Junior Music Classes

Musical Ears & Musical Games
(One Term in each Class for 1/2 hr per week)

Both of these classes develop the child's awareness of musical sounds in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. The main focus is on responding to music through movement, rhythm, singing and performing. The classes also make use of audio and visual stimulants, and the children perform various tasks in response. In particular, Musical Games aims to increase the child's control of coordination and motor responses.

Musical Awareness
(One term for 1/2 hr per week)

Musical Awareness begins to examine simple, but important, musical rudiments. Much of the teaching is still centred on listening and visual stimulants but the child will be expected to start understanding how the music functions. The listening and interpretation are therefore taken to a higher level in this class, with the emphasis on a more conscious awareness of the musical environment.

Musical Structure & Recorder 1
(One term 1 hr per week)

The Musical Structure class absorbs the material covered in the previous classes and concentrates on the notation of pitch and rhythm. The style of teaching remains the same with a continued emphasis on listening and performing. At the same time, the child also starts learning the Recorder, this provides a practical outlet for the theory teaching in Musical Structure. After completing Musical Structure and Recorder 1 the educational system focuses on Recorder teaching for two more terms.

Recorder 2 & Theory, Recorder 3 & Theory
(one term in each class for 1 hr per week)

The child attends two further terms of Recorder before he/she is ready to progress to individual instrumental tuition. Alongside Recorder 2 & 3 classes, pupils are required to attend 30 minutes of Theory each Saturday. This early start to written aspects of musical notation is of importance to the progress of the children, especially when they undertake individual instrumental tuition.

Recorder 4 & Theory
(one term for 1 hr per week)

This class is an extension of recorder 3 and is specially designed for those children who's parents consider them too young or unready to undertake tuition on an individual instrument.