Are ages 4 and 6 too young for voice lessons?
I’m mommy to Emma & Audrey’, who are 6 & 4 yrs old. They are taking private voice lessons together for 30 minutes a week. I have heard from someone that when kids take voice too early that they can permanently damage their voice … nodules or something like that. What do you think about that? Do you think 4 & 6 is too young? I think their teacher is knowledgeable & has lots of experience teaching very young kids. She has been the music teacher at my children’s preschool for several years & has been teaching private voice lessons for a long time. She seems to be teaching them proper breathing techniques, etc. Please let me know what you think. If you need more information to access, please let me know.
Thanks,
Concerned mommy.
Dr. A: I replied to this note with a request for more information. “Concerned mommy” replied in some detail about the children’s activities, the capabilities of the teacher and her desire for a well-rounded upbringing.
ANSWER: Dear Mommy of Emma and Audrey,
As you can see I’ve not been in a hurry to post a reply to your questions, for I thought it wise to let this issue “sift” in my conscious and subconscious for some time before putting words to my thoughts.
I need to be honest with you and tell you that I have had conflicting, almost fiercely antagonistic thoughts on the matter. But don’t fear. I will be brief and try to be careful in expressing myself.
My knee-jerk reaction response would NORMALLY be something like: “It is utterly absurd to have a 4 and 6 year-old taking voice lessons!” and then follow my high-blood-pressure response with a litany of negative results that I’ve observed in college students who started out that way.
But, let me get back to my reservations after first saying that I sense that you have all good intentions for your girls. Furthermore, there are teachers who specialize in communicating to young children effectively. I’d guess by your description that you believe that that is the kind of teacher your girls have currently. This time in their lives could be a time when a great love for music and music making is cultivated. For children their age, love for music-making should probably be the chief aim of the teacher. At the age of your daughters, learning to sing should be fun … relatively easy … and without pressure, period! The moment they sense “expectations” from you, (and they can sense it very readily) they will experience “pressure” that will have defeated the purpose for their “studies” at this age. DON’T take voice teaching to such young folk too seriously. Taking voice lessons too seriously (mom and teacher) presents the danger for small children. The voice is NOT like a piano, an eighth-size cello, or quarter-size violin.
Therefore, my response is necessarily weighted more on warning, than applause. There must be “acceptance” on the part of a teacher of small children … that what they get (i.e., what they hear) is going to be “childish.” Hearing, vocalizing and coordination are all in the process of development. When voice teachers push youngsters and adolescents into “sounding mature” early, the very warnings you have already heard concerning “permanent damage” are realized and most frequently occur then. I can attest that such damage caused in a youngster is very difficult to fix in a young adult, and sometimes it is permanent.
There are “Fine Arts” and “Performing Arts” summer camps, many in the northeast of the country, some making claims of the long list of musicals they are able to mount. I have been employed as a voice teacher in one prominent such place, and can tell you that the vocal damage done to children’s voices by the demands of (children’s) Broadway musical directors, and the teachers hired by ambitious parents wanting their children to be stars, is appalling. Protect your children from such pressure, and allow them to enjoy music making.
Best wishes.