Prime Your Child to Love Their Music Lessons

We are all born with different predispositions toward certain things. Musical skill is no different. Whichever side of the nature vs nurture debate you’re on, experience has taught me that you as a parent can do a lot to influence your children to predispose them to discover, on their own, a passion and fascination for music.

It’s never too late to implement the following strategies. Even if your child has already begun music lessons you can still influence how they perceive the value of music and their inclination to practice it on their own. You might even get through to your rebellious pre-teens and teens.

Below, I will share tips and some personal experiences that drew me to appreciate music. The more I speak with my professional music colleagues the more I find that these experiences are quite universal Help your child love and look forward to developing musical skill and exploring their musical expression

Play Music On The Home Stereo

My mother would often BLAST her favorite music while she was doing housework. She would sometimes sing along and/or dance for a moment, then continue doing what she was doing. As a result, I learned early on that musical expression was a normal and joyous occasion. In retrospect, this is probably a major factor in my appreciation for a great variety of music early in my life.

My father had a large collection of cassettes and CDs to which he gave me access after teaching me how to use our boombox. I remember touching the speaker cones to muffle the sound a bit, pushing all the buttons, fiddling with EQ faders and trying all the settings (bass boost, echo, surround sound etc) to make the boombox sound different. The experimentation taught me to listen and develop an ear for subtle changes in sound, much like a musician has to do.

Every single one of my musician colleagues has corroborated this story. They were exposed to recorded music often as children through their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors. This one seemingly trivial tip can really make a huge difference.

Live Concerts

In my early childhood I was UTTERLY FASCINATED by orchestra performances and ballet clips on PBS. I was completely bewildered watching the closeups of individual members playing their instruments. I became very familiar with the most popular orchestral repertoire. I developed a fascination for orchestral music, and a respect for instrumental skill. My family never went to see live music, but I sought it out on Youtube. I highly recommend encouraging your kids to watch live music. Youtube is a convenient way to expose your kids to live music. You can handle your adult house duties as your kids watch musical performances in the safety of your home. You may have to watch with them initially. But if you show them that you find it interesting, then there is a higher likelihood they will too. You can easily find programming intended to engage with young children - such as Raffi, and The Wiggles.

If you have the time, treat your young child to an actual live children’s concert. Nothing compares to the feeling of being in a crowd with other kids singing and dancing along with music they love.

Children Imitate

Children imitate their parents. Be a good role model. Howard Klein, M.D., director of behavioral pediatrics at Sinai Hospital, in Baltimore says,

Parents of toddlers are under constant observation. During this critical developmental period, it's important to model your best behavior.

If you demonstrate a high value and appreciation toward music, then you can expect your child to develop a similar sensibility.

Something that I have seen that is tremendously effective is when kids find out a friend is taking music lessons. Children love to be like their friends. This is how many of my new students find their way into music lessons with me; A current student of mine shares their musical skill at school one day, their friend thinks it’s so cool then they want to try it.

A study by Rachel Watson-Jones, a postdoctoral researcher in the psychology department at the University of Texas at Austin, showed that, “When kids feel left out, they copy the behavior of others around them in order to appear more like them… a child will imitate the behavior of others to appear as though they are part of that group.”

I remember some older kids at school who played guitar and drums and thinking how cool they were! I would listen to them talk about their practicing and the different bands they liked. I went home and quickly learned everything I could about the bands they mentioned so I could fit in with them. They definitely influenced me to want to learn an instrument.

If you have a relative or neighbor that plays an instrument, try to expose your child to them performing or practicing as much as possible. By doing so, your child will have first hand experience of the fruits of music practice, and the joy of experiencing live music up close.

Non Musical Parents

If you do not play an instrument then you can encourage musical participation by having them join you in singing and dancing. Ask them about the song, what they think of the lyrics, does the music sound dancey, mopey, angry, etc. This will help them develop a vocabulary for describing music.

Teach them the chorus of a song they like. Sing along in car rides, ask them questions about the music. And don’t forget to praise them for remembering lyrics, singing the melody, or drumming along to a song. There is a good chance that their “playing along with the music” will be out of tune or out of time. Refrain from instantly correcting them. Instead, focus on correcting ONE thing: where the beat is, a correct lyric, or how to listen for and match a pitch.

For older kids and teenagers, you can engage them with music on a deeper level by asking them about their favorite musical artists and sharing some music that you loved as a kid. On my trips to visit family, I often asked my aunts, uncles and grandparents, about their musical tastes. I loved listening to the music they loved, and listening to the memories triggered by the music.

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Conclusion

The main takeaway is to expose your child to music in as many ways as possible; recorded music while doing chores, experimentation with musical toys, access to music playing devices, talking about music, and giving them opportunities to live music and musicians. The earlier in your child’s life you can do that, the more they will be inclined to learn an instrument on their own.

What do you think about these strategies? Do you have some of your own to prime your kids to love music? Share in the comments or email me! If you found this information helpful please click the heart down on the bottom right and share with other parents who might appreciate it!