A specialist, Kodály-inspired music class for school-age children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2
When: Tuesdays and Fridays after school at 4.00-4.45pm and 4.45-5.30pm
Where: Harehills Lane Baptist Church (Side Entrance), 13 Hilton Place, Leeds LS8 4HE
Cost: £9.25 per child per session, booked in half termly blocks (20% sibling discount)
The Kodály approach comes to Leeds!
We are so excited to be offering Leeds families a dedicated Kodály-based after school and school holiday music class programme starting in July 2025! Kodály was a Hungarian ethnomusicologist and teacher, who believed singing was the best medium for teaching the language of music. Singing actively engages the whole person and develops that essential musical attribute, the inner hearing. Nowhere is this more important than at the early years stage.
Meet your teacher, Caitlin Mayall
Caitlin is a singer, harpist and accomplished pianist, who has worked in early years music for over 10 years. She has a Double First Class degree in music and Spanish, a PGCE and is one of few qualified Kodály music teachers in West Yorkshire. Her passions are folk and jazz, particularly composing her own original music. She loves circle work, space-holding and real, ‘come-as-you-are’ spaces which bring community together.
What happens in the session?
The class begins when we first hear music played and then is structured for around 40 minutes of singing games, movement, and playing instruments before a musical story at the end.
The structured part of the session starts and finishes with core frame of beautiful songs and rhymes, adapted with the seasons. This familiar structure and knowing what to expect in every class helps the children feel safe and held, which creates a nurturing space for the children to have fun, explore their voice and express themselves. During the main body of the lesson, for around 20 minutes, we will take the children through a musical learning journey, adapted with the seasons, linked to the National Curriculum and based on a step-by-step Kodály approach.
The aim of this musicianship class is to give your child the foundational skills and understanding of music which will enable them to progress onto instruments and music-reading later. Taught through singing, game-playing and movement, we guide your children through our Kodály-based curriculum which is child-led, but grounded in structure, repetition and the wisdom of generations of teachers.
Why this kind of music education matters
Music is increasingly squeezed within mainstream education, as schools face growing pressure around funding, testing and academic outcomes. Many children now have fewer opportunities to experience high-quality musical learning as part of everyday life.
At Music at Heart, we offer something intentionally different: specialist, Kodály-inspired music education in a calm, immersive and deeply musical environment.
Children attend in a dedicated music classroom filled with carefully chosen instruments selected for their beautiful tone, timbre and feel. From high quality Studio 49, Thomann and Rattlesnake percussion instruments to the chance to explore a real “Pixie” harp, children are surrounded by authentic musical sound from their earliest years.
Our sessions are led by highly trained professional musicians and some of the most experienced Kodály practitioners in the North of England, Caitlin Mayall and Carolyn Yates. Through singing, movement, listening, improvisation and instrument playing, children develop real musical understanding in a joyful and age-appropriate way.
While many children may experience only occasional classroom music-making, Music at Heart’s education program provides a consistent, sequential and specialist musical foundation — nurturing listening skills, confidence, creativity, coordination and inner musical hearing.
We believe children deserve access to excellent music education not as an optional extra, but as something deeply human, joyful and foundational.
Information about the venue
Harehills Lane Baptist Church is accessible for wheelchair users and there are baby changing facilities. When you get to the church, come in through the side entrance on Hilton Place. There is plenty of free on street parking available. Cycle racks are also available immediately outside the side entrance should you wish to cycle.
The 91 bus from Kirkstall, Headingley, Meanwood and central Chapel Allerton stops just outside the church on Harehills Lane. Or if you are coming from Leeds City Centre, you can get bus numbers 12 or 13 to Harehills Post Office followed by a short 5 minute walk up to the church.
Accessibility and inclusivity in our Kodály music classes
We believe that music is for everybody. We welcome asylum seekers and refugees, non-English speakers, LGBT and queer families, foster and adoptive families, and those of all faiths and none. Please get in touch if you have any feedback for us about how we can improve our accessibility and inclusivity – we really want you to feel welcome and comfortable here.
You can also apply for a FREE or subsidised place if you meet our criteria. A friend or support worker can fill in the form for you if you are struggling, or you can email us and ask us to help you with the form as well.
Music at Heart 