Junior Music Course | Junior Extension Course | Junior Advanced Course

Junior Music Course
The Junior Music Course is for children aged four or five at the start of the course. It comprises four books, which take two years to complete, and leads onto the Junior Extension Course, followed by the Junior Advanced Course.

JMC lessons involve much more than just learning how to play a keyboard instrument: we sing fun songs and also in solfege (do re mi) to help with aural awareness; there is music appreciation with stories and actions to encourage deep listening; rhythm step to help co-ordination and a sense of steady pulse; rhythm and notation is studied in a way that is fun and relates to what the children are playing; keyboard games are used to prepare for the repertoire pieces.

We think the Junior Music Course is an excellent musical start: it is our most popular course at Matrix, with over 200 students currently attending the Junior, Extension and Advanced courses. Our instrumental teachers love teaching JMC ‘graduates’, as they show enormous musicality. But JMC is more than a starter course - it is the first step on the pathway towards being a musician for life! See below for the courses that follow.

Further information about the Junior Music Course can be found as a download.

Find out about teachers - open days - fees - instrument requirements
JMC lessons are available in Headington, Oxford, as well as at Matrix in Sutton Courtenay

Junior Extension Course
This is a course open to Junior Music Course and Elementary Music Course graduates, comprising Books 5, 6, 7 and 8. Students are encouraged to become independent in their practice and so parents are no longer required to be present in lessons. At this stage, some children take up a second instrument (not individual piano lessons at this stage) in addition to their group lessons.

Junior Extension subjects are:

• Songs with lyrics
• Solfege singing includes sequence-singing, harmony singing and improvisation
• Finger exercises and scales
• Ensembles include improvisation and rhythm ensembles
• Repertoire
• Keyboard Harmony is a key subject in this course, as it includes creating melodic and harmonic variations. This prepares for the more formal approach to composition in the next course.
• Sightreading and sightsinging
• Rhythm and notation
• Composition is supported in lessons and workshops*
• Halfway through this course an extra subject is introduced called My Favourites. Children choose pieces from a selection to learn by themselves at home and perform to their class when they have mastered it.

The group setting continues to be highly motivational and an excellent learning environment; and at this stage masterclasses are introduced, a forum for classmates to hear and improve solos, variations and compositions.

*All aspects of the Junior Courses lead towards creativity and composition, and the annual Junior Original Concert provides a platform for this. We hope to add examples of the children's compositions to the website soon.

Further information about the Junior Extension Course can be found as a download.

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Junior Advanced Course
Junior Advanced Course Books 1 - 4 develop the students' musicianship skills, with an emphasis on improvisation and composition. This course comprises both group and individual sessions.

The following subjects are studied in the group lesson to stimulate and develop the children's composing activities:

• solfege-singing
• ensembles
• keyboard harmony
• improvisation
• composition

The group environment is still crucial to the students' development as musicians and composers. Alongside the group lessons, students now commence regular individual piano tuition with their teacher. These individual sessions include repertoire and piano technique, with an emphasis on improvisation and composition, enabling each student to follow their own pathway. Yamaha prides itself on timely education, and we find this element of the course to come at a stage in life when children are ready to use individual sessions to the full, having gained a musical independence in the previous course.

Students can work towards the Yamaha grade examinations if they wish - Grade 9 can be taken after the Junior Extension Course, followed by Grade 8, 7 and 6. The first teacher examination is Yamaha Grade 5. Exams reflect the course content with repertoire, keyboard harmony and accompaniment, improvisation and sightreading. A student's own composition can be used as one of the repertoire choices.

“I found A-Level requirements a breeze after having studied the Junior Advanced Course with Lindsay.”

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