Marin Mommies is pleased to present a guest article by Marianne Lipanovich from the new Kids & Families section of the San Francisco Classical Voice, the Bay Area's go-to website for classical music news and information. Read more about SFCV's new Kids & Families section here.
What is the ideal age for a child to start learning an instrument? The answer is: it depends.
No matter what the instrument your child needs to be mature enough to be able to focus on formal learning—the age of reason, so to speak—even if it’s just for a relatively short period of time. For piano and string instruments, the general consensus seems to be that you can start formal lessons around age five, or even earlier, in a Suzuki program, although some teachers would still wait until age eight or the third grade. For other instruments, waiting a bit longer will actually give your child a better chance of success. The A music school, for example, doesn’t start students on guitar, bass guitar, or drums until they’re age eight, and many teachers recommend waiting until ages nine, ten, or eleven to start lessons on other instruments. According to Dianna Gomez, who is band director at Presidio Middle School and has taught at lower levels, fourth graders have an eighty percent chance of failure. She finds that fifth graders, on the other hand, have about an eighty percent chance of success.
The Marin Music Chest has launched its annual scholarship audition program in its ongoing effort to provide financial support to Marin County students studying classical music. Students studying wind and string instruments, piano, and voice are encouraged to apply, and all scholarship applicants must be residents of Marin County for a minimum of two years and have at least two years of music study prior to the audition.
