The mission of Tianjin Juilliard’s Music Development Program (MDP) is to equip young musicians with a solid foundation and a comprehensive understanding of music. The MDP is a Sunday program held on campus at The Tianjin Juilliard School, and is designed for children ages 5-18.  

The MDP includes two mandatory components: a Youth Chorus and Music Literacy course. Additionally, students may opt to take Instrumental Instructions in piano, violin, viola, cello, or flute. 

Choral singing is an important part of music education, and the Tianjin Juilliard MDP Youth Chorus brings together talented young students from Tianjin to our campus to receive high-quality choral training and music education on Sunday. Students are guided by an internationally-trained teaching team (Choir Conductor: Haochen Wang) and rehearse a wide selection of representative repertoire around the world. 

The MDP Youth Chorus is divided into the Elgar Chorus for students aged 6-9, and the Britten Chorus for students aged 7-14. 

Choral rehearsals will guide students to  

• express their inner voice and explore the infinite possibilities of human singing.  
• learn and perform choral pieces from different styles and ages, thus deepening their understanding of the musical world. 
• find their role in a team, learn to collaborate with their peers. 
• accumulate performing experience and foster leadership skills through a variety of performance opportunities. 

Music Literacy is a fundamental music program designed for chorus students. Topics include music theory, ear training, timeline of music development, music and its sister art forms, elements of music, structure of music, diversity of music, and music as a performing art, taught in-person in small class groups, by the Music Literacy teachers from the Public Education Department.

 
Each learning level is integrated with the repertoire of choral rehearsals to provide the cognitive and emotional preparation. Students learn to listen actively by accumulating musical knowledge, developing a keen sense of music, and a boundless imagination. 

Private one-to-one lessons are available to students who have an interest in music study and have reached an advanced beginner (or higher) level on their instruments. Please visit Instrumental Instruction for more information.

The Music Development Program is committed to fostering the following skills and promoting an organic integration between them through rehearsals, class teaching and performances.  

• Musical ability: healthy singing, comprehensive musical knowledge, musical sensitivity, active listening, music-making, sight-singing, etc. 
• Holistic education: cooperation, communication, leadership, accountability, patience and self-management 
• A broader global perspective and the ability to sing in multiple languages 
• A lifelong love of music 

One of the unique features of the Music Development Program is that students will have many performance opportunities after rehearsals, including performing with the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra, participating in choral festivals, etc., in order to test the effectiveness of rehearsals, gain performance experience, and achieve cultural exchange across ages, instruments, and countries.  

The Music Development Program rehearses every Sunday from September to January and February to June for the total of 30 classes per academic year, and performs at least once each semester on the Tianjin Juilliard’s stage and other locations throughout Tianjin. 

The teaching schedule for each Sunday is as follows: 

The MDP Youth Chorus recruit new members every summer. Applicants must be at least 6 years old (we accept applications from boys in the voice-changing period) and pass the recruitment test. Applicants must pay a 50 RMB application fee through the registration link, prepare the required repertoire and pass an online audition in order to be eligible for enrollment. The audition contents are: 

1. solo song of your choice (less than one minute, you may prepare an excerpt) 
2. listening and singing 
3. rhythm imitation or sight-reading 
4. follow the video and prepare a short sight singing piece   
5. sight-singing: staff 
6. music knowledge 

Instrumental Instruction: Each lesson is 60 minutes. The hourly fee is 1000 RMB. Students can sign up for the 15-lesson package. 

For more information or to apply for the Music Development Program at The Tianjin Juilliard School, please scan the QR code to contact the Public Education Department via WeChat: