Ages: 4-6
This course, which has a theoretical basis focusing on children’s musical behaviour, has been tested in practice in the course of experimental studies carried out at kindergardens. It was created by Yamaha Music Foundation and is implemented with great success in its schools all over the world.
Children’s aural skills develop rapidly between the ages of 4 and 6 and the Junior Music Course therefore places great emphasis on aural recognition of sound pitch, the names of notes and the harmonic relationships between chords.
After attending the two-year Junior Music Course, children will have become familiar with all of these. They will also be able to play notes on a keyboard, as electric organs are used in class. Their natural sense of rhythm is reinforced through experimenting with rhythmic patterns and the use of percussion instruments. Children learn to place the voice correctly, since singing is an essential part of the lesson. Their natural mobility is channelled into musical games that help to bolster their rhythmic control, and the teaching process takes the form of a music group in which each child plays an active part. Communication is thus encouraged from the very first lesson, thereby helping to increase the social skills of the young pupils, and at the same time a love of music is fostered and nurtured. Classes are spread over a total of 24 months; children who have attended the Junior Music Course are then deemed mature enough to proceed either to more advanced Yamaha programs or to classical music studies.
Enrollment at Junior Music Course is possible until the end of November for the first semester of studies and until the end of February for the second semester of studies.
