What Is the "Right Age" to Start Lessons?

I get asked this question from time to time, and though there isn’t a universal “right” answer, there are some general things to keep in mind.  Here are my thoughts:

Some teachers, such as those who use the Suzuki method, will teach very young students – even three-year-olds.  If you want your very young child to start music lessons, I would recommend you look for some type of group instruction such as Kindermusik or something similar.  At about three years old kids have the maturity to participate in group activities, and this is a great introduction to music in general (not specific to violin).

Maturity rather than age
For private violin lessons, however, students need the maturity for individual instruction.  This includes being able to:

• Spend a half hour with an adult who is not the parent
• Focus on a task for a significant part of that half hour
• Persevere through learning a new and complex physical skill without getting frustrated or distracted (much)

The age at which kids reach this level of maturity varies, of course.  I have successfully taught a student as young as six, who was still somewhat distractible but listened well and practiced a lot on her own.  I have also discontinued lessons with an eight-year-old who couldn’t stay focused and never practiced.  I started violin at seven after taking piano lessons with my dad for a few years.  No doubt the first couple years of my “piano lessons” were short and tucked into convenient pockets of the day when I was calm and not hungry, tired, or itching to go outside and play.  Private teachers don’t have the luxury of timing instruction perfectly like my dad did!
 
Things to look for
How do you know if it’s time to start violin lessons?  Besides maturity, look for these signs:

• She has been talking about it for a while; it is starting to feel like an idea that is not going away!
• You have taken him to a public performance and it held his interest.
• She has an older friend, relative, or celebrity she admires who plays violin, and she’d like to try it too.
• He likes music, is stirred emotionally when he hears it, and goes around singing tunes and/or trying to plunk out the melody on the piano (or another instrument) by ear.

 
School orchestra instruction:  a caution
Because the majority of kids are mature enough for violin lessons at nine years old, public schools used to start orchestra in the fourth grade.  Some still do, though many more start later due to funding issues.  But very few start earlier.

It is extremely important at this point to get the student into private lessons in addition to orchestra class.  Group instruction is rarely enough to teach violin well!  This is a highly complex skill that relies on the formation of very specific physical habits.  A good foundation sets up a student to progress quickly and play well, and a faulty or incomplete foundation sets up a student for physical strain and inferior musical ability...and a lot of discouragement!

The group is no help:  looking around at your peers to learn by imitation is basically the blind leading the blind.  The student needs to be able to ask specific questions of an experienced teacher and receive immediate feedback for what they are and are not doing right.  Add to this the fact that many orchestra teachers are not violinists.  (Their main instrument might be cello…or trombone...or piano…)  They might have had a semester of beginning violin during college (probably in a group!) in order to learn the basics and complete their music education degree.

I have had several students come to me after struggling through several months of school orchestra class and giving up.  We automatically started at the very beginning and worked hard to undo very bad habits that were formed in group violin class.  It does work, so if you are in this situation, try again with a private teacher.
 
And a bit of neurology
Each time you do something, a neural pathway is created in your brain.  Each time you do the same thing the same way, the pathway gets stronger.  Eventually, every time you approach doing that same thing, you automatically slip into the groove you have created.  If this is a good groove, you become consistently good.  If you have been practicing a mistake, though, doing the same bad thing over and over, you have a rut of a bad habit to try to get out of.  It takes a lot of time before you can approach that behavior without slipping back into the rut.
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Playing the violin is very physical and very, very nuanced.  Even something as seemingly minor as curving the pinky of the right hand can have a huge impact on how beautiful your tone is, how fast you can play, and how many decades you can keep playing without pain.  And there are dozens of “little” things just like this every violinist needs to learn.  So, find yourself a good teacher in the beginning who will set you up right!​​​