Many of us enjoy singing and little ones are no exception. Singing classes for children is quite a topic for discussion.There are many different questions regarding voice training at an early age. When should child start taking voice lessons? How frequently? Is it safe ?
Many children appear very motivated to sing even from an early age. Sadly this motivation in young kids is often lost later as a result of being advised against taking singing lessons this early.
Reason for this is undeveloped vocal cords. Vocal cords of a child are not mature enough and can be even damaged if treated wrongly. Due to this most parents are told to wait until puberty when voice will be fully formed.
Usually puberty occurs somewhere between age 11-12. Overflow of hormones is known to have extreme effects on voice. Throughout puberty boys’ voice grows deeper and starts to resemble a man’s. Girl’s voice becomes lower and less “squicky”.
Reaching this stage would mean vocal cords have matured and voice training can begin.
Waiting for puberty to pass might be a safe route but often the time of occurrence depends on a person. The vocal cords are not as easy to damage after puberty but at this stage they are by no means fully formed. The voice may not mature until one’s 18. Waiting this long for vocal cords to fully form would mean wasting most productive years when a child is capable of learning huge amounts of new information daily without any major difficulties.
The decision is not easy to make but fortunately there is another solution.
If you see that your child is really keen on taking voice lessons another possibility would be to hire an experienced voice coach who is closely acquainted with children’s voices and their habits. A professional coach will know not to stress your child’s voice, keep it in the range and even teach your child how to prevent injury to vocal cords. The sooner one learns how to protect the voice, the better. This might spare future harms. Additionally starting voice lessons early won’t allow child to create habits that may become difficult to get rid of later. An experienced coach will teach your child how to sing through teaching it how to breathe and stand right. This way the danger of damaging young voice will be eliminated and your kid will be happy to keep singing!