I interviewed a kindergartener yesterday and ended up telling the parents I didn't think he was quite ready for lessons, but after reading all these posts, I'm wondering if I jumped the gun. We did some rhythm clapbacks, identifying higher/lower and happy/sad (major/minor), but what REALLY convinced me that he was not ready was the fact that his hands were so small he could not even span the three black keys with individual fingers (he couldn't--or wouldn't--play the three black keys with fingers 2-3-4),and I was concerned that he would be totally frustrated in a very short time. I explained to the parents that I thought he just needed to grow a little more and at this point, I would suggest group "music readiness" lessons (singing, rhythm instruments, marching to a beat, etc.). How do you compensate for such small hands at 4 and 5?