Is a 4 yo child ready for music lessons?

Having chatted with different service providers, it seems there are two philosophies on the musical readiness of a 4 yo child:

• 4 years is too young to take up formal instrumental lessons. It is recommended that preschoolers undergo a general music introductory course. See Yamaha's Music Wonderland targetted at the 3.5 - 4.5 age group, Mini Maestros which has branches in many suburbs including Hoppers Crossing/Werribee, and Point Cook's Universal Music School, which offers weekly 20-min parent-child sessions for 4-5 yos.

According to one music school -

I recommend for students of this age to attend Mini Maestros where they are immersed in music in groups. ...

Unless the child has parents who are musicians and are able to guide their child at home regularly in a nurturing way, then I find that this age is too young to take on for private music lessons where we cater in general for older students.

• Schools like Suzuki believe in developing children's musical (and math and artistic...) abilities from a very young age. Have you seen YouTube videos of very young violinists, like Akim Camara with Andre Rieu or this 4 yo girl playing Vivaldi? Back when we were in PLCMC, the Chinese congregation string ensemble regularly performed on major church occasions. The youngest violinists were only 3 yo, but they carried themselves with such poise and professionalism, and played beautifully too.

My mission is to find schools and/or teachers that share this philosophy.

The only Suzuki-accredited teacher on the register services Sunshine, Footscray, Yarraville.

But I also found a music school that gave me the following response when I asked what they thought of a 4 yo wanting to learn violin -

Our violin teacher, Paul, does take students starting from 4 years of age. He believes in teaching on the violin at this age rather than starting on another instrument. However the method he uses incorporates imagination games and he accompanies on the piano with clapping games etc...

He also teaches piano so if for any reason the violin wasn't suitable for your child, we could swap over for a term or year, as assessed to be appropriate.

Hubby is not impressed by the teacher's credentials: "familiar with both the Suzuki method and AMEB grades" doesn't have quite the same cache as being Suzuki accredited, and "has achieved 8th grade on piano and violin" - "But you have a diploma! You can teach too!"

Ahem.

Which brings us to a whole different issue: does being qualified on paper make you a good teacher?

Of course not.