Beat age to start piano lessons

[Stilllookingfor]

That's it really. I have a DC6 that wants to start piano lessons but I am not sure ready yet - hands are still or look small for the task and although smart, still lacks the ability to concentrate - any general views for an average ability child , typical age when starting lessons is not just a waste of time?

Sorry for typo! 'Best' age

I think 7, if a fairly competent reader.
As you say, they need to be physically big enough - hand span and height to be able to sit on the piano stool and be comfortable at the keys and also at reading the music. They also will need, relatively early on, to be reading 2 lines of music at once.

6 is the youngest I take. I ask for 10 minutes practice to start so not too bad in terms of concentration. And most will concentrate for 20 minutes in the actual lesson - we do several different activities so fast paced. I would make sure you find someone used to teaching young kids though.

Myself and both my children started at 8 and that seemed to be a good age.

My daughters both started piano at 7. I don’t think they would have had the patience to practice before then.

I can't resist-

Yes I'd say 7 at the earliest, but I'm always surprised by the number of child prodigies on Mumsnet!!

DD started at 6 and made steady (if not super rapid) progress for a couple of years and has had fun learning, and enjoyed the early theory. She was meant to be taking her prep test in the spring, but it was cancelled.

She is however, very tall and was a pretty competent reader by then too.

Thank you all! DC is tall and slightly ahead of target for reading but we are still working on concentration which sometimes does not go well with his strong will. I will see what teachers with young kids experience I can find!

We started in year 3 so he was 7.5

Within 2 months he was the same level as friends kids who started a year earlier but slogged through twinkle twinkle on one hand.

He’s not particularly musical just average.

I would say 7 is a good age to start, but don't be afraid to stop if they're not ready.

DD is mainly a singer and has been very focused on that from a very young age, but when we started her on piano at 7, it became clear quite quickly that she was getting stressed and upset at not being able to get it to do what she wanted. I gave it a term and then pulled her from lessons. She is dyslexic and was struggling a lot with reading anything at the time, so the two lines of music may have also freaked her completely.

Went back at 10 with a new teacher and she's flying - and practicing without being nagged (much) for 20 minutes a day. Was ready to sit the first grade in less than 2 terms and was actually enjoying playing.

You don't need to be a child prodigy and if they are not ready then better to wait and start later. DD is musical enough to win scholarships at secondary level, so it's not the case that if they take a bit longer to start that they don't have that.

My kids teacher used to teach them half a piece with both hands then the rest of the piece the following week - it seemed to work much better than learning one hand and then adding the other.

Both did grade exams but lost interest when they got older as they didn't like classical music. My daughter recently told me that doing a music exam was the most daunting thing she'd ever done in her life! I can sympathise with the mounting feeling of dread as I sat in the waiting room ]

I think that if you come from a family with a lot of musicians around and a parent who can help with practice in a fun, un-pressured, but consistent way, lots of kids are ready to start playing much younger than 7 and can enjoy and learn a great deal. In a family where the kids are gently encouraged but not supervised, 7 is probably a good age.

I also think the whole ABRSM exam system is a terrible, anti-musical idea. I wish it were not so popular in the UK.

I generally say year 2 (age 6-7) but have taken on a couple of enthusiastic year ones after a trial

Motivation is really important, I say let a child that wants to learn have a go. But agree you need a teacher that is comfortable with younger ones, who will have good ideas of what may work. What music is he exposed to that has contributed to wanting to learn? Keep listening to a range of good music, keep singing, have fun with rhythm games, all of these support music learning and go hand in hand with instrumental progress.

I think my youngest was six when we got him piano lessons but he'd also been singing and learning violin for a while by then...he'd proved his readiness for a second instrument by working with things we showed him ourselves.

@PurrBox

I also think the whole ABRSM exam system is a terrible, anti-musical idea. I wish it were not so popular in the UK.

You don’t have to do exams. Over half of my pupils don’t do exams. For those that do, I pick the exam board best suited to them whether that is RockSchool as they love pop music or Trinity or ABRSM.

Of course you don't have to do exams! Hardly any of the musicians I know did them. What I think is sad is the culture and mentality which they encourage and breed, and which is pervasive in the UK.

Still, that is not what this thread is about, and I am sorry to derail even a little bit.

I started lessons at 26. The little boy who had the lesson directly before me was 4. We both had associated board grade 2 exam on the same day. He sat in the waiting room flicking through his Thomas the tank comic not a care in the world while I paced and panicked. He ran into his exam and completely smashed it. I scraped a pass. I envied his complete love and lack of nerves. I think if you start them young enough it comes natural, they're little sponges.
So yeah to answer your question, I'm not sure what the ideal age is... but deffo younger than 26 😁

My dc started at 8. Progressed really fast. But we waited until he actually asked. Was ready to take grade 1 exam in about 6 months. Taken over the children who started earlier by parent's choice and hardly practiced.
If he wants to, I think that's the good time to start.