I felt compelled to add to this thread to offer the other side of someone transitioning from Classical to Folk. Everyone above seems to suggest that it is easy; I don't agree. And I don't think that it is easy to conclude that someone who doesn't find the transition easy doesn't have musical ability. I certainly consider myself to be musical.

As an 8 year old I loved folk music, adored it, it was the be all and end all of music for me and I wanted to play the fiddle. The only way I could see of achieving that (using an 8 year old's reasoning) was to accept the offer of learning classical violin at school. Over the years the rigidity of the teaching format and complete indifference of the teacher ground all the enjoyment of music out of me. The final nail in the coffin was when, at the age of 14, I took my fairly well-honed ability to find the notes on the finger board and produce a good sound through bowing to a folk festival. I went to a workshop (not even a session) and I was not able to follow a note. My ear playing was non existant and imagining the looks of the other players I wished the ground would open up and swallow me. (I was a melodramatic 14 year old; but given teenage hormones, I don't suppose I was the only one.)

I could play perfectly well a piece of music put in front of me on paper (and still can), but I didn't enjoy that. I gave up the violin and enjoyed 'Pulp' and other such 'Indi-pop' bands for a decade.

So now (aged 30), I've bitten the bullet and have taken it up again; on my terms. I am going to a classical learners orchestra to further hone my technique, but am mainly concentrating on developing the ability to learn by ear; this is a struggle and is not as instantanious as you might think.

But the biggest problem is spontaneity. In classical musician-ship you are taught that the man (he generally is a man) waving the batton at the front is, for you, the be all and end all of your life at that particular moment. What ever he does you follow even if it is wrong. You only follow what is on the page and you never deviate. Where as in folk music, there may be a band leader, but any ornamentation you try just adds to the otherwise simple fabric of the tune; and no one minds if you play a bum note.

I am struggling to 'learn' oramentation because it can't be 'learned'. And I suppose that this is my essential point. You can learn to play classical music, you can't learn to play folk, it is a personal journey of growth that each individual must make on their own. The ultimate zen music!

Some people mentioned Eliza Carthy further up the page; yes she may have learned classical music and this may have impacted on her folk playing, but she was allowed (or, I suppose, allowed her self) to fiddle arround as well, developing a feel for how to play folk simultaneously.

So, I suppose my advice is, don't bank on it being that easy to make the transition at a later date. Maybe piano is enough classical teaching for now and learning any instrument using another technique (folk or Suzuki method) would certainly positively add to your childs all-round abilities. Of course you could always ask your child what they want, as many people above have suggested.

Meg (now a less melodramtic adult & finally enjoying the journey (to borrow a stylistic tick from Charlotte)