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COTTAGE SCHOOL of MUSIC - Senior |
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Aural/Musicianship Training - The Key to Understanding Music We nurture our children in their formative years and introduce them to a range of experiences that we hope will benefit them later in life. Given their amazing learning capacity, children often retain these skills for life. Choosing music as one of those experiences is a major undertaking (as all parents will realise only too well), not only in terms of the time commitment but also in terms of the range of musical activities undertaken. Children undertaking instrumental training also need to develop high-level ensemble and Musicianship skills. The combination of these activities helps to ensure that learning takes place on secure musical soil. Such a solid foundation helps children on the long path and assists them in their quest to find music’s hidden treasures. Cottage School of Music's Junior, Senior, and High School Musicianship programmes provide the ideal accompaniment to instrumental training. As the child progresses through the graded levels on their instrument their music becomes more and more complex. This raises a serious issue, principally to do with ownership and understanding. If children do not understand the music they are playing they may be less prepared to continue with the disciplined practice required. A sense of ownership at each stage is essential if children are to develop musical independence; thus, each stage the issue should not simply be one of attainment, but rather of mastery. Musicianship training allows children to develop a wide range of skills such as musical reading and writing, understanding of form and structure, creativity, memory, ensemble skills, co-ordination, left/right brain skills, independence, as well as pitch and rhythm skills. Musicianship training allows children to communicate and to discover and explore hundreds of elements of music theory through fun activities and games. It enables them to find their own voice and to develop an intrinsic sense of music as an art form. The skills and instincts developed at this early stage of training remain with them for life. "I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I've felt it." (Igor Stravinsky) Many studies have shown that quality musicianship training enhances learning in other subject areas, such as sciences, mathematics and languages. Intensive musicianship training provides a sense of mental stimulation that passive experience do not. Cottage's programme develops these all-important skills through a range of fun and stimulating approaches. Discovery is the key to a deeper understanding of music - most of the time the children in our programmes do not even realise that they are learning. Our programme begins with the Junior Musicianship programme for children aged 18 months to 5 years; this is followed by the Senior Musicianship programme for primary and senior students; our High School programme is designed to prepare students for senior examinations and our Choral Programme provides students with performance opportunities and a broader social outlet through music. It is imporant that learning is fun, engaging and interesting, so that it stimulates the imagination and raises in the children a sense of curiosity and wonder about their musical world. We should expose children to the highest quality training and cultivate in them a love of music and of life as today’s young musicians will one day be custodians of the art. © Micheál McCarthy 2007 |
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