Junior Music Course For 4-6 y/o
What is JMC?
Junior Music Course (JMC) is designed for children of ages 4 to 5.5 who are looking to start their musical journey. With parents’ participation, JMC is the perfect opportunity for the family to learn and enjoy music together. The group setting helps students feel a sense of community. We can all make friends through music!
Listen, Sing, Play, Read!
♬ Listen
Children of age 4 to 5 rapidly develop in their hearing ability. Like learning languages, children begin with active listening. Every new song begins at the listening stage. Each song is introduced by a model performance by the teacher and audio tracks. All audio tracks played in class are provided with the course material (via CD or QR code) for students to immerse in a comprehensive learning environment anywhere and at anytime. There are 40+ tracks provided per school year! This music appreciation process raises students’ sensitivity to music. The more they hear, the more they learn!
♬ Sing
Our voice is our natural instrument. To be honest, even if we’re not all singers, we’ve all sung in our showers, right? So why not utilize our natural gift? After listening to the music, students sing the music through imitation and repetition. We can naturally sing with expressions the same way as we speak. Through singing, students imitate all the musical expressions from what they hear. JMC works with solfege singing, our do-re-mi’s. Each solfege is associated with a specific pitch. Solfege singing teaches students to actively memorize each pitch. With enough practice, children could develop perfect pitch. Imagine picking up the tune of a passing ice-cream truck and being able to play that on the keyboard right away. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it!
♬ Play
Rather than learning a specific instrument, students learn musicianship using the keyboard as a medium. What does that mean? Well, anyone can just press on piano keys and make sound, but what makes sound become music is the expression. After the singing stage, students try to recreate the melody they have sung on the keyboard. This includes basic musical expressions such as loud, soft, smooth, and jumpy. The playing stage further develops their hearing skills because they have to match up the singing with the playing. It is also a great experimental discovery because students find, with their teacher’s guidance, how to produce different kinds of sounds on the keyboard. What a fun way to start developing basic playing technique!
Through team-playing, students learn to collaborate with each other. They become attentive listeners to their peers, which is not only an essential skill in the music world, but also an important interpersonal skill. Ensemble playing is also the best for establishing a good sense of rhythm. No more counting one-two-threes. Music is not maths, we feel the rhythm, and not count the rhythm.
♬ Read
Children of JMC’s age group are pre-school children who typically have not been taught how to read (though some children do read at age 4 to 5). Similarly, reading is not the focus of JMC. Remember, JMC students are at the perfect developmental stage to learn aurally. However, reading is introduced as a confirmation. After singing and playing, students begin to associate sounds with notations.
♬ Create
Music is a universal language that connects us together. In the upper years of JMC, students get to compose their own songs using the melody and harmony knowledge they acquired. What a rewarding experience!
What to expect for homework?
Review activities from each lesson
Nothing comes without practice. Yes, perfect pitch can be trained, but only with practice. Take 5 to 10 minutes a day to review the activities done in class. This includes listening to the songs, singing along with the soundtrack, and finding the notes on the keyboard or piano.
Parents involvement
Parents are the child’s best role model. At home, you are your child’s music teacher. Practicing can be fun with interaction. Remember, it’s not only playing that’s for homework. Singing and listening should actually be the bulk of practicing, especially at the early stage. Take on the musical journey together, learn together, and grow together with your child!
Have lots of fun!
Enjoy everything music brings to you. You won’t regret having music by your side!
Course Progress
♬ In 3 Months: Perform the song “Hot Cross Buns.”
♬ In 6 Months: Play their first hands together song with single notes in the left hand.
♬ End of Year 1: Play comfortably hands together with chords in the left hand and be able to play in two positions.
♬ End of Year 2: Play in five different keys with pieces of various musical elements and techniques.
♬ End of Year 3: Learn basic composition and improvisation techniques.
♬ End of Year 4: Learn more complex harmony, compose more complex music, and more improvising technique.
Located in York Region, on East Beaver Creek Drive near the border of Richmond Hill and Markham, our music classes for infants, toddlers, school-age children, and adults, offer world-class music lessons from talented instructors and research-based programs. Call us at 905 881 2893 to book a free trial music class or visit our Home Page for age-appropriate programs.