In response to many calls for an after school music provision we are inviting expressions of interest for a pilot course beginning in November 2025.

Designed to inspire young children to engage in practical music making and to begin to think more deeply about why they love the music they do!

• Open to complete beginners as well as children with some experience of playing their instrument - including self-taught hobbyists.

• More opportunity to play in a small group setting (piano players - we see you!).

• Explore a broader range of styles and genres

• Learn about theory of music through practical application

• Write original music and play and perform with peers

We want this activity to instil a love for music making and to produce well-rounded young musicians, able to make more informed choices around their musical pursuits and specialisms. For the pilot project, the musical theme we have picked to explore is:

MUSIC for MOVIES & GAMING

WHO IT’S FOR

Children in Years 5-8 who:

• Want a new kind of educational challenge. 

• Enjoy a relaxed but purposeful environment for creating and learning.

• Are interested in thinking more deeply about how music works.

• Would enjoy putting theory into practice by creating their own music.

• Have a little informal music experience OR have experience learning music more formally 

• AND would enjoy working collaboratively with other focused learners of different levels of experience to their own.

WHAT WE’LL DO

Our pilot course will focus on MUSIC for MOVIES & GAMING.  

We will:

• Provide a range of instruments for use during the sessions, including keyboards, drums, tuned and untuned percussion and interactive music technology. Musicians are welcome to bring their own instruments too!

• Listen, watch, and talk about examples of iconic music used on screen, or in game sequences, and have a go at playing famous themes.

• Combine practical work ‘Learning by Doing’ and conversation-based teaching around key music theory concepts to facilitate effective composing later on.

• Create our own original piece of music to accompany a short segment of video/moving images.

WHEN and WHERE

The pilot course will begin in Term 2, 2025. 13 sessions will be offered, with the final session forming our sharing/performing opportunity to family and friends.

TUESDAYS 3:45pm - 4:45pm
Portishead Youth & Community Centre - NAUTICAL ROOM

• November: 4, 11, 18, 25

• December: 2, 9, 16

• January: 6, 13, 20, 27

• February: 3, 10

Parents and siblings are welcome to make use of PYCC’s café facilities while our session takes place.

COSTS

We have set the cost of participation as low as possible while keeping it viable and sustainable. Please chat to us if cost presents a barrier.

The cost of this pilot course is £123.50 (avg. £9.50 per week) and sign-up is for the whole two-term course.
More details are provided in the Expression of Interest form.

A note on access and cost:

Now Hear This Music C.I.C. practitioners are experts in music pedagogy, highly qualified professionals, with years of experience teaching and making music with learners from complete beginners, to Grade 8+ and pre-professional ability levels.

Experience tells us that, for so many, the cost of private, instrument-specific music tuition is a significant barrier to music participation. Compounding this, committing money and time to an instrument-specific educational pathway, before the learner has really had chance to explore the huge variety of music out there, and discovering what really ignites their musical passions and ambitions, can also feel like a huge investment risk. We hear so many tales of young people quitting before they ever really get going, simply because the instrument was wrong, or the repertoire too narrow, or the traditional approaches to teaching left them bored and uninspired.

We believe the pilot outlined above will help to improve access, inspire meaningful engagement, and facilitate more young people to explore making music in a way that THEY value, leading to a lifelong love for learning and collaborative participation in expressive arts.

If all of this sounds good…