Programs

Musicianship

Four levels of theory, ear training, and sight-reading that run alongside every ensemble. A placement exam at the audition decides which one your child starts in.

Portrait · a student sight-reading, pencil in hand

About the program

The theory behind the playing.

Musicianship is a broad program of study that focuses on the theoretical aspects of music. Topics covered in the four levels of musicianship classes include clef reading, intervals, sight-reading, ear-training and dictation. A vital feature of the program lies in the strengthening of aural recognition skills, which will greatly aid the student in solo as well as ensemble playing. A placement exam, administered at entrance auditions, is used to determine the appropriate class level. New to musicianship are conducting and score-reading, open to anybody who qualifies.

A musicianship class · solfege hand signs, students at the board

Why it exists

When we started this orchestra I realized that sight-reading was a challenge. They could not read music, so it was hard to learn new material. The distinction between a quarter note and an eighth note and a half note was not there. So we started a musicianship class, teaching them the solfège system. And because of that, the sight-reading skills improved really, really fast.

Michael Dadap, from the COS 50th Anniversary film

Wide · a musicianship class, board and students

A musicianship class · solfege hand signs, students at the board

The levels

Where each class sits on a Saturday.

Class · Instructor · Room

Saturdays

Basic Ear-Training & Musicianship I · Renan Proença · Classroom 1

12:00-1:00pm

Advanced Musicianship I · Dr. Gloria Shih · Classroom 2

12:00-1:00pm

Basic Ear-Training & Musicianship II · Tim Cho · Auditorium

12:30-1:30pm

Advanced Musicianship II · Dr. Gloria Shih · Classroom 2

1:00-2:00pm

Majors / Advanced Musicianship III & Composition · Michael Dadap

1:00-2:00pm

Musicianship classes run until mid-April, earlier in the season than the orchestras. Times are from the published 2025-26 Saturday schedule.

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS NEEDED

The old page carried real copy for the program as a whole, then three headings reading “Need description for this class.” BETM II, Advanced Musicianship II, and Advanced Musicianship III still have no description, and Advanced Musicianship I was missing from the page entirely although it runs every Saturday. COS needs one short paragraph per level saying what is covered and roughly what a student should already be able to do.

See the whole Saturday

Not sure this is the right fit?

A placement exam at the audition decides which level your child starts in, so you don’t need to choose. Every child auditions, and no child is turned away.

Start with an audition

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