People can start learning music at any age. You may hear people say that you shouldn't start your child in music lessons too young or that older adults will have a more difficult time learning. Both of these statements can be true, to a degree, but they deserve some qualifying statements.

Starting a child in private music lessons too early can be a mistake because young children generally learn best from "playing" with their peers. Learning music in a fun and energetic group atmosphere can spark young learners to develop a life-long love of music and build a solid foundation for future private study. Each child develops the skills to learn independently at a different age; but, on average, children develop this ability between 5 and 7 years old.

Some older adults may have a more difficult time learning music, but most of the time it is because adults seem to have higher expectations of themselves and want to be able to play right now. Playing music, even for enjoyment, rarely comes easily to anyone at any age, and takes patience and perseverance to be successful. Not everyone will be a virtuoso, but with a little patience, some dedication and time, virtually anyone can learn music.

Well, okay, sometimes it does. You should choose an instrument that you (or your child) has interest in or, better yet, is passionate about. You should choose an instrument that you have access to for daily practice. But other than that, the instrument choice does not matter as much as the quality of instruction you receive on that instrument.

The language of music (music theory) is the language of music no matter what instrument you play. If you start out on a flute, for instance, and your teacher teaches you, not only how to hold the flute and make sound, but how to read notes, what intervals and their qualities are, and what a scale is - more than half of that is transferable to a new instrument! Reading notes, intervals and their qualities, and scales (to name a few!) are used with almost every instrument because it is the language of music. This applies to trumpet, tuba, clarinet, guitar, cello, voice, violin, ...you name it!

If you are undecided but know you'd like a great foundation in music, then by all means choose the piano. The reason you hear people talk about starting with piano is because of its versatility. When learning the piano you will practice coordination with both hands (and sometimes feet), you'll learn to read music (and music theory) on the two most popular staffs (the two main "roadmaps" of modern music), and virtually every type of music can be played on the piano and it sounds like it was meant to be there (from classical to rock, from baroque to jazz). All this means that it's relatively seamless to transfer from piano to a new instrument because you've mastered all the "basics".