How to Know When To Start Piano Lessons
What Is The Best Age to Start Piano?
How young is too young to start learning piano? What is the best age for a child to start music lessons? All parents who are interested in their child receiving a well-rounded education will ask themselves these questions. After teaching piano for over 40 years, I have found great metrics to help parents decide when to put their child in music lessons. If you start a child too young in piano, they might get burnt out by the challenge of learning an instrument.
On the other hand, if you start well past their ability to begin learning, they may be behind where they could have been with more time. That being said, anyone can learn piano at any age, and the methods that I have fine-tuned over the years have proven to help anyone learn to play with confidence and competence. If you feel your child is well beyond these requirements to start music lessons, don’t worry about starting too late. Frequently, older children who are willing to put in the work and practice can overcome the experience gaps with their peers who started at a younger age than them.
Signs A Child is Ready to Start Piano
The first developmental sign that I ask parents of potential students is: Can your child recognize several short words to form sentences? This shows that the potential student will comprehend my easy-to-grasp method for reading music from day one of piano lessons.
The second sign that I recommend that parents look for is the child’s maturity. Can your child sit and practice the piano? I challenge my students to practice at least 100 minutes per week, but let’s be honest, that doesn’t always happen. Even so, can your child stay focused and sit through a piano lesson while remaining on task? Can they sit at your piano at home and practice for 20 minutes each day? If not, it might be too soon to begin, but that is okay, they will get there someday.
The third and final sign that your child is ready to learn piano is an interest and desire to play the piano. This sign may be overrated to some, but the children who have a genuine interest in learning how to play piano are those who are best at practicing and therefore learning and progressing.
How to Start Piano Lessons
If you can say that your child can at least…
- recognize several short words to form a sentence
- sit and practice for 20 minutes each day
- have a desire to learn how to play the piano
Get Started Teaching
If you or someone you know could use the life experiences that teaching piano can provide, you need to see my How to Teach Piano Course.
