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My DD3 goes to her Montessori 9-3:30 5 days a week, then adds ballet on Tuesday, Gymnastics on Saturday and Dalcroze Music class on Sunday.

She seems to love it all and it seems to also provide her with the physical outlet her high energy needs. Although we want to send her to the special gifted school at Hunter, there is a public school connected with Julliard. It is the Special Music School. You have to audition and it is pretty much a strict music school, but they have the highest scores of any public school, included all the G&Ts. Since she has to get evaluated by the same people for admission as to get into this Dalcroze and they already thought she could start private instrument lessons, this is an option.

What is the experience of adding instrument lessons early and helping with the need for challenge? Or other extracurricular?

Ren

Hi Wren:
My kids have been learning violin since they were 3.5, then we added piano when older was 9 and younger 7. I do not regret, but you have to know that this is a HUGE commitment on the parent site. Only now do I know that. Very difficult to pull through if both parents are working full time.
Only now, and they are in 7th and 5th grade , do they practice on their own (I still nag occasionally) because there are consequences of not practicing.
What I like about starting early is the fact, that by the time thya are in HS, both will be so advanced that quitting the instrument becomes a no option.
Violin is still the major instrument for both of them, with piano being a close second. I have a piano teacher coming to our house, so this was always a "very easy" solution for me, as there is no commute and wait time involved. They are both taking from the best (read very tough) teacher in the area. They are good. Saturdy both were graduating from their respective books (Suzuki) at the big concert and my sons group happened to be very small - only 4. As a 7th grader he was the youngest, visibly, the other three were HS. He was the only one playing with confidence (Bach concerto), even the teachers told him so after the performance, he kind of "saved the show" if you want. His teacher respons after the whole thing was over was "that spider in the second section was great, but there is still a lot to learn in that piece :-), and then she gave him a pat on his back. I love her
My kids have the heighest test scores in their classes, but is it because of music??? They know classical music and the elements of composition just by osmosis.
I don't even know if this answers your question?
If you would like some recommendation of books to read for you, as a parent, let me know.
Ania

Hi Ren,
My own son like plenty of down times, and seems to hate being scheduled at all, let alone overscheduled, but there are many, many just like your daughter who have very high energy, and need these types of outlets. Good luck with your school quest!
Smiles,
Grinity

We are in the same category. My son needs time for himself and complains when he doesn't have enough of it. He usually pursues his own interest in his free time and learns a lot this way. Less seems to be more in his case. Lots of free time is one of the major reasons why he is in half day K and why we are considering homeschooling for next year.

If her music teacher thinks that she is ready for an instrument and she is interested then I would probably try it, but I would also make sure she has time for it (perhaps less time in Montessori). JMHO.

Ditto what Grinity and LMom said for my 3yo and 6yo sons. We all get cranky if we have too much on the schedule, so we haven't yet added music lessons, and we only do one sport at a time with at least one season off in between.

We tend to do more of the extracurriculars in the summer when school isn't keeping us all so busy.

DS (now 12) started Suzuki violin at 5 years. It was our decision because we wanted him to work hard at somethng that did not come naturally. DH and I both agreed that this is what we were going to do and we were going to stick with it, a commitment that was tested time after time as we fought over practices almost daily for years. It was huge commitment, as Ania says, but I also believe that it is one of the best decisions we could have made, given our circumstance.

DS has learned what it means to really struggle with something, stick with it, and get better. He knows what it's like to not be better than other kids and he has made major mistakes in public and learned to get through it. He has learned persaverence, but is not a perfectionist. He plays well now, and like Ania's kids, is now practicing independently. When given the option of stopping (which we did give him this year), he looked at us like we were crazy. He has also taken up competitive fiddling and plays cello on the school orchestra.

Thank you for the feedback. Have knowledge on our commitment, since she said she wanted to take violin. They wouldn't let her do violin yet, it had to be piano. They do the Russian method, look down on Suzuki. I had Royal Conversatory books when I took piano, who knew it would get this complicated?

Anyway, they said the ear trains better if you start with piano, since they hear the tune, then you can do violin a year later. But it was 2X a week and we had to work with her to practice. This was better than the Suzuki school that did take them at 3 but the parent had to take lessons also. No ifs, ands or buts. Parents had to take the lessons if the child starts at 3.

We decided to wait until fall and see if she still wanted to take piano. She keeps saying she does. Since she is so much like me, I wonder if she could really sit for practice 2 hours a day by 4th grade.

Ren

Wren,

DD9 is one with high energy and enjoys lots of scheduled activities. I often have to hold her back, since I can't get her to several places at once. She plays the flute and have since age 7, since she didn't want to play piano as suggested by the music school. I find playing an instrument to be a good challenge for her and she likes the math aspect of music theory. Since school has been easy, this provides a good challenge and lesson on practice, hard work and rewards.

DD also figure skates, which is a great physical challenge. We have found choosing two activities (physical and musical) to be a great compliment and scheduling wise manageable.

Since I started piano at 4, and all my brothers played various instruments at various "talent" levels, I know the progress may be very slow at an early age. I did Suzuki piano which is very family involved whereas my brother zoomed through levels of violin and Suzuki was not the method for him. In the end, I play for my own enjoyment (and family's horror, LOL) and my brother travels the world conducting many great symphony orchestras for living. So the method chosen was not the determinant for success, rather than initial talent and work ethic.

Thank you for your story. One of the reasons we shy away from the Special Music School is that it feels like we are choosing her career (you had to be at the open house but it was clear).

But she talks quite a bit about it. Since I was a competitive figure skater, I shy away from that sport for her, though I did take her skating already. And her interest in ballet is higher than mine so maybe that is the route she will take.

Thank you for all the feedback.

Ren

My girls (6 and 9) play softball and basketball. DD6 started taking piano lessons last summer. Whoever mentioned that it's hard when both parents work is right. We don't get home until 5:30, and sometimes DD6 is too wiped out to practice. We are trying to encourage her to keep it up because she's very good.

DD9 really wants to take guitar lessons, so we will probably try that over the summer and see how it goes. Our schedule is pretty maxed out, so we don't let our kids do a whole lot of activities. It's just too much, and we feel like they need some time to just be kids.

Overall, I think music classes are great. I was very involved in music as a child (12 years piano and choir), and I know I benefitted from it. If you can swing it, I think it's great. I just wish I didn't have to work so that it would be easier for us.