough for him to have in his lap and strum, though the left hand damps the strings a lot. He is definite in his desire to strum it, and insists on holding the pick properly.

Of course it is way too early for him to be said to be playing it, but I want him to imprint on the sound, the idea, and the proper way to make noises come out of the instrument. He also whacks at a set of bongos, and dances when his sister plays Celtic music on her fiddle. So he's deep into the milieu, and will indoubtedly be playing an instrument in the next few years.

His sister insisted that she learn the violin, so she started lessons when she was eight. She's pretty good now. Getting into a Celtic kids' session here really sparked her - after her first session she came home, took the white tapes off her fiddle neck (Real session players don't need no stinkin' tapes) and set to memorising a bunch of tunes.

I know another little kid wanted a guitar real bad - her mom bought a nice uke, which served as a child-sized guitar and a fun introduction to frets. (Nylon strings are much easier on a kid's fingers).

[sbarnes]

i personally started piano lessons at age 4....could read music before i could read english....
BUT fretted instruments (as mentioned above) are a different ballgame...pressing the piano keys did not hurt and little kids probably won't have the patience to build up calluses....
start 'em young but on piano if possible....everything they learn there can be transferred to other insturments

[WaywardFiddler]

Bob A,
Since the advent of Suzuki guitar, there are fractional sized guitars available now. I'm not sure if they do anything to the string tension or whatever to make the action a little easier.

-dave

[ira]

excuse the ignorance, but what is suzuki?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif? it is regularly mentioned, usually with violin, but i don't know what it is. i have a 7 yo daughter who really wants to play guitar, so curious.

thanks

[mmukav]

I taught guitar years ago and I learned that age 7 or 8 was about right for stringed instruments. (except violin) Their fingers have to be big enough and strong enough to push the strings down properly. I started at age 10. And still pickin' after 42 years!

[jim simpson]

My son took an interest in the fiddle at age 5. He soon became good enough to sit in with the band on a couple of numbers. He did lose interest in it but later really got into drums and electric guitar. I wish he would have stayed into fiddle and bluegrass but that's his thing.

[Jonathan Reinhardt]

Having a strumming or percussion instruments early on (-/+1 yr.) or so is a great idea. Rythymic foundations are essential.
I used to teach Early Childhood (Montessori) and learned alot about children during those years. It's pretty inportant that the child have the opportunity to refine their fine motor skills when they are ready (2+). To not give them this base is a hinderance to them later. (Ex. squeezing - hand strengthing, pouring from increasingly smaller pitchers - preparing pincher movement, holding increasingly refined drawing implements, tying, buttoning, etc. etc.) All children are very individual in their timing and sequence of learning. But, in general, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 is an amazing time of giant steps in learning practical life skills.
Four to 7 is a very different cognitive age, and one where children have much interest and ability to learn language, music, etc. with good results and from a different part of themselves than their previous mimicing to learn these things.
But, speaking as a Montessorian, I would mostly suggest preparing the environment - provide instruments, music to listen to, music to learn to read, a wide variety of music to become interested in, and take them out to musical events. Then, let them ask for what they wish to learn.

[WaywardFiddler]

but what is suzuki?

Most happy to share what I know. The Suzuki Method is a teaching method aimed at very young children (but suitable for anyone). It emphasizes ear-training first, children learn to play by ear first, and then read after instrument technique is solid. It was invented by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki in Japan just after WW II. I can't say enough good about it. (When it is well done, that is. Choose teachers carefully.)

visit: Suzuki Association of the Americas (http://www.suzukiassociation.org/) for information. Frank Longay at Longay Guitar Center (http://www.longay.com/) is just down the road a piece from me. I have met him, but only briefly. His web site says they can start with 3yo kids -- short-scale guitars, certainly, I suspect the string tension is less also. We're doing the violin thing in our house, so I'm not fully up to speed on Suzuki guitar method. I do know that Frank is the chairman of the internaional Suzuki Guitar cirriculum committee, so he could point you at someone in your area, most likely.

Anyway, a key part of the method is that the kids learn the material by listening to reference recordings. The material is very carefully graded so that the student learns an incremental new skill with every piece -- very tiny steps at first. And every piece is a fun
tune to play, so the kids end up with a reperatiore, as oposed to knowing a lot of exercises that aunt Betsy has no interest in hearing. Constant review of the rep is another key component. You can pick up the recordings almost anywhere, Young Musicians Online has a lot of Suzuki materials. You might pick up book 1 and the associated CD and give a listen.

-dave