<p>I am a piano and violin teacher and I also taught Kindermusik classes for 10 years. It certainly sounds as though your 3 year old is a budding musician! I know firsthand that the afifnity for music can show up very early. </p>
<p>When my youngest D was a baby, she was a “kangaroo kid”. I wore her in a sling or backpack for virtually all of her waking hours until she was nearly two. I received a half-moon shaped baby seat as a gift when she was a newborn. The only time I ever used it was at suppertime when she’d gotten old enough to start grabbing food from my plate. I’d put her in the seat and rock it with my foot while I wolfed down supper. She could usually tolerate the seat for 10 minutes. Leaving her in it for any longer would lead to angry crying. One night when she was 6 months old I was rushing to finish supper so that I could watch the New york Philharmonic perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 on PBS. By the time I gulped down the last bite of my meal, it was just past 8:00 P.M… I grabbed the baby’s seat and carried her into the living room. I sat her on the floor in front of the set while I tuned it to the correct channel. I was expecting the screaming to start at any second. As I expected, the concert had already started. I bent down to release the baby from her infant seat prison and saw that she was staring at the TV with a huge grin on her face. She began waving her arms and legs in time with the music. She was absolutely captivated by the performance! I decided to leave her in the seat and see what happened. She watched and “danced” thoughout the entire first movement of the symphony. I told my H what I had just witnessed and said that we might just have another musician (H is a trombonist) or a dancer in the family. D has grown up to be a singer/dancer/actress who does musical theatre for a living.</p>
<p>I now have an 18 month old grandson who’s been singing since the age of 8 months. He doesn’t yet sing any words - he likes ohs and ahs instead. He has made up a song that he sings whenever he rides in the car. His mom, my oldest D, says he sings the same melody consistently. He is in the “experimenting” with his voice stage. He will frequently sing at the very bottom of his vocal range like he’s trying to become a basso. But, he’s tried out his full baby vocal range. He will harmonize with recordings and he dances in time with the music. Though he loves to listen to and dance along with recordings, his favorite thing to do is to sing with his family.</p>
<p>I retired from Kindermusik teaching a couple of years before grandson came along. I used to tell the adults in my classes that the way their children learn to sing is the same way they learn to talk. They imitate their families! The more you sing to and with your young child the better. The more you sing, the sooner s/he will begin to use his or her own singing voice. The musical goals in the preschool years are for the child to develop a melodic vocabulary and to move both small and large muscle groups in time to the beat in a piece of music.</p>
<p>Formal music classes are not necessary, however, classes such as the ones offered through Kindermusik or Musikgarden are a lot of fun. If you choose to work with your 3 year old on your own, do lots of singing! There are many excellent children’s music CDs in the marketplace if you feel you don’t have much of a kid friendly repertoire. Chant Mother Goose rhymes. “Dance” with your child. The dancing can be to songs that you sing or to recordings of either vocal or instrumental music. I put dance in quotes because the dancing does not need to look like the steps older kids might be taught in a class. You can sway like a tree, do a monkey dance by vigorously swinging your arms, hop like a frog, take giant steps or ladybug-sized steps, etc. In my classes I always encouraged parents to break out of their adult boxes when we moved to music. Your child would also benefit from acquiring some simple percussion instruments. Many music stores have small egg-shaped rattles, rhythm sticks, jingle bells, maracas, toy drums, etc. It’s great fun to play an instrument along with the beat in a piece of music!</p>
<p>Your older child may enjoy piano lessons. I firmly believe that the most important key to success in learning to play any musical instrument is the desire to play. I have taught students with Aspergers and find that many of them do quite well. Their ability to focus intently on a subject that interests them is an asset! He will do best with a patient teacher with several years of experience under her belt. I would suggest doing a trial meeting with prospective teachers to get an idea of whether or not they’d be a good match for your son. I agree with Binx that your son should be asked to make a committment of about a year. She’s given you some great advice! </p>
<p>Hopefully, your son can still make visits to concerts performed by professionals. If he can’t handle performances for adult audiences, perhaps you can find a group close to you that does performances for children. At children’s concerts no one expects the audience to be perfectly still and quiet. Maybe you could ask the new piano teacher to show your son some simple conducting patterns. He might enjoy conducting along with favorite recordings. Who knows, maybe your son will become a conductor. </p>
<p>Though most professional conductors do play an instrument, a very well known Spanish conductor, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, who used to be the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony, does not play any instrument. He has an undergraduate degree in philosophy! He began conducting as a hobby and discovered that he had a real knack for it. He learned to read music and quickly rocketed to a career as a professional musician. I’ve always found his story to be quite amazing!</p>