Music School, Piano
What Age Is Best To Start Piano Lessons?
Playing the piano is a skill many parents in Singapore aspire to equip their children with. However, when deciding to send your child for piano lessons Singapore, it can be difficult to decide the right age to get your child started on piano.
First of all, let’s look at some of the many benefits of learning the piano.
Benefits of Playing The Piano
Split Concentration
When playing the piano, we are required to use both hands to play different keys on the piano while reading the piano score and working the pedals. Clearly, a lot of concentration is required to do so many tasks at the same time.
Learning the piano will train your brain to develop better split concentration. This will improve one’s multitasking ability.
Stress Relief
Playing the piano involves making music. This can reduce anxiety and more importantly, it can be as a form of self-expression. It has been proven that playing the piano can improve your mood and lower your blood pressure.
Physical Benefits
Learning to play the piano has various physical and psychological benefits. It can help to sharpen fine motor skills, improve hand-eye coordination and dexterity. These skills are beneficial in other aspects of life such as playing sports.
Better Exam Scores
It has been proven that playing the piano helps to improve concentration skills. In recent years, with so much hustle and bustle around us, being able to focus and concentrate is harder to achieve than ever. As such, learning to play the piano can help students to improve their ability to focus and retain information learnt in school.
How To Know When Your Child Is Ready To Learn The Piano
Basic Motor Skills
Playing the piano requires finger independence. This means that they should be able to move one finger without moving the others. Additionally, your child’s hands need to be large enough to put their fingers on 5 adjacent white keys. Their hands should feel comfortable when playing.
Ability To Count To Four
Rhythm and tempo is an important fundamental knowledge to grasp when learning the piano. Timing is an important concept that is required when learning music. Your child should be able to count to at least four in order to follow the rhythm and tempo of the song.
Interest To Learn
The most important thing in knowing that your child is ready to learn the piano is their interest to learn. Students who are interested and motivated are likely to make faster progress when learning. Furthermore, learning the piano will inevitable include having to practise daily. With an interest, consistent practice will not be an issue.
If your child enjoys music, is excited to learn new songs and shows interest in the piano, they are likely ready to start.
Best Age For Children To Start Learning The Piano
Given the aforementioned criteria to gauge whether your child is ready to start piano lessons, children often meet the criteria at the age of 6-9 years old. During this age, children have experienced being in a learning environment at kindergarten. Furthermore, their brains are able to pick up languages and make new connections at an amazing rate.
Younger children at this age generally have more time available to commit to practicing the piano. In contrast, older children and adults are likely to have more commitments and are more occupied by other interests. It might thus be difficult for them to find 15-30 minutes every day to practice.
Having little to no time to practice can hamper their learning progress and cause them to feel demoralised.
While the ideal age is generally 6-9 years old, this does not mean that younger kids cannot pick up the piano. It highly depends on the child’s ability. From our experience on piano lessons for kids, some children as young as 3 years old can be ready.
Is It Too Late To Start Learning The Piano?
It is never too late to start learning the piano. The most important factor to consider when learning the piano is your interest and commitment to learn it. While children 6-9 years old are said to learn the piano best because of their brains ability to learn new things at that age, anyone of any age can pick up the piano.
While our brains flexibility gets lesser as we grow older, our discipline, endurance and willpower is likely to be better. As long as one has an interest and is keen on making progress, he or she will be able to accomplish quite a bit in a short time.
Adult Beginners
Teenagers and adults who have no prior music training should not be discouraged from trying to pick up the piano. People can learn the piano for many reasons, not just to become professional pianists. Regardless of when you start, learning the piano or any musical instrument can be an enjoyable process.
As mentioned earlier, the most important aspect when picking up the piano is your interest in the musical instrument and your motivation to achieve your music goal. All the mental, physical and emotional benefits can still be enjoyed when your learn piano as an older person.
Some learnt how to play the piano in their 60s, 70s and even 80s! It is never too late to learn any skill.
Learning the piano as a teenager or adult can be a refreshing experience. As we get older, we are used to being good at things, we can cycle, walk, swim and speak fluently. As such, it might feel awkward to be unable to play the piano when just starting out. In contrast, kids are at the stage where they are getting to use to learning a lot of different basic skills at once.
If you’re a teenager or adult beginner, it is easy to get frustrated but be patient with yourself and don’t give up. It is important to remember that you are learning the piano because you want to, so enjoy the process.
Finally, make time to practice the piano as it will make a big difference in how fast you progress.
Pick Up the Piano With Harmony & Pitch
Harmony & Pitch is a offers piano lessons in Singapore. Our piano lessons are suitable for students of all ages and music ability. We will help you develop the relevant skills such as rhythm and technique and aural skills that will help you play the piano well. Enjoy your musical journey!
