Holiday Courses

WEEK ONE: 22-26 July  LOCATION: KWS Harpenden 

WEEK TWO: 29 July – 2 August  LOCATIONS: KWS Harpenden & Bedford School

“It’s been the friendliest and most welcoming orchestra that she has played in” F Sutton, 2022

Every summer families book their holidays to fit in with the Musicale Summer Courses! They have been loved for over 45 years and many of our young musicians’ parents grew up on the courses themselves.

Two weeks of wind bands and orchestras, musical theatre and mini musicians exploring all genres of music tutored by professional musicians who work for the country’s top orchestras and ensembles. All staff are enhanced DBS checked, trained in safeguarding children and there are fully trained first aiders on call throughout the courses. We are Ofsted registered on our Harpenden courses and can accept payment from the Tax free Childcare payment scheme.

To see what we get up to on our summer courses have a look here

Week One – Instrumental Week – Ages 8 – 18 years – Katherine Warington School (KWS), Harpenden 

Join our excellent wind bands and orchestras exploring all genres of music. Students will have the chance to play in full orchestras and smaller groups tailored to ages and stages appropriately. Extra non-musical activities each day will give time for making friends and team-building. A week of learning, socialising and performing with a final evening concert on the Friday where parents, grandparents, friends and hangers-on are all welcome to attend! This week is recommended for all grades up to Grade 8 and beyond. Musicale Summer Holiday Alumni have frequently headed to music colleges around the country and entered, and won, prestigious competitions such as BBC Young Musician of the Year. The course will run from 9.30 – 3.30pm Monday to Friday and please bring a packed lunch, instrument, music stand, pencil and eraser each day. There will be a concert at the end of the week on the Friday at 6.30pm where the children will perform a selection of the music they have learnt during the week. This will last approximately one hour. 

Please note: This is for children who already learn an orchestral instrument. We cannot cater for pianists or guitarists on this course. We recommend students to have had at least a year of instrumental lessons to really enjoy the week. There are no individual lessons on this course.

Week One and Two – Step up to Music – Ages 5 – 7 years – Katherine Warington School (KWS), Harpenden

Step up to Music runs alongside the main course as an introduction for our mini musicians to try a variety of instruments and learn about music-making. Through musical games, stories and compositions, the children have the opportunity to play and learn about rhythm, pitch, pulse, timbre and dynamics. The week is structured around a theme and at the end of the week the children perform a concert to their families at 3pm on the Friday. The course will run from 9.30 – 3.30pm Monday to Friday. Please bring a packed lunch, water bottle and a recorder each day. No previous experience required!

Please note: This is for children who have not yet started learning an instrument or who have been playing for up to a year or so. We have tried and tested over the years with different age groups and found 5 – 7 years to be the perfect ages for this course.

Week Two – Musical Theatre and Instrumental Week – Ages 8 – 18 years – Katherine Warington School, Harpenden

Two courses run alongside one another this week. A musical theatre course where students will put on a production of Aladdin Jr in a week! And, an orchestral course with a variety of ensembles.

  • The musical theatre cast will learn the script, songs and choreography to this fantastic musical. After booking your place please email us a short audition video of 1-2 minutes singing one of your favourite songs (it doesn’t have to be from Aladdin!). 
  • For those who learn an instrument, an orchestra will work on pieces from film scores, musicals and shows to perform at the end of the week.

On the Friday the students will perform their production and the orchestra will give a concert where parents, grandparents, friends and hangers-on are all welcome to attend! The course will run from 9.30 – 3.30pm Monday to Friday. There will be a performance of a selection of pieces by the orchestra followed by the production of  Aladdin Jr at 6.30pm on the Friday. Please bring a packed lunch each day and be ready for action! 

Please note: This is for children who already learn an orchestral instrument or who sing. We cannot cater for pianists on this course.

Week Two – Instrumental Week – Ages 8 – 18 years – Bedford School

This course will run in the same way as Week One at KWS with the same elite level of staff (see above) with orchestras and wind bands performing all genres of music in the beautiful setting of Bedford School. 

Week Two – Step up to Music – Ages 5 – 7 years – Bedford School

This course will run in the same way as Week One and Two at KWS (see above) for our mini musicians.

An Example day on a course:

9.30am Arrive, register and head to your rehearsal rooms to look at your music / words with your professional tutors.

10.45am Break outside – time to play on the giant chess board, play basketball or football on the field. 

11.15am Second rehearsal may be sectionals or full orchestra / windband or some students forming chamber groups

12.30pm Lunch. Time to enjoy your packed lunch with friends

1pm Activity time – this could be an improvisation workshop or a bouncy castle obstacle course or learning circus skills!

2pm Third rehearsal is usually full rehearsals

2.45pm Short break

3pm Last rehearsal of the day to finish off all the loose ends!

3.30pm Home time

All information about the courses will be sent out a couple of weeks before the course from info@musicale.co.uk. Please add this to your safe senders list.

Some previous happy customers:

“I just wanted to say a huge thanks for a wonderful week.  I can’t thank you and the musical theatre team enough for creating such a supportive environment for Annabel in which she could succeed – she feels really proud tonight and so do I.  The concert from start to finish was absolutely brilliant.” Steph, August 2023

“I just wanted to say a big thank you for such an excellent week. Ted has come home buzzing and it’s been really good for him to try different instruments (we got a full run down of how to hold a violin earlier in the week!)  We are really grateful for the patience you showed him. Today’s concert was just fab!  Thank you again, we would definitely love to enrol Ted for future things!” Sophie, August 2023

“Just wanted to say thank you for such a fantastic week and concert tonight! Hats off to all of you. Simran had an absolute blast and is very sad it’s over. We will be back next year! Hope you all have a well deserved break this weekend!” Sonal, August 2023

“Huge credit to the team for their wonderful inclusivity and heartfelt thanks for the inspiration and guidance they offered to my new musician.” Amanda, August 2023

“It is so lovely to watch all the children from those just beginning to some of the older very accomplished players, I remember from my childhood how inspiring it is as a younger child to hear older players and hope one day to be like them.” Claire, 2022

“Erin really enjoyed playing in the senior wind band – she found it a challenge at first but was really proud with what she had learnt and achieved by the end of the week – a fantastic motivating experience for her.  We thought the concert was fabulous.” Gillian, Aug 2021

“Thank you so much for a wonderful week, all 3 of my children really enjoyed their time and very much enjoyed working towards the concert at the end.  It was also the first time my son had felt confident enough during the step up to music concert to play his violin to more than just our family so it was lovely to see his confident grow, in particular.  He has only been learning since January and this was quite a big deal for him as he didn’t even feel quite ready to show his class at school.” Fiona, August 2021

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