This 4-semester Yamaha Music Education Courses program for children, ages 4 and 5, provides an incomparable foundation for future musical study on any instrument. Children experience singing, music reading and writing, playing the keyboard, ear training, and creating music.

Classes meet weekly and are approximately 50 minutes.

A parent, guardian, or caregiver is required to attend each class with his or her child to serve as a learning partner. Parent meetings, which are held periodically during the school year, cover subjects such as how to participate in class and how to assist at home. Children do not attend the parent meetings.

Age Requirement
To enroll in JMC, children must have reached their 4th birthday by September 1 for fall semester classes and by February 15th for a spring semester start. This requirement helps ensure that children are enrolled in a course for which they are developmentally ready.

Grouping
Students are grouped according to age and maturity. Classes are occasionally regrouped to provide the best learning environment.

Instructors
Yamaha instructors must pass comprehensive musical examinations and attend regular Yamaha-sponsored seminars in order to gain and retain their teaching certification. Instructors are periodically observed and evaluated by Yamaha representatives to assist in improving and refining their teaching skills.

Class Attendance
Only enrolled students and their parents may attend the class sessions. In order to maintain an effective classroom environment, we ask that parents arrange childcare for other children. Guests may occasionally be invited with advance permission from the instructor.

JMC trains the child in the areas of:

Hearing: Listening to wonderful music helps children:

    Develop emotional sensitivity
    Develop an ear for music
    Feel and express music in time rhythmically

Singing: Children love to sing! Singing develops:

    Self expression
    Correct tempo, rhythm, and pitch
    Understanding of note names

Playing: Performing songs introduces children to the joy of expressing music by themselves.
              Playing also helps students:

    Get familiar with the five-line staff and keyboard
    Express music with both hands

Creating: Junior Music Course experiences cultivate children's:

    Musical creativity
    Sense of harmony

Upon completion of the Course...
Once your child has completed the Junior Music Course, he or she will take part in a "Fundamental Skills
Survey" to confirm his or her musical achievement. Teachers refer to Survey results to correctly place
students in advanced courses of study such as the Junior Extension Course and Junior Special Advanced
Course. As the children develop more advanced musical skills, they are also encouraged to express
themselves by performing and composing their own music through programs like Junior Original Concert.

An international music education system...
When you enroll your child in the Junior Music Course, you are assured of an excellent first course of
musical study. Yamaha has invested over 50 years of music education research in the United States, Japan,
Canada, and dozens of other countries. More than four million children and adult students have graduated
from Yamaha courses worldwide.

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