Get Your Child Excited About Studying Music

BY DOUG HANVEY

Our guest blogger, Doug Hanvey, is the founder of Creative Keyboardist.

One of the unique joys of being human – and one that every child should experience – is the joy of making music. For a child, making music can be as simple as banging on a drum, or as rigorous as taking private piano lessons for years to become highly-skilled on an instrument.

Beyond the simple expressive joy of making music, there are many well-documented benefits of the formal study of music. These include improvements in intelligence and study skills, and the development of patience and self-discipline.

If you think you’d like your child to formally study music sooner or later, but aren’t sure they’re ready or even interested, try the following strategies.

Make It Fun

There’s nothing children like more than to have fun. Perhaps the best way to increase a child’s excitement for music study is to associate music with fun. 

Dancing to music with your young child is an easy way to simultaneously expose them to a range of musical genres while teaching them that music can be a fun movement-oriented experience. While dancing to contemporary pop music is the most obvious choice, consider exposing them to rhythmic music from a range of genres like world music or even rhythmically-propulsive classical music. For the latter, try dancing to a selection from Tchaikovsky’s ballets Swan Lake or Nutcracker Suite, the Habanera from Bizet’s opera Carmen, or a waltz by Johann Strauss, Jr.

If you’re a lover of classical music, you might occasionally find yourself conducting along to music as you listen. This is also an excellent way to expose your child to the fun of music. Try showing them a video of a favorite orchestral piece that focuses on the conductor, perhaps an especially expressive one like Leonard Bernstein, and suggest they imitate him. They’ll probably be more inclined to conduct to music they particularly enjoy, so helping them discover pieces they naturally love by exposing them to a diversity of music is a good way to begin.

Make It Social

While making music can be a solitary experience, especially on an instrument like the piano, the average child will probably be more enthusiastic at first when they realize that music is an opportunity to be social. While your child may eventually start dancing or conducting to music on their own, doing it with them at first allows them to experience this social component of music-making.

Young children in particular are likely to enjoy the social experience of being musical with their peers. This can be accomplished by purchasing inexpensive and simple instruments such as a drum or tambourine and showing them how to make music with a friend.

Another good but more intensive option is to register your child for a group music class. Most such classes focus on the social and fun components of music-making.

Make It Expressive

Music is naturally expressive and can become a healthy and enjoyable outlet for a child’s emotions. 

The most elemental way to express oneself musically is by singing. Even if you don’t think you have a good voice, or doubt you can sing in tune, remember that a young child won’t judge you for any of your perceived musical limitations (though your teenager might!). Choose simple folk songs and sing along with your child. If you’re particularly creative and adventurous, you could even try a creative activity (see below) such as making up a simple song together.

Make It Creative

Children are naturally creative, although adults can easily forget this fact, particularly if their own creativity wasn’t encouraged when they were young. Nevertheless, associating music-making with creativity is one of the best ways to excite your child about music. 

One of the best and easiest ways to be creative with music is improvising – spontaneously making up music. This can be done by making up a simple or even silly song as described above, or by creating simple rhythm patterns on a pair of drums, or by looking online for simple music improvisation games.

Make It Elective

There are too many adults in the world who have lost interest in making music because they were forced to take music lessons when young, or were required to study an instrument they didn’t like. 

Not every child is equally oriented towards music. Even if a child demonstrates genuine interest in making music, they’re likely to have certain preferences. Probably the most important aspect of this is the choice of an instrument. Making music should be elective, not compulsory, and children should have a say in the instrument(s) they play. Which instrument may not be obvious at first, but it’s useful to remember that even if you start your child on piano lessons, if their enthusiasm begins to lag for no obvious reason, rather than letting them give up on music, try switching them to a different instrument or adding a second instrument to see if they like it more. 

By exposing your child to the joy of music-making from an early age through activities that are fun, social, expressive, creative, and elective, you’ll set a strong foundation for naturally-musical children (which describes most if not all children) to grow towards a more formal and structured music education.