Music for a 5 year-old

Ariel has the privilege of being involved in the Yamaha Electone Festival this year. She was the singer of one of the items.


Ariel started her Yamaha lessons in October last year. To be honest, many people had told me that 'to let your child learn music, it's a big-time commitment, especially where money and time is concerned' and 'the best part is, they get tired of it after a while!! Imagine how much you have invested and then it came to nothing!'. Thus, having heard so much negative comments, I must admit that I was hesitant about sending Ariel for music lessons. I figured that to let the kids learn music, they must have the TALENT!! or be musically-inclined at least!! With Ariel, I must admit I wasn't very keen as she wasn't born with a 'perfect pitch' and sometimes, I would tell myself, "Come on, after all, her talents lies in Art."

However, a visit to Yamaha changed my mind. I must confess that it's out of a kiasu mentality that we decided to enroll her in the JMC program. We signed up just one day before registration closed. My kiasu-Singaporean instinct emerged immediately when I saw lessons being conducted back-to-back since 9am on weekends and more importantly, THERE ARE SO MANY CHILDREN LEARNING MUSIC?!!


So there we go, Yamaha we shall go. To my surprise, after 4 months of music lessons, Ariel's pitch has improved. And surprisingly, she enjoys the lessons so much! (definitely much more than when I was attending music lessons) The songs are catchy and she's eager to practise almost everyday.

However, all is not rosy. I guess the challenge came when we were practising for the Electone Festival. When the pressure set in, I started to be a 'Tiger Mom'. I remember fretting over the times when she sang out of tune, does not want to sing more than once, and when she even threw a fit by sobbing while singing?!! Gosh! I remember thinking to myself, "完了，完了!" What are we going to do? It's just one month to the Finals?

Thanks to Ariel's music teacher, I began to understand how I should go about teaching Ariel and getting her to appreciate music. Her teacher taught us how to 'tune her' slowly and not to push her into long hours of practice, and NEVER NEVER scold her. 


In fact, for Ariel, these are the things that helped:

• her practise time was just 3-5 minutes daily, but sometimes twice a day depending on her mood.
• to get Ariel in tune, I realised that what she enjoys about music most is being able to play. So, I taught her the melody part of the song and she could play and sing on her own to get in tune.
• during the times when she refused to practise, I played the song and sang it myself. Even though she refused to sing a single word, I know she is listening.
• and last but not least, we got her to sing into a microphone. For Ariel, it is essential for her  to get used to the loudness coz she is afraid of loud noises (can you believe it?!)

The Yamaha Electone Festival is definitely a good experience for her. She is thrilled that she is able to 'perform' and I must admit her improvements gave her much confidence.


Well, we're just into 8 months of learning music so far. I really do not know what the future holds: whether her interest for music will sustain into adulthood; or which musical instrument she would ultimately choose. But I would think that my personal feel about music is, "One's got to enjoy it" and "just like a paintbrush, it is a powerful tool for expression. If one is to just master the technicalities of it or play just for certification, I guess it will all be rather meaningless....."