Is almost 4 too young for music tuition - are there alternatives?

[bobsmum]

Ds is 4 in September. He loves music and is forever playing his little ELC keyboard.

When he had just turned 3 he had picked out a dozen or so nursery rhymes and taught himself loads of his favourite TV themes and music from the radio etc. He can beat out quite complex rhythms and tells me off if I'm singing out of tune. His sense of rhythm is way better than mine (I'm grade 7 piano and violin). You get the picture.

Anyway, we went to one of these pre-school/toddler music franchise thingies and the teacher apologised after a week and said it would bore him and she would look into something more advanced. But everything starts at 5.

What could really get him excited about music? He couldn't sit through a 1/2 hour lesson quite yet, but there must be something that would fire him up? Are there any really simple music books so he could carry on experimenting?

[twinsetandpearls]

I think it is a bit young - and that is from a mum universally acknowledged as Miss Pushy who enroled her dd on every class going at the age of 3.

Are there no pre school music groups near you. we have something I think it is called jingle jangles.

[giraffeski]

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[dublindee]

If you go to a music shop and have a chat to one of the staff there they may be able to steer you in the right direction. A lot of the people who work uin these places love music and would be happy to give you some suggestions.

I would say though your son seems ready for lessons but it depends on what instrument you are thuinking of and also the teacher. If the class is broken up into rhythm, listening to music to help develop their "ear" and then a bit of familiarisation with the instrument then a half hour would fly by....

My sis and I both started lessons aged 3.5yrs.

[bobsmum]

Twinset- we've been going to a preschool music class called "Musical Minors" whic was great, but as I said, the teacher had noticed it was way too simple for ds and was looking for alternatives. She even suggested weekend stage school (like Stagechoach) but the Bonnie Langford alarm bells started ringing scarily in my head!

[MrsBadger]

I started lessons at 4.8 (ie same time as school) and loved it, so not long to wait.
Agree re asking for advice in a music shop - have a sneaking feeling he's too young for a recorder but it's a good place to start.

Another direction I used to love are the music programmes meant for schools - the BBC do a radio programme called Music Box for 4-5yo, and several more advanced ones for 5yo & up that he might enjoy - all details and listenable clips here - you can 'listen on demand' online from Sept.
Their TV output seems more geared to older kids, but there might be some interesting things.

Even listening to, and talking with you about, different types of music, dancing in the living room etc is fun. Guess he's quite well off for percussion already but if not...

[twinsetandpearls]

Lol bobsmum my dd does dancing and has done some drama and is a wierd mix of Bonnie Langford and the nutty professor!

[twinsetandpearls]

this may be of interest.

[twinsetandpearls]

As may Starting Them Young: What are the Choices? Music lessons for toddlers

[twinsetandpearls]

Jo Jingles was what I was thinking of

[bobsmum]

THose links look perfect MrsBadger - that's exactly the kind of stuff ds is obsessed by

This is the boy who made his poor father sit through an entire classical concert of Bach and Vivaldi concertos on holiday last week because he saw the poster of the 4 harpsichords in the ensemble in a shop window. Ds sat through the whole thing with his jaw on the floor, dh was very fidgety by all accounts

[bobsmum]

Twinset - thanks for those! The Kodaly method is what he'll be taught when he starts nursery in August. I'm interested in the "Colourstrings" bit in that article - might do a bit more hunting

[MrsBadger]

am pmsl at ds agape at the harpsichords - my dad tells a great story of how at 2yo he played me the LP of Jacqueline du Pré playing the Elgar cello concerto - apparently I listened spellbound to the whole thing and then demanded a cello.

Get hold of a book & cd set of the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and cart him to any matinées you see advertised - have fun!

[snorkle]

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[bobsmum]

His physical co-ordination really isn't up to much at all - he can't hold a pencil or use scissors for example. He can spell out very basic words with help, but certainly can't read yet. He'll be 4 in September.

I did think about the violin; I played until I left university but never really enjoyed it except in orchestras, but know plenty of others who got loads out of playing.

Interesting what you say about "colourstrings" Snorkle - when I read about it I thought it did sound a bit young too. At 4 I would expect a child to be able to start to match the real names of the notes rather than subsituting colours (if that's what it entails?)

Better go - ds wants to have a go on GarageBand!!

[southeastastra]

my ds(4) has a great casio keyboard(small but meant for adults) he loves to play it, (badly) but has fun expressing himself with it at the mo!

[SSSandy]

Dd started a fantastic course at that age. She loves it, she'll be moving on to cello now when she turns 6 but the course she did was great. The teacher was very good with kids, they learnt some basic notation, she taught them to sing in tune, hold a note and play 2 new songs a week on a basic cither. They had a one hour lesson in a group of 5, interspersed with song/dance, very playful, completely stress-free but they did concentrate and they picked up a lot.

There is a huge amount of courses like that available here, we're very lucky in that respect and all so affordable. Another thing I find good is African or Arabian drumming. I would have signed dd up for one of those courses if the other hadn't worked out.

How about singing?

[Tommy]

my DS1 is 4 and has been having piano lessons for quite a few months. His teacher is a friend of mine who is trying to develop a programme for pre schoolers. He has a 10 minute lesson once a week and I am supposed to practise with him for 5 mins 3 times a day ()
She is really using him as a guinea pig for her programme!
Anyway, could you ask around piano teachers that you know of know of and suggest somthing similar? Someone might be prepared to start younger than 5 is your DS is talented.
Good luck

[Sammy3]

Yamaha Music Schools have a course for 4 year olds: Junior Music Courses . I discovered it when looking into courses for my son (then 6 yo) last year, because his school doesn't offer lessons until Year 4. When I rang my local Yamaha School, the teacher explained that they learn about music while actually playing keyboards which I thought would be great for a keen 4 year old. I'm keeping them in mind in case my younger 2 also show an interest in music.

[Gillian76]

Have a look at Kindermusik too. It's a bit more thought out than a lot of the other music groups IMHO.

Also what about learning an instrument with the Suzuki method ? One of my cousins started learning violin when she was 3!

[threebob]

I would say Kodaly, Orff or Suzuki. Or you could just let him develop his own style!

You could jam around on a pentatonic scale with him.

Cats and Dogs (can't remember author) sorry is a Kodaly piano tutor for the very young - each note is an animal. You sing them first and then play them.

Where are you (CAT me if you would rather not say in public) and I will ask around on my teacher forum if anyone of the teachers specialising in the very young is near you.

[WellieMum]

Bobsmum, I did similar as a small child and what really fired me up was playing harmonies or singing rounds with someone else, ie making music together.

Perhaps you're doing this already, but maybe you could work out some simple arrangements for piano and violin? (I seem to recall Eine Kleine lending itself well to this sort of thing) Or jam together as threebob suggests. Anything to get that sense of musical conversation.

[bobsmum]

Threebob (hi to your Bob!) I'm in central Scotland, so Glasgow and Stirling are equally accessible.

DS started playing me a great little 8-bar bluesy type thing today which was great, but we had to confiscate the keyboard for naughtiness later on. It's the most heinous punishmnent ever in his eyes

Jamming together seems so obvious - not sure why I hadn't thought of that before!

[threebob]

Unless you can find someone totally amazing I would leave him be. But I will ask on the other forum.

[threebob]

Nobody has put their hand up yet.

[FrannyandZooey]

I'm just posting briefly on here to put it on my watch list as I'm very interested in the discussion but nothing to add at the moment.