OUR STORY
It all started with a boy and his beloved bassoon.
My son, Asher, was just over two years old when he discovered his love for music after watching the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performing Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. Asher had always enjoyed listening and moving to music, but something about the way the orchestra came together gripped his heart in a wholly different way. He started turning objects into instruments, "jamming" along to recorded music and imitating the sounds of orchestral instruments, of which the bassoon was his favourite. Even though I was a music teacher, I hadn't the slightest clue how I could develop a toddler's burgeoning interest in music. Helpless, I signed him up for group violin lessons for preschoolers, thinking that starting him out on a formal instrument early would do the trick. This couldn't have been further from the truth. Asher emerged from class feeling defeated each week. I concluded that at 2.5 years old, he simply did not have the fine motor skills, maturity and attention span to learn how to play a formal instrument. At the recommendation of my former colleague, I pivoted my focus to early childhood music and movement classes. I spoke to a few people in the industry, including the Head Trainer of Musikgarten Asia. Her passion for the aural teaching method fired my imagination. I commenced my training under her and made Asher and my then unborn baby the subjects of my teaching practice. After observing how positively Asher responded to the beautiful repertoire of music and holistic activities offered by Musikgarten, I knew immediately that I had found the right curriculum to engage the music-loving tot - one that was centred on the joy of music-making.
We believe that music learning should be thoroughly enjoyable.
The sheer joy of music-making is the ethos of and inspiration behind JHMS, and it is through our lessons that we hope to spread this joy to each and every individual. We develop holistic musicianship in our students by weaving aural activities into our lessons and exposing them to varied repertoire. (We are not going to let them off easy by solely focusing on exam pieces!) Our early childhood music and movement classes promise to be a whole lot of fun and serious learning for both parents and children.
We also believe that music is for everyone. We offer lessons to babies, senior citizens and everyone in between. Our lessons are customised to fit your aspirations. Whether you'd wish to learn classical music, pop music, or worship songs, or if you'd like to pursue a more rigorous route of training to become a performer, we offer you a plethora of options.
As seen from how much our toddlers enjoy learning in a group setting, we strongly believe that music is best enjoyed in community. As such, all students at JHMS attend bimestrial group lessons to learn from and perform to one another, as well as to play in ensembles. Recitals are also conducted annually to motivate students and give them performance opportunities.