Some kids are ready for music lessons when they're three... Others might be six or seven.

Skills I'm looking for when evaluating young children at their first lesson are similar to Kindergarten readiness skills, such as:

• Count to twenty
• Write numbers and letters
• Write your name
• Count all your fingers and touch your matching fingers together
• Wiggle one finger at a time. Can you wave with your whole arm, just your hand, and just each finger?
• Learn opposites. What's the opposite of cold? Happy? Dark? Quiet?
• Sing a song. Great songs to know are Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old Macdonald, Alouette, and Frere Jacques.
• Be in a piano lesson without a parent. Mom or Dad can come to the first lesson, but I don't allow parents in every lesson.

Lessons with very young children are a little different than older kids. Since most younger children aren't ready to sit and play piano for half an hour straight, we spend more time singing, playing games, playing rhythm instruments, and developing musicality.

If your child isn't ready for individual music lessons yet, let's meet for another evaluation in six or nine months. In the meantime, I would recommend trying a group class through Fairfax County Parktakes.