Music Education Department

Expectant mothers

The course is held by Willems teachers who also have an AIGAM Gordon specialisation, and is thought for all expectant mothers.

Musicainfasce ®

The lessons are offered by CEDiM with Musicainfasce and are meant for babies and toddlers from 0 to 36 months of age and their parents.

Sitting on a comfortable mat, parents and babies will be invited to listen to the teacher-musicians led by Lucia Follador or Ilaria Girardi, certified AIGAM
educators, who will play and sing for them.

During the classes, the babies will be able to interact with the musicians, will be free to move and to emit sounds in a relaxed and engaging atmosphere. Thus, the purpose is not to entertain, but to give an opportunity to the children to live a live music experience in the most authentic manner.

These classes have been a great success so far, and have attracted a large number of babies and parents every year, they are usually held every year in
September/October and April at CEDiM. The babies (from 0 to 36 months of age) must always be accompanied by a parent. The first class of the September/October session is open and free for those who are approaching this kind of course for the first time.

WILLEMS MUSIC TEACHING SYSTEM: Awake your skills and achieve music awareness

Willems teaching system will allow each child to learn music gradually and effectively, being in many ways better then any traditional methods. To most effectively meet the diverse learning needs, we offer courses at different levels, named Grades. To gain access to the next Grade, each child needs to demonstrate his or her knowlege of the basics and topics of the previous Grades, however, depending on the age and the level of the student, it may be possible to attend more than one Grade in the same year.

1st Grade – Music initiation

The awakening of the listening abilities. In this first phase the child is asked to participate actively in a series of activities, in order to arouse his or her interest and refine his or her listening abilities and sense of rhythm. Not only receptiveness, but also expressivity is stimulated, thanks to an interactive teaching method that respects each child’s personality.

2nd Grade – Graphic signs

Achieving awareness. The child is introduced to the graphic signs that describe the movement of sounds and rhythms, and is led to a new level of awareness of what has been tought in the 1st Grade. Voice intonation, word articulation, sense of rhythm and tempo are the new focuses.

3rd Grade – The fundamentals of music

Preparation to solfège and instrumental music. This grade includes pre-solfège and pre-instrumental music and permits the child to reach a good level of
abstraction through music notation. Staff notation, both in the movable-do and fixed-do styles, is taught. In the pre-instrumental music phase, children use a
chromatic metallophone and develop their sense of rhythm by performing collective and individual polyrhythms using body percussions.

4th Grade – “Living” solfège

This grade lasts several years and faces complex topics such as spoken and sung solfège, an introduction to the seven clefs, choir, improvising and harmony.

Ear training

Ear training is the most important of the music exercises. It consists of improving the ability to recognize, through the sense of hearing, the elements that form music such as notes, chords, intervals and rhythm. By training our ear and learning how to recognize melodies, intervals, chords, we will be able to deeply understand what we are singing or playing on our instrument, improving as musicians and having even more fun!