Music/Singing lessons for a 6 year old?

[Belo]

I keep being told what a fantastic voice my 6 year old dd1 (year 1) has and what a great sense of rhythm. I'm completely tone deaf so it is lost on me. My mum thinks instead of sending her to gymnastics which she doesn't seem to have any real aptitude for (but loves the leotard) I should find a music or a singing class for her. Is a 6 year old too young to learn an instrument? And if she is not, what would be a good instrument? Or, would singing be better?

I have to say that I have been ignoring my mothers advice, but I have now heard that being good at music helps get into a good secondary school. I am now thinging about it more seriously. Does that make me a bad mother?

that's interesting, thanks. As I said I really don't know much about it but I was struck by the difference in the way the girls are trained and the boys are trained.

Can I ask something a bit dense maybe? Why is it good to sing 5x mornings, 4 x evenings and 2 x church each week but not good to have an individual singing lesson?

I'm not querying it, I just don't really understand it. Is it good to sing as much as possible but not good to actually train the voice? The problem is at my dd's choir rehearsals they most definitely DO train the voices, I mean it is not just singing along any old how is it?

It is not bad to train children's voices. However at a young age most children have not the mental or physical capacity to cope with one to one.

Group training means you can do the same stuff technically but in a fun way using games, sily songs etc. A half hour individual lesson is far more taxing than an hour long group session.

I think the problem with individual singing lessons isn't so much training the voice, but pushing too hard too soon. If the parent, child, and teacher were all going sensibly and carefully then it wouldn't do any harm, but there's a risk that they will be very ambitious and overdo it. It's like things like dance and gymnastics - there's nothing innately wrong about small children doing them, but overtraining because of pushy parents or teachers can harm developing bodies.

Plus, TBH, individual lessons in singing or instrument at 6 is usually a bit too intense and not much fun!

I see, thanks for the explanations

Childrens voices (girls anyway) dont settle down till they are about 16, too much too soon and you will ruin them.

Island, my dd does the Carrie and David 'paap shaap' thing I think deliberately to wind me up!

How do you detect a "ruined" voice deste? What is the damage that it is done to it?

You don;t ruin voices on the whole but yo can damage them.

The sound is made by the air vibrating through the vocal chords. The chords have to close for the sound to begin then open to allow tha air to pass through.

If the vocal chords are constricted when the sound is being made then they can rub against each other causing polyp type things to form otherwise known as nodules. Using unsafe techniques or "pushing" to try and imitate a pop sound or belting can cause constriction. Belting is not bad in itself but is is a technique that must be learnt and is not suitable really for very yong children.

If the vocal chords are retracted (or in classical terms having an open throat) then damage is less liekly to occur.

You explain that so well. Thanks. I had no idea about nodules being formed

islandofsodor you explained it beautifully. I think perhaps Charlotte Church's voice was trained too early. I know of someone who was asked to help her as her voice was damaged and it was all caused by having singing lessons too young.

Charlotte Chuch in my opinion had fantastic potential and it was a lovely voice when I first heard her on the TV. However when she became famous she must have received some very bad advice and it was all done for money.

She was singing stuff that someone her age should not have been attempting. Way too much too soon.

My dh is much more of an expert than I am on these matters. He is hoping when he passes a particular qualification he is working towards to work with speech therapists as well as a singing teacher and also wants to run workshops for high intensity voice users like teachers etc.

A good sense of pitch is vital to play a string instrument. Ds definitely plays his cello better because he can sing along - albeit 2-3 octaves higher!

Belo - how lovely for all of you that your DD is musical!

I'm going to preface my comments with a disclaimer that I have never, ever gone in for organised classes/lessons/activities for the children, on the grounds that I am a firm believer in boredom. They spent the first five years of their lives doing stuff all outside the home (unless you count poking in puddles and such like). So I am not one for pushing them into activities - in fact, I regard them with horror.

All that said: my DS has had a lovely singing voice since he was old enough to sing. When he started school, his school music teacher said she thought he was exceptionally musical, and asked whether we'd thought of letting him have singing lessons. We had vaguely wondered this ourselves, if only because he was (and is) obsessed with cathedrals and had seen a poster advertising choral auditions, which he'd been interested in. She said she knew the top singing teacher in our city, and suggested that we take DS for a trial lesson. DS was coming up for six at the time, and the teacher said he didn't normally take pupils under eight, but he would give him a go. Following the first lesson, he said he would love to teach him despite his age. His age was apparently relevant from the point of view of lung capacity, which - so he said - isn't really well developed enough for solo singing until about eight. However, he said there was still a lot that he could do with a talented child - and he has done precisely that. Quite apart from having a lovely voice, DS (7 in May) is now a superb sight-reader (better than any 10-y-o in his teacher's experience), and is having a very good musical training which suits him. There is nothing he likes better than one-to-one adult attention . He has subsequently taken up piano lessons, which are going equally well.

It has of course occurred to us that this could be an advantage when it comes to schools - both in the short term (choir prep schools have fantastic scholarships) and in the longer term. At the moment we are paying crippling prep school fees, and we need some help to fund at least one of the DCs!

I'm not saying any of the above to boast about my DS (I could write an entire book on all his foul behaviour as well!) - but just by means of encouragement. Any kind of music is such a lovely thing - if they enjoy it! - for them to be able to do. Six is by no means too young for an instrument (I started playing the piano at four, and still love it now...).

Good luck!