The Conservatory
Seven subjects, studied together.
An instrument is one strand of a musical education, not the whole of it. These seven subjects run alongside each other throughout the programme, and each one makes the others easier.
- 01
Music Theory
The grammar of the art — notation, harmony, counterpoint and form, studied so that it becomes a way of reading rather than a set of rules to recite.
- 02
Listening — Ear Training & Body Percussion
Interval and chord recognition, dictation, and rhythm learned through the body before it is learned on the page. Body percussion is used deliberately: a child who can clap a rhythm owns it in a way a child who can only read it does not.
- 03
Sight Reading
Taught in two distinct strands — solo reading, and reading as an accompanist. The second is harder and far more employable, and is rarely taught anywhere in India at this level.
- 04
Improvisation
Making music without a score. Students work from chord sequences, modes and given motifs, and are expected to play their own material regularly rather than only other people’s.
- 05
Analysis & Interpretation
Taking a score apart to understand how it was built, then deciding what to do about it. This is where technical study turns into musical judgement.
- 06
Music History
The line from plainchant to the present, and the context that explains why any given piece sounds the way it does.
- 07
Pedagogy
Optional on the artistic track, required on the others. How to teach music: sequencing, diagnosis, demonstration, and the management of a student’s motivation over years.
Body percussion or ear-training class — children clapping rhythms, mid-action
Photography to come
How we teach
Three methods, used together.
Every subject on the curriculum is approached through the same three routes. Used together they close the gap between knowing something and being able to do it — which is the gap most music education never closes.
Practical approach
Learn a concept, then immediately apply it at the instrument. Nothing is left as abstract knowledge; if a student has understood something, they can play it.
Conceptual learning
Each concept is isolated and mastered on its own, then deliberately combined with the elements already learned. Difficulty is built by accumulation rather than by leaps.
Listening
The ear leads. Students hear a concept before they see it written, and are expected to recognise it by sound long before they are asked to name it.
Principal study
And, of course, the instrument.
Alongside the seven academic subjects, every student has a principal study — the instrument they are training on — taught one to one, weekly, throughout the programme.
Principal study
One-to-one instrumental or vocal lessons with a specialist teacher. This is where technique is built and repertoire is prepared, and it is the spine of the week.
Second study
Most students take a second instrument. A pianist who also sings, or a guitarist who also plays keyboard, understands music from more than one position — and it makes them a far better musician.
Ensemble
Playing with other people is a distinct skill: listening while playing, following, leading, adjusting. It cannot be learned alone in a practice room.
Want to see the curriculum in practice?
The clearest way to understand how this works is to watch a lesson. Get in touch and we will arrange a visit.