The full conservatory method — written for younger readers.
The same forty-nine-step curriculum that trained Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. Same notation. Same composition tools. Same Maestro. Just adapted — one concept per page, clearer prose, larger fonts — for students who are ready for the real method but not yet ready for the adult voice.
What Junior Composers Get
Junior is not a watered-down children's track. It is the standard Gradus curriculum, presented at a reading level and pace appropriate for ages eight to twelve.
Every Junior lesson uses the same hand-authored staff notation as the adult curriculum. No simplified diagrams. The notes a student sees are the notes a Bach chorale uses.
Each lesson focuses on a single musical idea — a triad, a cadence, a suspension. No long detours. The student finishes a lesson knowing one thing well.
The adult lessons sometimes open with philosophical context. Junior lessons start with the music. Terms are introduced, then used. No jargon unexplained.
Master Sketchbook, Counterpoint Workshop, Ear Training, Critique by Maestro — Junior students have the full toolkit, the same as adult students.
Every lesson includes a collapsible parent and teacher section with facilitation tips — what to look for, how to help when the student is stuck.
Junior covers the entire curriculum, from the perfect fifth through fugue, romantic harmony, atonality, and the final capstone composition. Nothing is left out.
A Sample Lesson
This is an excerpt from Step 1, the first lesson in the Junior curriculum. Press play to hear how the notation sounds. This is exactly what students see and hear inside the app.
The Two Notes
Today you will meet two notes that have anchored Western music for a thousand years: C and G.
C is called the tonic — the home note. G is called the dominant, and it sits five steps above C. Together they form what musicians call a perfect fifth.
Listen carefully. The two notes do not fight each other. They sound open and stable — like a door standing wide.
Every musical sound contains quieter, higher tones hidden inside it. These are called overtones. The perfect fifth is the very first new tone hidden inside any note you play — your ear already knows it before anyone names it. That is why this interval has sounded right to people on every continent for thousands of years.
The Full Curriculum, In Twelve Stages
Junior covers every stage of the Gradus method. No subset. No shortcut. The same path the adult curriculum takes — at a younger reader's pace.
- Stage IThe Single Voice. First intervals. The major scale. Rhythm and meter.
- Stage IITwo Voices. Cantus firmus and the five species of Fux counterpoint.
- Stage IIIHarmony. The triad. The four cadences. Major and minor.
- Stage IVInversions and Figured Bass. Bass voice as architect.
- Stage VFugue. Subjects, episodes, and the Bach tradition.
- Stage VIExtending the Pull. Sevenths, secondary dominants, borrowed chords.
- Stage VIIRomantic Chromaticism. Augmented sixths, altered dominants, the Tristan chord.
- Stage VIIIQuieting the Movement. Modal harmony, parallel triads, added tones.
- Stage IXThe Twentieth Century. Tension as continuum, atonality, tone color.
- Stage XThe Composer's Ear. Neo-Riemannian moves, pivoting languages, the brief.
- Stage XIMasterworks. Mahler, Ravel, Williams, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven's Eroica.
- Stage XIIThe Composer's Voice. Compose, revise, capstone portfolio.
Three Tiers, Same Method
Young Composers (ages 4–7) — adventure-map visuals, audio narration, no reading required.
Junior Composers (ages 8–12) — refined Gradus visuals, one concept per page, simplified prose.
Full Curriculum (ages 13+) — the complete adult method as written.
A student can switch tiers at any time from Settings. The progress carries with them.
Updates as Junior Grows
We're adding new Junior content regularly. Leave your email and we'll let you know when the next batch lands.
Built on proven tradition. Written for younger readers.
The same method that trained Mozart, adapted for the composer at your kitchen table.
Begin Your Journey