Lower Juniors

Our youngest pupils are three years old, although occasionally we accept even younger children if they show clear interest to music; the oldest children in this group are 5.

All Lower Juniors are members of Junior Choir 1.

At the age of 4, many of our pupils start learning solfeggio which is compulsory from the age of 5. Ideally, aural training should precede learning the instrument, so we encourage everyone to do choir and solfeggio before starting an instrument, where possible.

The earliest age to start an instrument is 3, although this is rare. Majority of our pupils start an instrument between the ages of 4 and 5. We offer an opportunity of trial lessons for different instruments to help a child choose an instrument, if such help is needed. We encourage the children to start with one instrument and add another one later, once the initial foundation has been built, but some children choose to have two instruments from the very beginning. This naturally requires exceptional dedication to music and longer practice hours to ensure solid foundation can be achieved for both instruments.

Those children who have sufficient command of the instrument, are getting introduced to chamber music, playing in small ensembles.

At the end of the term all members of this group are assessed by our choir director Marek Maryniak and any children ready to move up, are transferred to the Junior Choir 2. By the age of 5 all children are usually ready to move to Junior Choir 2 .

Lower Juniors programme at a glance:

• Instrumental lessons (when a child is ready)
• Solfeggio (from the age of 4)
• Choir (from the start)
• Chamber music (when a child is ready)
• Instrumental lessons (when a child is ready)