is 6 too young to learn an instrument?

[brimfull]

ds loves music

bangs saucepans constantly,makes up tunes on the keyboard and plays little bits he's been taught (very very simple),says he wants to learn music.

But his reading isn't fab,pretty average I'd say but definitely not a fluent reader yet.

He can learn the recorder in school but not until yr 2.

Should I leave him toit,encouraging as much as poss bearing in mind I am not musical at all.DD does teach him a bit.
Should I start him in lessons of some sort?

I started ds with piano lessons when he was 6, it helped his hand eye coordination and concentration skills. He had them at school but your local music shop will have details aswell.

it depends, some instruments you can start earlier than others and then there is the child, my son at 4 is so much more advanced than his cousin who is only 3 months younger, he can get some good notes out of a digeredoo but his cousin can't even make a sound out of it!

we only have a keyboard though..

ds used to practice on a keyboard, you dont need a piano. It needs alot of keys though.

actually we have recorder too

bearing in mind also that the creative side of a child is far more active at 6 than the academic side, so music, painting and languages are more learnable to kids now than reading, counting or that sort of thing

it's quite big

DS started piano at 5.5 - he couldn't really read. His teacher has been brilliant and I think it has helped him in all sorts of ways. He learnt to recognise the names of the notes and learnt to 'write' and play words. He also did basic maths with the note values. It has helped his concentration and now 1.5 years on he still really enjoys it and often practises without being told to! If he wants to learn let him.

hmmm do I need to buy piano

Not too young if he wants to. Check with the teacher though - I'd've thought some teachers would want students to have a piano rather than a keyboard.

DTDs started recorder in Yr1 (so they we 6).

They will be learning violin or cello or double bass next year at school.

It has all been done at school though - although I have helped them with the recorder outside school to extend what they have been doing with the teacher.

how much does a piano cost?

You don't need to buy one, you can rent them from your music shop. If the little darling gives up then you can send it back, if you want to keep it they deduct the amount you have already paid from the cost of the piano. You'll have to check they do this though, it might not be the same where you live.

there is very expensive looking piano shop in town

maybe second hand

6 is not too young. DS had a dinky guitar at that age, tinkled along and now he's about to take his grade 1 (he is just pottering along enjoying himself) at 9.

You can get a good electronic keyboard which has the same or almost the same number of keys as a piano which is OK for a new learner, but you need to get one with weighted keys - your average cheapo keyboard won't do.

DS is about to start piano lessons too - he has a good sight reading ability now because he started quite young, but best to find a teacher who helps them enjoy it. DS was most motivated by writing his own pop songs with his 'band' at school!

mine are 8 and 6 and have been learning for the last year and we don't have a piano. In fact, the only keyboard we had was one of those dinky ones from Argos that cost £5. We've now found a very old 2nd hand piano so will get that in the next few months.

Just check with the teacher (we signed up to lessons through the school - it's some council run scheme). The children's teacher was lovely and said although it is obviously ideal for them to have a piano at home, lots of families can't afford them and lots don't have the space so have keyboards so to just do our best and as long as they enjoyed the lessons, that was the most important thing.

He sounds like he'll LOVE them!

thanks for opinions
will look into the piano/keyboard lesson thing

A good tip from DD's piano teacher is to speak to your local piano tuner as he often knows people who want to get rid of pianos and ours apparently will only recommend those that he knows are basically sound.

We got one from a church hall that was being rebuilt that he checked out first. It looks knackered but does the job. It got delivered by tractor and I gave a £25 donation to the church fund.

DS started piano at school during year 1, just after he turned 6. His reading is not great but he loves piano and is doing really well. Our piano teacher recommended Argos for keyboards, were quite reasonable (we don't have space for a piano). If you get a keyboard it has to be "touch sensitive".