Teaching kids music

[jangoux]

Anyone here has taught music to kids? I mean, music introduction, showing instruments, that kind of thing. I was talking to a music teacher on the school/studio i work on and he said he does advise to give kids music classes before the age of 6, mainly due to the lack of attention they have before this age.

Anyone knows anything about that? Is it possible to teach music (even as a form of kids' play) to kids when very young (3 to 4yo) ?

Ivan

 

[CAlexanderParra]

Of course. If Mozart could learn how to compose by the age of 5 I'm sure any kid around that age can easily start learning music.

 

[insideac]

I've been giving lessons for over 4 years now, ages from 3-84, and I can safely say that yes, it is possible to teach really young kids, but don't expect anything until they get older. Avoid absolutely all theory, dont even bother with EADGBE, and all that. What instrument are you thinking of teaching to little kids? Guitar is horrible because you need a special sized guitar, they need to coordinate two hands since the very beginning, and you will overall be extremely frustrated. There was a parent who wanted me to teach their 5 yo kid guitar, and after me telling them that it was a bad idea, they wanted me to try anyways, so I did. Fast forward 6 months later, and Im hundreds of dollars richer, and the kid has nothing to show for those 6 months so I dropped him.

Piano is alot better, because you can play easy simple 1 finger tunes, then 2 finger tunes, then one hand tunes, and just progress from there. I have an 8 year old student who can play Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C minor, and his 7 year old brother struggles on the SIMPLIFIED Ave Maria, though they've been playing the same amount of time. It all depends on the kid's aptitude towards music really, but your teaching methods work wonders as well.


TLDR; Yes, you can teach students music, especially piano, at a very young age. Just keep it simple and avoid any and all theory.

 

[Bekanor]

I teach 2 12 year olds and an 11 year old currently.

The 11 year old will be lucky to be coming for another 2 months, I can't get him to focus and he constantly tries to change the subject whenever I'm getting him to actually play something instead of just singing the chorus from some ACDC song and attacking the strings and making noise. He has 'til the end of the year to show some improvement or I'm dropping him.

One of the 12 year olds always has the same excuse as to why he hasn't practised since the last lesson and despite asking me to teach him all these songs he's heard on guitar hero, digs his heels in when things get any harder play than they are on guitar hero (see: all the fucking time), he refuses to use a pick and wonders why it's so hard to play certain things. I'd give him the shape up or ship out speech but he's already been reduced to tears once before and that was severely awkward (I didn't yell at him or anything, he wanted to learn thunderstruck and got a bit too upset when he realised that it was a bit too hard for him, even though I said "That might be a bit hard for you yet, let's get the basics down first").

And my other student is my fucking hero. He practises and listens and genuinely loves music and playing guitar, he makes me so happy I could hug him if there wasn't a whole world of litigation waiting to ruin my life for doing so. Last week we were doing Walk This Way and Iron Man, he wasn't too bad with Iron Man and struggled a little bit stretching in the chorus part of Walk This Way (I showed him an easier, non-stretching way of doing it but he practised the stretching way anyway, what a little champ!) and this week he had really really improved, it made my week.

That's my experience teaching guitar, it can be incredibly frustrating and incredibly satisfying at the same time. There is also an incredibly high attrition rate, so be aware of that.

 

[26]

They can be taught a little if it's weekly lessons or something. The main qualities of the teacher should be education/pedagogy, though.
If music is an active part of their family's life then it's another story.

And yes, learning guitar for kids under 11 is torture for teacher and student. (doesn't matter what kind of parents trying to convince me, I stay away from that, these days).

EDIT:
I just noticed you have two different questions...
Can music lessons do something against their lack of attention?: Yes
Will they learn something about music? = nothing worth to mention, IMO.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Of course. If Mozart could learn how to compose by the age of 5 I'm sure any kid around that age can easily start learning music.

Given that Mozart at the age of 5 was infinitely more talented than most musicians who have been playing for like, 50 years , I don't think that means all that much