Disclaimer: This article was personally written by the school director, Stephan Hume. It was not crafted or edited by chat bots or AI. We believe it might take a little longer. But we aren’t in a hurry. And we hope that your experience with us is just like that. In a world full of gadgets, tech, internet, and an endless pursuit of “efficiency” - we are learning fast what you want. Which is the same as what our staff wants. Real connection. Flaws and all. So please forgive any typos you may find. Now, where were we? Oh yes, best instruments to learn for your child…

…So - after 20 years of being a music school in Colorado, we have learned a lot. Our aim is to be of service to you as parents in our community. To inspire you with music. And we believe that in order to do this, we need to listen to your questions. We try to anticipate your needs and fulfill them.

We get asked a lot of great questions from parents. What instrument should my 5 year old be learning? What instrument is good for a shy child like ours? What instrument is best for a child who loves Taylor Swift? Or even; what if my child has never played music before?

In this month’s blog topic, I want to go over some of these exact questions for you. It’s important for those of you reading this to know that every child is unique. Every household situation. Every desired outcome. All catered to you. Which is good news, because we believe strongly that a solid leadership team, office staff, and staff of teachers is key to get this done. So we look every day at our community applicants for instructors. We are picky. That’s because you deserve fun, patient and effective music instruction.

Also, we advocate for you to have your child start as close to what sparks joy in them as possible. Do they want to learn to play the drums? Cool! Piano? Awesome. Just keep in mind that each instrument is “valid.” You may have heard it said, “well, every student should start on the piano, right?” Well - no. I started with the guitar at 12 years old and made a life out of music that is rich, fulfilling, and went on to learn piano and others. So why do people say this? Well there is a lot to be said about starting on piano. So the nuance here is not that I am saying not to learn piano first. I am just being careful to tell you that it doesn’t have to be piano.

So let’s talk 5-year-old students. What instrument should they learn? Well, let’s tackle some of the things that might be obvious, but translate them musically. For starters, a student in this age range (5-7 perhaps) may have small hands. So it’s difficult for them to reach all the way around a neck of a guitar. But if they are really sparked with joy by the idea, try ukulele. They are light, portable, cheap, and have a lot of the same mechanics of guitar. Think of it like a “gate to pass through” on the way to guitar. They can learn basic melodies, tuning, and strumming. Then you can gauge when they are ready to handle all of that on a guitar.

And still in that age range, piano is a great instrument to start 5-7 year olds. You can start with a basic keyboard, they can reach the keys, there is an easy learning curve to immediately generate sound (finger presses key - sound comes out), etc. And of course, like I mentioned above, the reason many people say it’s a great instrument to start with is because you learn the mechanics and “theory” of music in a very visual way. The keys are white and black. Easy to see the sharps and flats. Easy to see it all laid out in a straight line, etc.

We can say a lot more about this age range but basically you need to know that this age group has some limitations in size and perhaps brain development that is a great place to start, but you don’t always see a 5 year old on saxophone for the simple fact that they just might not be ready…yet.

What if you have a shy child? No problem! One of my favorite things a college voice teacher said to me was, “Stephan you are taking confidence lessons but you just happen to be singing in them.” I was blown away. She was tackling some of my shyness and stage front head on. And it really made me realize how healthy it was for me to look at someone, sing, and grow the muscle of confidence singing in front of others. Now I perform regularly in front of large audiences, no sweat. Enough about that. What about your child? Are they shy? No problem. Perhaps voice lessons may be the ultimate way to go, knowing that you will surely help them develop into more confident people. But if you want them to have another mental gate to pass through first, try drums! You can learn so much about groove, tempo, rhythm and have a blast doing it - while not being the center of attention. Or try a woodwind or brass instrument. A child can explore the beautiful sounds of music and develop their brains, without having to put their voice front and center.

What about your daughter who loves Taylor Swift? Well I am going to go back to the voice lesson suggestion here. A lot of ours students are “Swifties” and they sing along to backing tracks or live accompaniment all while learning real vocal technique, posture, breathing, and theory. Our Singer’s Edge Program is a great way to see how we weave a vocal curriculum into every day passion and love for our students. Bring a song you love. We will show you how to sing it well and with joy and confidence.

You may have more questions while looking for “music lessons near me” in Littleton Colorado. We’ve got you. If you are looking for the best music school near me to teach my kid to love music - give us a try! We have been at it for a while, but we still listen to our families and customers every day. As a dad myself, with my son enrolled in our music school, I can see it from all angles. My wife and I scratch our heads a lot about how to make this a better experience for you. All while listening to our surveys, lobby conversations, and so much more.

So if you are looking for music lessons, guitar lessons, voice lessons, piano lessons, voice lessons, drum lessons, and more in Littleton - we are here for you! We want you to know how much it means to us that you would read this or give us a try. We can tackle a lot more questions, go over a lot more detail of any of the 15+ instruments we teach, learn about you and your child, and make a great starting recommendation for you.

To learn more please call or text us at (303) 972-7625 or email us at office@littletonmusiclessons.com.

You can click here to fill out a form and we can answer your questions.

You can also click here to enroll today!

We can’t wait to meet you!

Sincerely,
Stephan

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