Can your 6yo carry a tune?

[MsRosewater]

Im reasonably musical- was lucky to have lesson in piano, cello and voice. Did a solo at reception nativity (the peak of my performing career- so this is not a brag post) My mum is VERY musical so I suppose it was part of the background...

So my 6 yo loves music - can copy a beat and is affected by music ( eg this is too sad) and sings with buckets of enthusiasm ( which I love and encourage) but very very flat.

Is this the norm? Are most/ many kids her age off key? (Was it very likely I was too and that has been lost with the rose tinted narrative over time ?)

I don't have small children now, but I have in the past had three 6 year olds, and the answer is abso-fucking-lutely not.

I've got two daughters. Dd9 has always been a good tuneful singer, dd7 was often a bit off key but is getting better (she's recently started a drama/singing/dancing class). Some kids definitely can sing in tune much younger than age 6. But it's not a lost cause.....I'm pretty sure my dd7 can tell if she's in tune when she pays attention but often she doesn't, iyswim. And the (group) singing classes are definitely having an effect.

No my son had a pretty good voice at 6.

Normal imo.

DD could sing nicely at 6.
DS absolutely could not.

Both my kids have always been able to sing in tune. I was really surprised even though both DH and I are musical I didn't realise they would automatically be able to sing in tune but they could, even before they were old
enough to pronounce the lyrics properly eg in twinkle twinkle little star. Weird.

I'm sure it's also something that will/can improve with practise. Apart from being tone deaf. I think some people will just never be in tune because they can't hear the difference.

Ah, don't lose hope, I'm tone deaf and married a musical man. my eldest was pitch perfect as a toddler and I just assumed the others took after me as pretty flat as children (obviously I had to be told this info as couldn't hear it myself!). It's my eldest that was the odd one, she ended up a cathedral chorister and has a lovely voice and plays a string instrument beautifully but my middle daughter has a genuinely fab voice as a teen, just needs more of a cue for tuning if that makes sense? I was honestly so surprised. Last one, poor thing, does take after me!

I teach 6 year olds music. My own 6 year old has a good voice, but has been going to music classes for nearly 2 years.
Ime what the child is trying to sing is often the issue...6 year olds still have a pretty small range. People sing too low and expect them to be able to match it, or choose wildly inappropriate songs in difficulty or pitch. Pop songs etc. Or even some nursery rhymes. Humpty humpty is hard!

If you're worried, see if you can find musicianship classes near you, kodaly or similar.

My eldest was fairly off key until aged 11. My youngest was pitch perfect at 5. So I think it varies!

I’d say they had much more enthusiasm than ability at that age, they both now enjoy singing in the school choir.

Two of my four children could sing in tune at that age, and the other two couldn't.

I used to sing with some very famous choirs.

The two that couldn't sing in tune continued to not be able to sing in tune as adults.

I think that very few people can sing in tune, and even fewer children. I know that some people say that others can be taught to sing but you need some ability to start with.

Most at kids I’ve known can carry a tune at that age.

My 6YO loves singing but is always very flat / completely off key, and also tone deaf so does not realise she's off. She can hear when other people are singing badly/off key, but not in herself 😂 DH and I just observe all this quietly and continue to enjoy signing with her. But we do wonder if she is destined to be tone deaf forever or if there's hope.

Do you think good singing skills and musicality in general can be learned, or is much of it innate? I don't know really

I’ve got 6 year old twins, one sings beautifully in tune, the other does not.

My dds both could. They were doing kodaly music classes since they were 5/6 months, and both learned a string instrument from age 5, with weekly musicianship classes which involved singing in sofa.

I love singing out loud despite my complete lack of tuning and 20 years of corrections and comment have apparently improved me slightly so I assume lessons would have of id been interested? My husband finds it endlessly fascinating if I sing with my female relatives though as the extent of the lack of coordination/ awareness/hearing of any kind of tuning is quite something. I'm really bad though, can't really hear accents very well even.

My father was a professional singer and musician but my sister and I cannot carry a tune at all.

My children were in the school choirs but they never sang at home when they were young.

My granddaughter is 11 and can carry a tune. One of my seven-year-old grandsons loves to sing but he's a little off key. His twin doesn't like to sing but when he does, he is very good at it and his music teacher was always getting him to try to join the choir. He's not interested. Oh well.

At 6 my eldest DD was awful at singing. A flat foghorn. Three years later she was in a professional show in the West End.

DD2 has always been able to sing. Her voice is a lot more choral though.

Thanks for your replies! So a big range from 'give up now' to 'a music career is a possibility'!!!

Willl also do more range appropriate singing with her ( I admit I may miss the trolls soundtrack singalong that prompted this post)
and try again to find music lessons for her

There may be no hope of on key tunes but she'll have fun 🤩

I really believe it can be taught, or at least for the vast majority much improved by lessons.
There's research that says people sing much less to their children as toddlers/babies nowadays and then with school provision being pretty non existent too, children just aren't getting exposure to music as much. They say up to age 9 is when their musicianship can be most developed.

My Nan sang opera and had an album, apparently it didn't pass down to any of us
I remember her sitting in the back of the car singing away beautifully in her late 70s and tutting at me and mum being tone deaf

No mine can't. Neither can my 8 year old.

My sister however was amazing her whole life. Even that young. She just had a natural talent.

My 6-year-old has a lovely sweet little voice, from a young age she was able to sing in tune. She's picking up the guitar fairly easily so I hope she ends up having a knack for music.

My 4-year-old never stops singing, completely off key and totally garbled words and she has a blast doing it. 😆