what is the best age for children to start instrument musical school lesson?

Apparently it is best to start them off quite young, in my sons school they start them off with a recorder at around 5. Since September of last year, my sons school introduced a new project they wanted to try, they issued the whole of my sons year with a violin and they are spending the school year now teaching them to play it, with no cost to the parent, my sons year are all 7 and 8. The reasoning for this apparently is because the theory is that if a child can play a violin it can play any instrument,and it learns them lots of things and then if they have a musical ability this is where it will develop. Unfortunately my son does not like it very much and is not musically inclined, but at least he has had the chance to find out!

I think the best age is around 4-10 years old... Their body is still growing up, so the earlier they can adapt how to hold or manage the instruments, the better. They are easily learning because curiosity is really high at this age...

I think that really depends on the maturity of the individual child. Some children can learn to play at the age of 4. Others are not going to have that kind of attention span yet at that age. I started learning music at 8, but never got formal lessons until I was 10. A year before that, I had some instruction on the song flute, but I never was able to learn it (I hated the sound of it, which didn't make me very inclined to try hard to learn it).

My baby is only 22 months... but as early as now... my husband is introducing the piano to her... although she calls it guitar for now... but i think... if the child shows even a little aptitude in music at a very early age... then there is no harm in letting them try simple musical instruments... that would surely boost their interest...

[Doh, I responded a full posting, but when I typed "Post Response," it had a a window blank and erased it all." Here's just a short version of what I said: I started an instrument at age 4, my sister, at age 3. We lvoe dit, though today we have some videos, and I sounded horrible on stage. But then I improved steadily. My nursery school focused in music. We sang songs while cutting apples, we tried littl drums and triangles to "ping" and make lovely music together. It is a thrill. Our school teachers recommended us to start our own instruemnt, like violin. It's great fun. Also when you take lessons, you ge tto perform. My friend's 6 month old has been playing since before birth. ;o) I went over, adn eh played the piano (sitting in his mom's lap) the other day. He lvoed it.