Frequently Asked Questions

What’s included with enrollment?

Each program includes everything your child needs to get started, including student books and a semester soundtrack. Depending on the program, enrollment may also include instruments, tote bags, flashcards, and other learning materials.

What ages are the programs designed for?

All of our programs are designed specifically for beginners.

Sound Beginnings: Ages 0–4
Let’s Play Music: Entry ages 4–6
Presto: Ages 7–12

Each program is thoughtfully designed around the developmental stage of the child.

How is the program calendar structured?

Let’s Play Music and Presto are sequential programs, with each semester building on the skills and concepts learned previously. Each year follows the traditional school-year calendar, running from September through May.

Sound Beginnings is different. It offers six unique, non-sequential semesters, so families can join at any time and begin with any semester.

How often are classes, and how long do they last?

All programs meet once a week.

Sound Beginnings: 30 minutes
Let’s Play Music Year 1: 45 minutes
Let’s Play Music Year 2: 50 minutes
Let’s Play Music Year 3: 55 minutes
Presto: 60 minutes

How many students are in each class?

We intentionally keep classes small so every child can participate, receive individual attention, and learn through meaningful interaction with the teacher and other students.

Sound Beginnings: 5–10 families
Let’s Play Music: 5–8 students
Presto: 4–8 students

Why group music lessons?

Children often thrive when music learning is social, interactive, and playful. In a group setting, students learn from one another, build confidence, and experience the energy of making music together.

The result is a learning environment where children feel comfortable experimenting, participating, and developing their musical skills together.

How involved are parents?

Parent involvement is an important part of every program, although the level of in-class participation changes as children grow.

Sound Beginnings: A parent or caregiver attends every class.
Let’s Play Music Year 1: A parent or caregiver attends every other week.
Let’s Play Music Years 2 & 3: A parent or caregiver attends approximately once a month.
Presto: Parents do not attend class but support daily practice at the piano at home.

Regardless of the program, your involvement at home helps your child get the most from the experience.

Is there vocal training?

Absolutely. Let’s Play Music is built around the idea that the voice is the first musical instrument.

Children spend a significant portion of class singing as they learn to sing in tune, sing naturally and openly, sing harmony, and sing with accompaniment. These experiences develop a strong musical ear and a natural understanding of pitch.

Let’s Play Music is a music education program—not a performance choir—so the focus is on developing confident, capable young musicians.

Which comes first: ear training or note reading?

Both. Let’s Play Music intentionally develops ear training and note reading side by side.

Children begin developing their musical ears from the very beginning while also learning to understand and read music. Traditional letter names are introduced as part of the curriculum, allowing graduates to make a smooth transition into traditional private piano lessons.

What makes Sound Beginnings unique?

Sound Beginnings is much more than an introduction to music. Each semester combines music, movement, academics, creativity, and hands-on learning in a fast-paced, joyful 30-minute class.

Children explore 13–15 different activities during each class, with concepts such as colors, counting, the alphabet, name recognition, and telling time woven naturally into musical experiences.

The program also includes unique “smart charts,” workbook activities, puppets, movement, singing, rhythm, and pitch activities.

Each semester culminates in Instrument Day, when children have the opportunity to experience performing for a group and hear real instruments they have been learning about throughout the semester.

Most importantly, Sound Beginnings gives young children an early foundation in musical concepts—including solfege and hand signs, audiation, rhythm, pitch matching, the staff, the major scale, and classical form—preparing them beautifully for Let’s Play Music.

Why start Sound Beginnings in infancy?

The earliest years of childhood are an extraordinary time for learning and development. Sound Beginnings gives babies and young children an opportunity to experience music through movement, connection, repetition, and joyful interaction.

The program was originally created for ages 2–4, but we discovered that younger siblings and infants benefited tremendously when they joined their families. That experience helped shape Sound Beginnings into the program it is today.

Starting early gives families the opportunity to build a positive relationship with music from the very beginning—and creates a foundation for future musical learning.

Isn’t age 4–5 too young to learn piano?

Not at all. Young children can develop remarkable musical skills when instruction is designed around how they naturally learn.

