# Music lessons

**Should our child take music lessons?**

Whether and when your child learns an instrument: only if they ask, a trial period, required for some years, or required with enforced practice.

In short: Parents choose between 4 main approaches: Only if the child asks; Try-it period; Required for a set number of years; Required with enforced practice. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: school age.

- Area: Play, activities and enrichment
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: School age
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/play-activities-and-enrichment--music-lessons

## Music lessons: what are the options?

1. **Only if the child asks**: The child takes lessons only if they ask.
2. **Try-it period**: The child tries an instrument for a set time and then chooses.
3. **Required for a set number of years**: The child must take lessons for a number of years you set.
4. **Required with enforced practice**: The child must take lessons and practice daily, and you enforce it.

## Music lessons: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. (Values; cognitive claims contested)

Well-designed studies find essentially no cognitive transfer; a rebuttal finds small benefits for instruments

Sources:

- [Sala & Gobet](https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-020-01060-2)
- [Román-Caballero et al.](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X22000057)

## What else is worth knowing?

Some families see learning an instrument as a core part of education; others leave it to the child's interest. Lessons require daily practice, which often becomes the parent's job to oversee. Agree on what you would do when the child wants to stop.

## Questions to ask each other

- Did we play an instrument and do we regret quitting or being forced?
- Would we require lessons for a set time?
- How will we handle practice?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=play-activities-and-enrichment&topic=play-activities-and-enrichment--music-lessons