The Early Years program is designed as a music enrichment class for preschool children aged 3 to 6 years to experience with their parent or caregiver.

The curriculum is collaboratively designed by music education experts from both China and the United States and incorporates various aspects of renowned musical pedagogies including Orff, Dalcroze, and Kodaly, among others. The content includes singing, playing, dancing, active listening, inner hearing, and music improvisation. Through diverse musical activities, this program aims to inspire children's interest in music, cultivate their self-confidence, physical coordination, memory, and concentration, and enhance their deeper understanding and appreciation of music.
 

3-Year-Old Age Group

Music Concepts and Musicianship

• Understand the meaning of the following music elements: Beat, Rhythm, Eighth note pair, Quarter note, Half note, Quarter rest, 2/4 meter, Stick notation, bars, and bar lines.
• Identify fast/slow, loud/soft, high/low by ear.
• Read music containing the listed music elements in both picture notation and stick notation.
• Use movement to express musical emotions and content.
• Participate in group dances to experience musical form, beat, and tempo.

Vocal Performance

• Sing a variety of simple songs.
• Sing in groups while responding to the cues of a conductor.

Instrument Performance

• Explore different techniques for playing classroom instruments.

4-Year-Old Age Group

Music Concepts and Musicianship

• Understand the meaning of the following music elements: do, re, mi, sol, la,  sixteenth note,  five-line notation.
• Identify the listed rhythm by ear and through imitation.
• Be able to notate melodic/nursery rhyme fragments containing the above musical concepts in stick notation, and five-line notation.
• Sing a variety of songs that incorporate the listed music elements.
• Read music containing the listed music elements in both stick notation and five-line notation.
• Gain more experience in group dance to understand music form, beat, and tempo.
• Use movement to express musical emotions, content, and elements.
• Improvise simple rhythmic and melodic solos on various classroom instruments.

Vocal Performance

• Sing a variety of simple songs, becoming increasingly accurate in rhythm and pitch.
• Sing in groups while responding to the cues and dynamic changes of a conductor.

Instrument Performance

• Learn standard techniques for playing classroom instruments.
• Identify the distinct sounds of classroom instruments.
• Use non-pitched instruments to accompany the songs they sing.

5-Year-Old Age Group

Musicianship

• Understand the meaning of the following music elements: fa, si, higher do, lower la, lower sol, half dotted note, whole note, eighth rest, half rest, 3/4 and 4/4 meter, tempo, dynamics, and ostinato.
• Sing a variety of songs that incorporate the listed music elements.
• Identify the solfege syllables in familiar melody lines.
• Read music containing the listed music elements in both stick notation and five-line notation.
• Play two-part rhythms or sing and play two-part music in a group setting.
• Gain more experience in group dance to understand music form, meter, and tempo.
• Use movement to express musical emotions, content, and elements.
• Improvise simple rhythmic and melodic solos on various classroom instruments.
• Create rhythmic ostinatos to accompany songs and music.

Vocal Performance

• Sing expressively.
• Sing in groups while responding to the cues, tempo, and dynamics of a conductor.

Instrument Performance

• Use classroom instruments to play independent instrumental music in a mini ensemble.

The Early Years activities are held every Sunday morning between September and May, according to the academic calendar. The proposed teaching schedule for the 2024 academic year is from 11:00 AM to 11:50 PM.

Please note that every Early Years student must be accompanied by at least one parent or adult caregiver in the classroom.

Tuition: RMB 4,500 per semester (15 weeks)

To join the MDP Early Years, students must be between 3 and 6 years old. For more information about the curriculum, or to apply for the Tianjin Juilliard School Music Development Program, please scan the QR code to add the Public Education WeCom.