At this age, children are developing their listening skills, coordination, memory, and ability to recognize patterns. Let’s Play Music takes advantage of this developmental window by building a strong musical ear and understanding of music before requiring the fine-motor strength and dexterity needed for traditional piano instruction.

The result is a child who is musically prepared to approach the piano with confidence.

How can a child learn to read music before knowing all their letters?

Let’s Play Music approaches music reading developmentally.

In Year 1, children first learn to understand the patterns and movement of music on the staff—steps, skips, ups, and downs—before being expected to memorize every letter name.

In Year 2, students build on those skills by learning intervals and chords while beginning to identify select note names such as B, C, and D.

By Year 3, students learn the letter names of all the lines and spaces of the treble and bass clefs. By this stage, most children are ready to connect the musical patterns they already understand with traditional note names.

What instruments do children use in Let’s Play Music Year 1?

Year 1 introduces children to three essential musical “instruments”:

The singing voice — Children learn to sing in tune, sing harmony, and sing with accompaniment.

Tone Bells — The melody instrument is arranged stepwise like a piano but does not require the finger strength or dexterity of a keyboard.

Autoharp — Children develop harmony skills by learning chord qualities and accompaniment patterns.

Together, these instruments allow children to experience melody, harmony, rhythm, and musical expression before transitioning to the piano.

Can my child start Year 2 or Year 3 without completing Year 1?

No. Let’s Play Music is a sequential curriculum, meaning each year intentionally builds on the skills and concepts introduced before it.

Students must complete Year 1 before entering Year 2, and Year 2 before entering Year 3.

Presto follows the same structure: students must complete Year 1 before progressing to Year 2.

What instruments do children use in Years 2 and 3?

The piano becomes the primary instrument in Years 2 and 3.

Each child plays their own full-sized keyboard during class and needs a keyboard or piano at home for regular practice. Because students have spent Year 1 developing their musical understanding and staff-reading skills, the transition to piano feels natural and exciting.

What happens after my child graduates?

Let’s Play Music and Presto give students a strong foundation for continued private piano instruction.

Graduates enter private lessons with experience in areas such as note reading, rhythm, chord structure, scales, cadences, transposition, composition, and musical form.

Presto students also develop a strong technical foundation and intermediate-level repertoire skills.

Sound Beginnings students can transition into Let’s Play Music when they reach the appropriate age—typically around age 4 or 5.

How is Let’s Play Music different from other keyboard programs?

Let’s Play Music is designed to teach the whole musician—not just the ability to play notes on a keyboard.

The curriculum combines more than 25 original songs, games, and activities with musical philosophies inspired by Kodály, Orff, and Dalcroze, adapted specifically for young piano students.

Children learn through singing, movement, games, listening, playing, and creative exploration. They develop their ears alongside their reading skills, experience classical music through engaging puppet shows, and learn concepts such as harmony, form, composition, rhythm, and theory in ways that make them meaningful and memorable.

And because it happens in a small group with a trained local teacher, children get the benefits of both expert instruction and a joyful social learning environment.

Why should I enroll my child in Let’s Play Music?

Because it’s more than a piano class.

Your child will develop a deep understanding of music while having fun, making friends, singing, moving, playing instruments, and discovering what it means to be a musician.

You’ll get to be part of that journey, too. Parent participation creates opportunities to practice and make music together at home, turning music lessons into shared experiences that strengthen your relationship.

Over time, you’ll watch your child develop skills in music theory, ear training, harmony, composition, classical form, note reading, and performance—and gain a confidence in music that can last a lifetime.

Can I bring other children with me to class?

To minimize distractions and create the best possible learning environment, only enrolled children may participate in class.

Please plan childcare for siblings or other unenrolled children. Babies under 4 months old may attend if alternative childcare is not available.

Are registration fees refundable?

Registration fees secure your child’s place in class and allow us to plan, get materials, and give a consistent experience for every family.

Because your child’s spot is reserved specifically for them and cannot be offered to another family, registration fees are non-refundable, including cancellations made before the session begins.