Dear Friends
My son is 4.5 years old. My wife is very interested in sending him to musical class.
Can I know what will be the exact age in which a children can be sent for musical classes and is there any general age criteria fixed by our elders.
Regards.
Natesan
Dear Sir,
I am only formally trained in western music and not Carnatic music but enjoy singing something I picked up since childhood singing bhajans since the age of 8.
I just want to let you know something, at the age of 4.5 a childs attention span can be quite short and a fully formal class can be boring and a childs interest might not develop.
At this age music is best introduced as a play session.
Get a simple music instrument eg a child keyboard and let him play on it to discover music on his own.
Better a choose a teacher who has a seperate class for kids less than 6 years instead of one who teaches all ages togather.
Better choose a teacher who concentrates on developing music instead of preparing children for exams.
I remember my piano teacher used to focus more on exams and that really took away the beauty of music.
Play songs at home simple carnatic ones with catchy tunes eg western notes one have catchy tunes eg
Vara leela gana lola, Sarasa nethra by Thiagarajan are very catchy and may capture a childs interest.
Also sing to your child.Sing bhajans at night as a lullaby(I used to do that when my child was a baby).
I still sing to him now. He is 9 years and enjoys his Carnatic music vocal classes and also his piano classes.
Let children listen on & off to film songs too( no harm) to instill creativity and variety.
One more important point I want to stress on is
do not compare and contrast childrens ability and capability.
Asians excel in comparing and contrasting their childrens ability.
Let children develop their talent on their own.
Children are like flowers which will bloom when environment is condusive.
Too much water and sunshine will just fade a flower.
Age is not really a major criteria.
You know Prince Rama Varma of Royal Family Kerala started learning Carnatic Music only as a teenager and you should listen to his concert songs. He is really great.