Saturday Centre

Music, dance and drama classes for beginners and improvers, inclusive groups, and ensembles for musicians up to Grade 4 standard.

Structure and Progression

Click the left and right arrows to see progression routes for Strings, Winds, Percussion, Keyboard and Guitar, Vocal, Dance and Drama or scroll below to see the available classes.

  • Overview

  • Strings

  • Winds progression route

    Winds

  • Percussion

  • Guitar and Keyboard

  • Vocal

  • Dance and Drama

Classes

The Saturday timetable is designed to allow a young performer to belong to two or even three out of playing an instrument, singing, dance and drama. Collaborations across different groups and different centres will take place for performances, especially for our annual Summer Showcase.

  • Recommended starting class for younger children Year 3 upwards who love to act.

  • Vocal Stars singers can join Chamber Choir when they have demonstrated the necessary skills for the more advanced group.

    Chamber Choir is our auditioned vocal ensemble for students at a minimum of grade 4 standard. The choir sings in 2 - 6 part harmony, and covers a range of repertoire from Palestrina to Punk, via Mozart and Musical Theatre! Students take a lead role in choosing music, have solo and leadership opportunities within the choir, and regularly collaborate with other ensembles.

  • Star Classes are for those in the early stages of playing an instrument. Once they have achieved RSL Star 1 Award they progress to the Star Workshops where they make music in instrument families and can progress to Star 3.

    Learn more and sign up

  • For string players, wind players, keys players and guitarists.

    After reaching Star 1 level children progress to Star Workshops where they can progress to Star 3. They develop new instrumental skills and learn how to play in a group with other instruments.

    Beyond Star 3, instrumentalists join one of the Saturday ensembles which meet during the last hour. Guitarists join GuitarWorks, and electric guitarists, keyboard players and drummers join RockWorks. String players progress to StringWorks then String Orchestra and wind and percussion players to Concert Band.

  • Recommended starting class for younger children Year 3 upwards who love to dance. Members of our 9am groups are welcome to join this class.

    Children can progress from Dance Stars to DanceWorks.

  • Creative Music Makers is a new ensemble for students who attend the 11:15am classes (Guitarworks, Rockworks, StringWorks, Concert Band and String Orchestra), plus graduates from the Access Music Makers (formerly the Inclusive Ensemble), who would like to explore their creative side and write their own music. Members’ interests and aspirations are used to develop musical skills.

  • For members of Concert Band and String Orchestra in 11:15am ensembles.

    Members of the Instrument Clubs will experience performing in a smaller ensemble. Violin players will have the opportunity to learn the viola.

  • This is a group for members of our 9am groups and StringWorks.

    Children develop skills by learning a wide range of songs from across the world. VocalStars loves to collaborate with Rockworks.

    Singers can join Chamber Choir when they have demonstrated the necessary skills for the more advanced group.

  • Percussion Stars is a group for new musicians gaining their first experiences of percussion. Students will learn how to use drum sticks correctly, play hand and tuned percussion instruments, create their own rhythms as well as learning to read notation. There will be opportunities to collaborate with other groups and progress onto Star Workshop Band and Concert Band.

    Instruments could include snare drums, tambourines, cymbals, bass drums, glockenspiels, marimbas, djembes, congas and much more. Students will gain experience of playing with others in a group, as well as gaining individual instrument skills. It would also be a great starting point for anyone who would like to learn how to play the drum kit, or for learning of other instruments wanting to improve their rhythm and timing.

  • Access Music Makers is for disabled and neuro diverse young people in Years 5-9. The group creates their own music using a variety of percussion, voices and technology. The styles are eclectic, varying from pop songs to atmospheric soundscapes. Members’ interests and aspirations are used to develop musical skills alongside confidence, teamwork, social awareness and much more.

    Students can progress from Access Music Makers to the Creative Music Makers class.

    Please feel welcome to contact us for more information or click here to see performances from our inclusive groups.

  • Recommended for wind and percussion players progressing from Star Workshop

    Concert Band is for musicians of Grade 2 – 5 standard, playing a wide variety of music including popular themes to TV, Film and Theatre, as well as traditional Concert Band music and exciting collaborative and fusion works. Team Spirit is a central part of Concert Band, which helps with our chemistry when performing together.

  • Dance Star dancers can join DanceWorks when they have demonstrated the necessary skills for the more advanced group.

  • Recommended for guitarists progressing from Star Workshop.

    For acoustic/classical guitarists who have completed Star 2 or grade 1, they play music from all genres from Baroque to Rock. Students should be able to read from notation or tablature, and there are parts for chord players as well.

  • Recommended for electric guitarists, keyboardists and drummers progressing from Star Workshop.

    Children who love to sing, play guitar, bass, keyboards or drums can experience playing in a modern rock band. Aimed at around grade 1 standard, RockWorks is the opportunity to put musical skills into practice, performing contemporary and classic rock and pop music.

  • Recommended for string players progressing from StringWorks.

    For players of around Grade 3 – 5 standard String Orchestra covers a range of musical styles, from film and game music to baroque, classical and pop. The group performs regularly and enjoys collaborating with Concert Band to form a large orchestra.

  • For string players who have reached Music Star 2 or Grade 1 standard, StringWorks is the next step after Star Workshop. We play a variety of different styles of music in 3 - 4 parts, and we encourage pupils to develop their musical knowledge with warm ups, quizzes and games.

To make sure everyone has a great time with us, we have a Code of Conduct for each of our CYM centres.

Click here to view the Saturday Centre Code of Conduct