Should You Take Music or Dance Lessons If You Want to Become a Child Actor?

Music Lessons for Child Actors? (S Lee/Flickr)

If you have a child who wants to become a child actor, chances are that the child is also interested in music and perhaps dance. It is common for child actors to be gifted in the arts, so many children who become child actors also sing, dance, and play instruments.

I know in my daughter’s case, she was singing before she could really even talk. She started creating small plays and musicals and loved performing for family and friends before she turned two.  I knew she was destined to be involved in the arts.

My daughter may not choose acting or music or dance for her career as an adult, but I am sure she will always find ways to be involved with the arts for the rest of her life in one way or another.

Neglecting Other Skills to Concentrate on Acting

For a while, my daughter primarily concentrated on acting. She took scene study (acting) classes twice each week and had numerous acting auditions. Before auditions she typically had to get coaching. She also took an improv and comedy class and performed as part of Giggle Gaggle each week.

There was not much time for other activities besides acting. And we did not have much extra money to pay for her to do other things.

So my daughter did not take any music or dance lessons or participate in sports for a couple of years. In fact, she did not even learn to ride a bike until she was 8.  I think she missed out on a lot of other things that she liked to do or should have been doing while we concentrated, perhaps a little too much, on her acting. (See “What Skills Are Helpful When You Become a Child Actor?” for additional discussion on this topic).

She really missed doing all these other things that she loved and enjoyed.  And if I had it to do over, I would have made sure she did not give up her music activities or dancing and sports. I think continuing with those things would have been good for her.

She has just started taking some music lessons recently, but at the age of 13 she is getting a pretty late start. In this day and time, when kids often learn sports and seriously study dance and music at a very early age, it can be a little hard to catch up with those who have been studying for years!

So, “Should You Take Music or Dance Lessons If You Want to Become a Child Actor?”

When the economy is not great, many families don’t have a lot of extra money to put into their children’s activities such as music and dance lessons and sports. Most parents will sacrifice to do as much as they can for their children, but if finances are tight, they may have to limit what their children do.

If it is hard for you to find the time and money to pay for private lessons, there are other options (see some of these below).

Acting Can Be Time-Consuming and Expensive

If you are trying to help your child become a child actor, you are probably putting your child in acting classes and perhaps in coaching as well.  You also have to pay for headshots and gas for your car for all the driving.  You may not have much extra money to spend on things outside of acting.

Your child may be busy with acting classes and auditions (and hopefully jobs!)  and so also may not have much time for anything else besides acting. Showing up for regular lessons or classes at the same time each week can be difficult.

Are You Neglecting Other Activities for Your Child?

Yet it certainly is important for them to learn to do other things such as sing,  play instruments, dance, and do sports. You do want your child to be well-rounded.  So how do you make sure that your child learns to do the things you want them to learn to do?

Dancing, Music, and Sports can also be very important for your child as they pursue their acting careers. Dancing and voice are very important on Broadway. Knowing music (including a variety of instruments), dance, and sports can be good extra skills to have to help your child qualify for a variety of auditions and jobs.

If you want your child to learn music or dance or special sports, you have mainly the following three options for your child:

1. Private Lessons – Private lessons in voice, piano, dance, or guitar (or whatever you prefer) are obviously a great choice.  If you can afford to put your child in lessons with a qualified instructor, that is definitely the best way for your child to get the skills they need. Private lessons also typically allow you a good bit of flexibility. But if private lessons cost more than you can afford right now, how can you make sure your child learns to do the things you really want them to learn to do?
2. Group Classes – Group classes, very common for dance or gymnastics and sometimes for piano, guitar, or other instruments, are also a good choice.  Participation with team sports through your local recreation department can be a great way for your child to learn skills in sports. But for all of these, you are usually required to be there at a set time each week for a set fee, and it might not always fit your schedule. The cost is more moderate but still can be pretty high. And when you have to miss, often it can’t be made up, so it seems like it is just money thrown away.
3. Online, DVD, and CD Courses – If you can’t afford to put your child in private lessons and you want more flexibility than a music or other group class offers, online video, cd, and dvd courses are a good option. Some of the classes available online and/or on cd and dvd are amazingly good and easy to follow.  But how do you find a class that is actually worth the cost?

Having your own instructor who can observe what you are doing and give you personal guidance based on what your particular issues and problems are is clearly the best choice. 

Consider Your Child’s Age

Another thing to think about is the age of your child. Serious voice lessons are not recommended for very young children. But certainly working with an instructor who can help your child develop good singing habits, pitch matching, a good sense of rhythm, listening skills, and a basic understanding of music and movement can be beneficial for a child as soon as they are able to pay attention in a 30-minute class or lesson.

When a child can or should learn a particular instrument will vary based on the child and the instrument.  Certainly piano and violin (with a smaller size violin) can be started at an early age, often at age 5 to 7 or even earlier if your child is really interested.  By age 8, most children are able to begin learning guitar (with a 3/4 size guitar).

Online and DVD Courses May Be a Good Option

Online and CD or DVD courses for voice and some instruments and even dance offer great, less expensive options for learning when you don’t have the time or money for private lessons or classes. You can at least get a good start with an online or CD or DVD course. These courses typically include videos that make learning on your own much easier than it used to be when there were only books or audios to help.

The fact is, most of the classes you find online are available for about the cost of one or two (or maybe 3) private lessons.  That may seem expensive at first, but when you look at what you are getting, it is absolutely something worth considering.

You probably have a lot of questions about online and DVD music and dance courses. What classes are available and how much do they cost?  How can you figure out which classes are good? How do you choose the course that will be right for your child? What is included in the classes that you find online? It is often not easy to figure all this out from an online course description, and you can’t really trust the person who created the course to provide an honest review.

After taking a close look at some courses that are available online, I’m putting together reviews of these courses, especially for those that seem worth the money.  Since my daughter is trying to learn to play instruments and become a better singer, this is particularly interesting to me as well.

The music courses being reviewed all contain some sort of a guarantee (typically 30 to 60 days, and one course even has a 6 month- guarantee!), so if you purchase them and don’t like them or if they are not what you expect, you can request a full refund of the purchase price within the specified time period. So you really have nothing to lose if you want to try one of them out.

Most of the courses also offer some free lessons, so if you are interested, you can just sign up for the free lessons. (Check these two out: Free voice lessons, Free guitar lessons).  If you like the free lessons, you can later decide whether you want to actually get the course. Or you can just learn what you can from the free lessons without having to pay for anything at all.

When you have enough time and money, nothing can compete with working with a qualified private instructor, as that is certainly the best way to learn. 

An online, DVD, or CD course is no substitute for learning from a qualified professional, but it can still be worthwhile. However, it does take a little extra discipline to work through the lessons and practice when there is no lesson with a teacher to encourage and help you and to expect progress from you.

Be sure to check out the Your Young Actor Product Reviews page (coming soon). You’ll find information about courses — including what what they contain, the price, other details, and pros and cons of the particular courses. This page is just being started, but reviews will be added over time as more products are reviewed. 

User comments about products are welcomed. So if you purchase one of the courses reviewed here or have other products you want to recommend, you can provide feedback and comments. Just let me know what you think so that the information can be passed along to others looking for courses and products.

If you have products you want to recommend for inclusion here, please post a comment with your information so that I can contact you about them.  No products should be listed here without first getting my consent and/or review.

In the future, information about various instructors, studios, and classes will also be provided here on Your Young Actor, so watch for that. You always should have a list of good studios, instructors, and classes, so you can quickly get someone for a special audition or so you know who to contact when you have a slow period of time when there is time for lessons or classes.

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To your success,

Debbie Sikkema