How to help children prepare for learning an instrument
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and everything” (Plato)
A lot of parents wonder and ask what the perfect age would be for their child to start an instrument. Beyond that question, and before even starting to play an instrument, I think that engaging children, whatever their age, in a musical environment, will help them develop a lifetime love for music. The more you do it, the more you increase their aptitudes to learn faster and make music fill naturally their lives!
In his study, “A music learning theory for Newborn and Young children” Music educator Professor Edwin E. Gordon emphasises the similarities between the learning of a language and music. In the same way a toddler would listen to sounds he hears and repeat back before starting to speak and later read and write a language, a child who has learnt to listen and enjoy music from a young age will have intuitively learnt musical skills in such a way.
Here are a few ways I’d suggest, to surround them with music and make them curious to learn more :
Listen to a broad range of music at home
We notice ourselves how music can affect children’s, teenagers’ mood as well as our own, depending on the music we listen to. Some musical tunes make us feel calm and relaxed, others are comforting, nostalgic or exciting and joyful.
At home, share with them the music you love, as your own tastes of music will inspire them. It is key, I think, to make them listen to all styles of music (from pop, to jazz, classical, blues, religious, rock & roll or country music), in different languages, and let them feel the swing and feelings expressed through the lyrics, the different rhythmic patterns and the melody.
For future piano and any orchestral instrument player, taking some time to explore some beautiful tunes in classical music remains quite important as there’s such an incredible and huge amount of amazing repertoire to discover.
We may think that children would naturally prefer other types of music than classical and mainly share with them beloved and joyful nursery rhymes, musicals or pop songs. However, it is quite surprising to notice that many popular classical tunes are adored by children - I see them often come up at lessons, with suggestions of classical pieces they’d wish to learn.
Here is a list below of classical works that you could play out to them, that could appeal to their imagination, sense of humour, or even their appetite for adventure!
A great way also to make them discover some of the big composers: Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, Chopin and also Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Bach, Prokofiev …
‘A little night music’ by Mozart
‘The fun ‘Flight of the bumble bee’ by Rimsky Korsakov
Stories like ‘Peter and the wolf’ by Tchaikovsky, The Papageno song in “The enchanted flute” by Mozart, or “The carnival of the animals” by Saint-Saëns
Popular tunes like ‘Für Elise’ by Beethoven, Mozart’s ‘Alla Turca’, ‘Salut d’Amour’ by Elgar, Schubert’s Gb Impromptu, Beethoven 5th Symphony, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, ’The Nutcracker’ by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’, Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata, Johannes Sebastian’s Bach’s 1st Prelude in C Major, Handel’s ‘Alleluia’’s chorus, Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’, the famous ‘Funiculì, Funiculà’ sang by Luciano Pavarotti composed by Luigi Denza or any of Chopin’s nocturnes or waltzes (like the Bb Major nocturne or C# minor waltz ...)
In Classic jazz, Scott Joplin’s ‘The entertainer’, ‘maple leaf rag’
And so much more…
Put music into your hobbies and free time
If you wish your children to love music, what more natural way than to include musical activities into your leisure time?
During your weekends or holidays, bring your children to classical concerts, musical theatres and ‘Come-and-Sing’ choir concerts.
At home, or on holidays, play some musical games with them. There are quite a few board games and card games that are entertaining while being great playful ways of learning - and are actually enjoyable for grown-ups as well ! :-)
Listening to friends and family members performing in small informal gatherings, at home, or at school is also a great way of transmitting the love of sharing music with others.
In Big cities, local conservatoires organise a wide range of musical workshops for children. In London for example, you would find some family friendly musical concerts in the Royal college of music, the Royal Albert hall, the Royal Academy of music, Barbican or Wigmore Hall. For very young children, organisations such as Monkey Music and Gymboree offer locally lovely musical sessions for pre-schoolers. In Paris, as well, the Philharmonie de Paris among others, organises a wonderful range of educational workshops for families, young teenagers and children. In Brussels and Liège, many organisations such as Palais des Beaux-Arts, Flagey, Oprl (Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège) offer a wide range of choices of children-oriented musical activities. Berlin offers countless of possibilities as well, starting by the family events organised by the Berliner Philharmoniker…
Develop their singing voice and rhythmic skills
Even though children under 5 are generally a bit young to start learning an instrument and formally sitting through a music lesson, these young ages remain crucial, as discussed earlier, to develop a sense of familiarity with the musical language. On top of that, there are some musical tools they can already use as toddlers: their voice and body movements.
Professor E.E Gordon, in his study, then introduces the term “audiation”.
Acculturation with music, he explains, starts very young, and plays an essential part in a child’s future musical aptitudes. From their birth to eighteen months, children immersed in a musical environment will build the first layers of what later will enable them to “audiate” music. Audiation is to music, adds Professor Gordon, what thinking is to language and an essential skill to acquire, in order to learn and express oneself efficiently through music.
Very young children, before they start playing an instrument, and when plunged in a musical environment, go therefore through a phase of “preparatory audiation” that is based on 3 main components: listening, singing, and rhythm chanting.
Singing therefore, is an essential skill for musicians and as Gordon adds in his study, singing with “tone quality” is all the more essential. Children then can become familiar with melody and changes in pitch. On top of that, developing a strong sense of rhythm is also key to understand and interpret music.
The more children can develop those rhythmic and singing skills, by joining dancing classes and listening to and joining children’s choirs, the easier they will later be able to properly audiate the music they hear or play.
When later they will learn a piece and shape out its melody, being first able to sing out loud the tune and clap the rhythm, will enable them to feel the music internally, as if they were talking to themselves. The human voice being the easiest instrument to shape a musical line melodically, it will thus help them to bring the music to life on their instrument and to render it at its best, with the right expression.
To sum it all up?
Children love learning music they know or that sounds like music they have already heard. So, if you broaden their initial knowledge and plunge them into a musical environment and the more varied the music and musical patterns they discover, the more curious they will become ; And then, the easier they will project themselves in any new music they hear and be eager to express themselves through different kinds and styles of music.
The musical world has infinite wonders to offer, and helping your child to discover and enjoy it will help their relationship with music to thrive all the more.
They’ll then understand more thoroughly the musical world and discover the joy of expressing themselves through music and sharing it with others!
Sources:
‘A music learning theory for Newborn and Young children’ by Professor E.E Gordon
