Some kids are born with raw musical talents and abilities. However, for most children, it requires a lot of practice, time, and commitment. If you want to raise musical kids, you’ll want to be strategic in your approach.
What follows are several tips, strategies, and opportunities for raising more musical children.
1. Put Instruments in Front of Your Child
Do your best to put musical instruments in front of your children from a young age. Toddlers are naturally curious about anything that’s in front of them. If you place child-safe instruments and musical toys within reach, they’ll be naturally drawn to them. The sounds, notes, and tones that these instruments produce will grab their attention, spark curiosity, and fill their senses.
When it comes to musical instruments and toys for young children, start simple. Things like shakers, tambourines, bongos, and battery-powered keyboards are a great place to start. Don’t spend a lot of money on nice instruments – kids will be kids.
By purchasing inexpensive “toy versions,” you’ll never feel stressed or worried about protecting the instruments, which can create negative feedback loops for children who are simply interested in exploring.
2. Listen to Music Regularly
Chances are, you love listening to music. As a parent, the best thing you can do is listen to music around your kids. Make music the soundtrack of your home. Don’t pop in your earbuds and slip away into your own world – put it on your home’s sound system and invite your kids into this world with you.
Put on the music that you love, but don’t limit things to only one genre or a select list of artists and bands. Try exposing your kids to a variety of styles, from classical music and jazz to rock and country. They’ll develop a good ear for music when different styles are put in front of them.
Seize any opportunity to go listen to live music with your children. While loud concert venues or bars probably aren’t the place for young kids, there are plenty of other places you can go. Keep an eye out for summer concert series taking place in local parks. Events like this are usually relaxed, fun, and family-friendly.
3. Sign Kids Up for Music Lessons
At some point, you can sign kids up for music lessons and give them a little more structure and guidance. The question is, at what age are lessons appropriate?
“For the first four or five years of your child’s life, I don’t recommend focusing at all on formal music instruction,” musician Neil Moore writes for RollingStone. “It’s becoming more and more clear that, for many children, teens and adults, our traditional ‘reading-based’ approach can often stifle natural music abilities rather than foster them.”
Many children become ready for music lessons around the age of six or seven. However, if you’re going to sign your child up for music lessons at such a young age, make sure you choose the right instructor.
Private music lessons can be hit or miss – it’s all about the instructor. Groups like Meyer Music have some of the top instructors and are able to help students learn and master dozens of instruments.
As you consider lessons, let your child pick the instrument he or she is most interested in. And don’t be dismayed if they take six months of guitar lessons and then want to shift to piano (or drums, etc.). At this point, the goal is to make music fun. Nobody benefits from sticking with an instrument they don’t enjoy playing.
4. Choose the Right Schools
Private lessons give your child a head start. However, you’ll also want to get your child involved in school music programs. As you think about different schooling options – whether private or public – pay close attention to their music programs, directors, and fine arts opportunities.
Impart a Love of Music
To a certain degree, musical ability is something you’re either born with or you’re not. You can’t coax a child into being the next Mozart or Michael Jackson. You can, however, raise children with an appreciation for music. (You can also help them take full advantage of whatever musical abilities they do have.)
Hopefully, this article has provided you with useful insights into how to raise more musical children. Apply it to your own parenting approach and good things will happen!
