The Let’s Play Music Vision: To enrich lives, increase confidence, develop talent,
enhance intelligence, and bond parent to child, by providing an outstanding music
educational experience for children, using premium materials and lessons, taught by
superbly trained teachers.
Let's Play Music Enrollment Age Recommendation
Let’s Play Music takes advantage of the early music learning window, which is from birth to age 9.
Our first year curriculum is geared to the 4-5 year old. Students who are 6 when classes begin are
also eligible to enroll in the first year. If a student is 7 when fall classes start, it is recommended they
pursue private piano instruction. We recommend 3 year olds begin our Sound Beginnings
program and wait to participate in Let’s Play Music until they are 4 years old.
The age dilemma
Accepting students that are older than 6 years old in the first year of Let’s Play Music has been
shown to be ineffective in some cases, but negative in others. You clearly lose the magic of
playful eagerness and energetic glee in their response, but more importantly, the learning curve of
the 7 year old is fairly decelerated to match that of a 4 year old level. Over the months of the first
year curriculum having an older child in a first year class can become quite counterproductive
and may invite a myriad of problems into the classroom.
Although the concepts we teach are fun, engaging and highly appealing, there is a huge
problem when you place a 4-5 year old in the same classroom setting as a 7 year old. There is
such a wide expansion of physical and emotional maturity that it’s not conducive to an optimal
experience for either age group.
A 7 year old that hasn’t had any musical training will need to accelerate his education. His fine
motor skills and ability to pay attention warrants private piano lessons so he can progress at an
accelerated pace. Our program is very sequential and appropriately repetitive and can feel
drawn out and slow paced to a 7 year old child. Remember, they only have two years left in the
learning music window and need age appropriate skills and concepts being taught.
There is the occasion when a child not of the recommended age has been granted permission to
go through the first year. These allowances are handled on a case by case basis through
corporate Let's Play Music.
The 7 year old predicament:
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All lessons are sequentially constructed to build on each other and have appropriate concept
review for the 4 year old child. The older child may feel this review is prolonged.
Let’s Play Music takes advantage of the early music learning window, which is from birth to age 9.
A child, age 7, should actively be pursuing music instruction at a faster pace than Let's Play Music
offers.
The fine motor skills and ability to pay attention warrants private piano lessons so they can progress
at an age appropriate pace.
With the older child, you clearly lose the magic of playful eagerness and energetic glee in their
response, but more importantly, the learning curve of the 7 year old is fairly decelerated to match
that of a 4 year old level.
The student over 6 years old will need less review and more age appropriate coursework. This
dynamic can lend itself to negative classroom behavior issues.
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The 3 year old predicament:
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It is highly recommended that all 3 year olds participate in our Sound Beginnings program.
Although a 3 year old may thrive in a first year class, they will likely not have the finger strength or
dexterity to succeed in second year on keyboards, even if the child exhibits successful results the
first year.
There is a very high probability that a 3 year old child may need to repeat the first or second year
in order to understand all the concepts and have the skill set to thrive at the next level.
If the teacher sees any of the following signs, they will require that the student repeat.
Indicators that 1st year students need to repeat
1. The student can’t sing and sign solfeg at the same time.
2. The student doesn't know the solfeg signs.
3. The student doesn't understand the concepts of a step, skip, or a leap.
4. The student doesn't conceptualize that hand claps should match the bug syllables.
5. The student has a hard time understanding any concept or skill when they are presented.
6. The student has a hard time paying attention during the activities.
Indicators that 2nd year students need to repeat
1. The student can’t play the primary chords with the right and/or left hand.
2. The student doesn't recognize any of the melodic patterns and can’t sign them.
3. The student can’t play any of the songs alone or with the class.
4. The student doesn't seem to understand the note relationships of skips, steps or leaps and
doesn't play the sight reading in class without habitually guessing.
5. The student acts out in class and doesn't want to be there.
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