When should children begin music lesssons?

Psychology defines a newborn as a baby younger than 28 days old, a toddler as a baby from 1-2 years old. Childhood is the preschool-age stage, then children enter the adolescent stage (about 14 – 16 years old). So, the word “children” indicates those from newborn to adolescent stage.

Music education is aimed at teaching and learning artistic skills and techniques to satisfy aesthetic needs. It starts when a child is born. When a fetus reaches 4 months old, it can hear the sound outside the mother’s womb. It should be when music education starts its role. Music education in this period is called Prenatal Education.

The next critical stage of music education coincides with the process of children’s language acquisition. In this extremely important stage, children explicitly express their demand and desires through imitating others, showing their joy, anger, etc. via their behavior, language, gestures, eyes, etc. In fact, each child is a unique individual. There are even certain differences in twins. Therefore, before application of any teaching methods, it’s necessary to have careful observation of expressions and subtle changes in each child. According to I-Ching, pre-7-year-old children are of the “tiên thiên” stage, corresponding to “Mông” hexagram, meaning being ignorant. It’s when children still keep inborn nature, or “Many a good father has but a bad son” as the saying goes. The inborn nature of children defines one child from the others, and educators should be based on it to apply suitable methods. In other words, instead of using a single method for every child, we need to observe them closely to put appropriate methods into use.

It’s noteworthy that it’s children’s relatives – untrained educators – who play the role of educating them in their early life. Before undertaking this work, these adults should get prepared in terms of knowledge and skills. In many countries, parents attend music courses with their children, which helps establish their role in furthering music education via music-related activities at home. Keep in mind that this is just a preparation stage for children to learn and absorb music lessons in a serious manner. After music courses, adults could realize the necessity and importance of creating a music-filled atmosphere for children, say, having direct impacts on children’s physical and spiritual development.

In short, children can learn music at the early stage. The period of language absorption, from 12 to 26 months old, is an ideal time for both language and music education. Before taking children to music courses, their families should take an active part in exposing them to music through lullabies, games with involvement of music such as imitating sounds, singing in a funny way, saying words with repeated syllables, etc.

Playing music periodically is a way to create an atmosphere filled with music in families. Yet, the kinds of music to be played should be well chosen to suit children’s age. As I mentioned before, the problem in this stage lies in the fact that parents and relatives take on the role of bringing children closer to music. Music education for children begins after this stage. This is a preparatory stage for a long-lasting process. If the preparation is not good enough, the children will suffer disadvantages.

Music is like an emotional bond that connects children with their beloved ones and the world around them. Singing is a way for children carers to communicate and interact with children. It is no accident that music appeared even before the modern life started. Music has its presence in every culture and represents each nations and culture. Lullabies are what found in the music of all cultures. They are the very first music lessons in very child’s life, but then forgotten. Beside lullabies, children’s folk songs are also aesthetic lessons that go hand in hand with playing skills. They stimulate and train children’s adaptability, imagination, memory, logical thinking, and creativity.

Nowadays, when the early music lessons are getting lost in many cultures, it’s necessary to replace them with other forms of music that will inherit the role of supporting children in playing, absorbing language, exploring the world, training memory, improving their expressions, sound and gesture imitation, etc. through music. Child carers must get involved in children’s music practice and make use of audio-visual equipment, music player, etc. to serve this. Each kind of music playing equipment has its own pros and cons, so users are supposed to pick the suitable one and adjust the volume and duration properly. Keep in mind that aesthetic education is different from pure music entertainment. Putting music on for entertainment just depends on listeners’ interests or demands. Differently, playing music to create an educational environment must aim towards a wide range of target listeners and in fact, it takes much effort. In this work, the most importance is the sense of responsibility, knowledge, and actions of adults in orienting children and preparing them for the future from today