The NJC Music Programme started out in July, 2006 with levels IP1 and IP2. Up till date, it has grown considerably, extending its levels from JH1 (equivalent of Secondary 1) to SH2 ( the equivalent of JC2). The programme believes in providing students with a holistic learning experience. As such, NJC’s Music Programme has come up with series of activities to achieve this. This includes an overseas music trip to UK, London in 2007 where students visited educational institutions such as Royal College of Music historical instrument museum, and played in masterclasses at the Royal Academy of music. The music students also toured Berlin, Leipzig and Bayreuth in 2009 for masterclasses at Hans Eisler Hochschule, as well as to visit Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Wagner Museums apart from attending concerts and operas put up by world renowned orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Berlin Philharmonic.

The NJC Music Programme has also organized plenty of Masterclasses to help students better understand the art of performance and composition. This includes a harpsichord Masterclass with Yang Tien, Organ Workshop with Bernard Moey (Resident Chief Organ/Piano Technician at the Esplanade) Music IT (Cubase and Sibelius) workshops with Steinberg Asia, Strings workshop with Goetz Richter (Head of Strings at the Sydney Conservatorium) Gamelan and Indian music workshops (with I Nyoman Wenton from California institute of Arts) as well as a composition workshop with Associate Professor of Music from NIE, Dr Kelly Tang.

The Music students have performed at the Esplanade Concourse and took part in national music competitions like the Singapore Music Teachers’ Association Music Festival held in June, and clinched a couple of awards and will be taking part in National Piano and Violin competition in 2009. To prepare the students for external competitions and performances, students are given multiple opportunities to perform for college lunchtime concerts which are conducted regularly throughout the year.

In addition, career talks are being organized to expose students to a multiplicity of music-related professions such as Music Therapy (with Dr Patsy Tan), Popular Music production and Industry (Ruth Ling), Acoustics and concert programming (Christel Hon and Mark Sinn from The Esplanade).

The Music Programme approaches the study of Music through Music Studies and Music Making. It is modeled after the current ‘A’ level examination format and designed for the music student who has a background in musical performance and theory. Music Studies cover a range of works from the Western Music tradition, topics from the World Music traditions and include an inter-disciplinary study of Music and other art forms (visuals, theatre, dance) in Junior High year 1 (Secondary 1). The various works and topics are designed to give opportunities for critical thinking through music analysis and to encourage active listening experiences. Music Making provides the necessary breadth of musical skills in performing and music writing.

All in all, the programme allows the students to develop keen listening and thinking skills that other ‘O’ level music schools would not be able to provide. Firstly, as students are not required to take the ‘O’ levels, they have more curriculum time for a deeper exploration of music. Secondly, the four-year Junior High music programme and its particular emphasis on Aural Perception across a multiplicity of styles and genres prepare the student to offer H2 music at ‘A’ levels and beyond.

For more information, please refer to the outline of the programme here or contact our Music teachers: