Everyone is musical, everyone can sing, and every child can get an enormous amount of pleasure from learning music and playing an instrument. Children benefit so much from being exposed to music, as music is a means of self-expression and an excellent way to help develop fine motor skills and better coordination.

Childhood is a wonderful time to learn music and children have a limitless capacity to absorb new information. Music teaches them about the appreciation of the arts and the importance of dedication, focus and practice.

There are many local pre-school music programs available that will foster your child's love for music. They focus on cognitive and musical skills through song and activities. Music aids the development of speech and simple songs teach your child how language is constructed. Babies and toddlers tend to learn best when songs are experienced through their bodies and music and movement greatly enhance their grasp of language. The use of small percussion instruments such as tambourines and drums engages the feeling of taking an active part in the group as well as developing their coordination skills.

Music also enhances the ability to learn maths, not just from numerical lyrics, but by learning rhythm they are learning ratios, fractions and proportions. Studies have shown that young children who take part in music develop much higher levels of socially interaction and gain a better understanding of important emotions such as empathy.

Music lessons usually start from the age of five, as hands are bigger and they have better concentration, and it also helps to know the alphabet to be able to start reading music. Some music teachers feel starting formal lessons too early can put them off and some children may find them hard to cope with. It's best to follow your child's lead, each child is an individual and physical development plays an important part too.

The Piano can be a good instrument to start with at an early age as they can start as soon as they can reach the keys and have enough strength to press them down. It is easier for little fingers and requires simple movements and you can get immediate reward from a simple combination of notes. The recorder is a very common first instrument and gives children a great head start in music before they can handle say, the saxophone as this requires a great amount of puff which younger children find difficult. The recorder is an inexpensive way to get into music, its easy to play and children can start as soon as their fingers can cover the holes. Playing the recorder is a good progression onto other wind instruments such as the clarinet, and the skills they learn from the recorder are easily transferred.

Stringed instruments such as the violin can be used as first instruments and often come in smaller sizes although they can be difficult to handle for small hands and are really suitable for children aged from six. Guitar's have always been a favourite and immediate results can be achieved by either strumming or plucking, they come in either left or right handed models and are suitable for children from around the age of eight.

Some studies have shown that children exposed to music or those who play an instrument are much more alert and do far better at school in particular areas such as maths and science, this is because it enhances their abstract reasoning skills needed for learning these subjects. Not only can music help relieve stress, once mastered it offers a wealth of achievement satisfaction, it's great fun and opens up lots of other opportunities to enrich their lives.